Top 9 Platform Engineering Tools Every Team Should Know About

Introduction

As software teams grow, their systems naturally become harder to manage. There are more services to maintain, more pipelines to handle, and more environments to keep in sync. Without the right structure in place, teams often end up fixing issues that could have been avoided.

Platform engineering helps solve these challenges. It gives developers a smoother way to build and ship software without getting slowed down by infrastructure or process gaps. It also brings consistency across teams by standardizing the key processes and workflows.

But to make all of this work, you need the right tools. Some handle infrastructure, others make the developer experience smoother, and a few bring everything together in one place.

This list covers 9 essential platform engineering tools that help teams ship faster and scale better.

Top 9 Platform Engineering Tools To Use

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the nine key tools that can help teams with platform engineering, and when to use them.

1. Backstage by Spotify

Backstage is an open-source developer portal built by Spotify. It acts as a central hub where developers can find all their services, docs, tools, and APIs in one place. This helps teams reduce time spent searching for things or setting up projects from scratch.

When to Use It:

• Create a service catalog that keeps all services visible and organized.
• Bring documentation and internal tools into one simple interface.
• Standardize the developer experience across teams and projects.

2. Crossplane

Crossplane lets you manage infrastructure through Kubernetes. Instead of writing separate IaC code for each cloud provider, you can create custom APIs that your team can use to request and provision infrastructure.

When to Use It:

• Define cloud infrastructure using Kubernetes-native resources.
• Manage and provision resources across different cloud providers.
• Create custom infrastructure APIs tailored to internal use cases.

3. Terraform

Terraform has become a go-to tool for defining and provisioning cloud infrastructure. It works across multiple cloud providers and helps teams manage everything as code using reusable modules.

When to Use It:

• Define and deploy infrastructure using simple configuration files.
• Manage resources across multiple clouds from one tool.
• Version and track infrastructure changes over time.

If you need expert resources to make the most of this tool, you should hire Terraform developers.

4. Argo CD

Argo CD is a GitOps tool that automates deployments to Kubernetes. It watches your Git repo and makes sure your cluster always matches what is in version control.

When to Use It:

• Set up Git-based deployment workflows for Kubernetes.
• Automate sync between your Git repo and live environments.
• Roll back or redeploy quickly with full traceability.

5. Pulumi

Pulumi is similar to Terraform but with a twist. You write infrastructure code using general-purpose programming languages like Python, TypeScript, or Go. That gives teams more flexibility, especially for complex setups.

When to Use It:

• Define infrastructure using familiar programming languages.
• Manage multi-cloud resources in one unified workflow.
• Write dynamic logic for more advanced infrastructure setups.

6. Helm

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. It lets you define, install, and upgrade applications using Helm charts, which are reusable templates for your workloads.

When to Use It:

• Simplify how you deploy applications to Kubernetes clusters.
• Manage configuration values in one structured place.
• Release consistent, versioned application updates.

7. Kratix

Kratix helps you build custom platforms that offer internal services as products. It allows DevOps developers to request infrastructure or services through simple workflows, and the platform takes care of the rest.

When to Use It:

• Build workflows that deliver infrastructure as a product.
• Enable developers to self-serve services with minimal effort.
• Fulfill internal platform promises automatically.

8. Humanitec

Humanitec provides a structured way to build and run internal developer platforms. It connects your existing tools and gives developers the ability to deploy services, manage configs, and spin up environments easily.

When to Use It:

• Orchestrate all platform components from one place.
• Automate environment creation and configuration.
• Let developers deploy services without needing deep infrastructure knowledge.

9. Dagger.io

The last platform engineering tool on the list, Dagger.io is a programmable CI/CD engine that helps teams define their pipelines as code using a portable and container-based approach. This tool gives platform engineers more control over how build and deploy steps are handled across services.

When to Use It:

• Build portable, consistent CI/CD pipelines using containers.
• Manage complex delivery workflows across teams and environments.
• Avoid bloated CI YAML files by using code-based logic.

Conclusion

Platform engineering is not about adding more tools. It is about solving real problems that slow developers down. Whether it's waiting for environments, fixing deployment pipelines, or juggling configs, the right tools make a big difference.

These nine platform engineering tools have proven useful across different companies and team sizes. You do not need all of them at once. Start with the one that solves your biggest problem today, and build from there.

And, for teams that want to build a solid internal platform without losing time figuring it out alone, working with a platform engineering service provider can offer the support needed to get there faster and with fewer missteps.