Download Terraform for PC, Windows 11/10 & Mac (Free)

The Terraform download is free from HashiCorp: pick the zip for your machine, extract one terraform binary and put it on your PATH. It runs on Windows 11, Windows 10 and Mac, and there is no installer to click through.

This guide covers the right archive for your processor, the PATH step on Windows and Mac, checksum verification, upgrades, what HCP Terraform charges for, and fixes for the errors that stop the command from running.

Which Terraform download do you need?

HashiCorp ships one zip per operating system and processor. Match your machine in the left column and take the archive on that row.

Open Settings > System > About on Windows and read System type if you are unsure which chip you have. On a Mac, open the Apple menu and select About This Mac.

Download Terraform from the official HashiCorp links

HashiCorp publishes every build on its own release directory and lists them on the install page. The GitHub repository carries the source code, the changelog and the release notes.

1. Install Terraform (HashiCorp developer site) — binaries for Windows, macOS, Linux, plus Homebrew and package-manager commands
2. Windows 64-bit archive — 35.0 MB · the file most Windows 11 and Windows 10 PCs need
3. SHA256SUMS checksum file — one hash per archive
4. SHA256SUMS signature — signed with the HashiCorp release key
5. Release notes on GitHub — bug fixes and behaviour changes in this build
6. hashicorp/terraform source repository — the official HashiCorp organisation on GitHub

Skip any site offering a Terraform setup .exe . HashiCorp ships no Windows installer, so an executable named that way did not come from the vendor.

How to install Terraform on Windows 11 and 10

There is no wizard. You extract one file and tell Windows where to find it, which takes about two minutes.

1. Open the HashiCorp install page and select the Windows tab.
2. Click AMD64 to download the 64-bit archive, or ARM64 on a Snapdragon PC.
3. Create the folder C:\terraform in File Explorer.
4. Right-click the downloaded zip, choose Extract All, and extract terraform.exe into C:\terraform .
5. Press the Windows key, type environment variables and open Edit the system environment variables.
6. Click Environment Variables, select Path under your user variables and click Edit.
7. Click New, type C:\terraform , then click OK three times.
8. Open a fresh Command Prompt and run terraform -help . A list of subcommands confirms the install.

Windows caches the PATH per terminal, so every window open during step 7 still fails. Close them all and start a new one.

Which Terraform download do you need for your Mac?

Homebrew is the route HashiCorp documents first, because it handles the PATH and the upgrades for you. The zip works on any Mac, with or without Homebrew.

Run terraform -help in Terminal afterwards. If the shell reports command not found , /usr/local/bin is missing from your PATH.

Install Terraform on servers from the HashiCorp package repositories

Linux build agents are better served by the signed apt and yum repositories than by a copied binary. Each one keeps the package current through the normal system update.

Test the repository on one runner and confirm it with terraform version before the rest of the fleet.

How to verify the Terraform download before you run it

HashiCorp hashes every archive and signs the hash file. Checking the hash tells you the zip arrived intact and unmodified.

1. Download the SHA256SUMS file into the folder holding your archive.
2. On Windows, run certutil -hashfile terraform_1.16.3_windows_amd64.zip SHA256 in Command Prompt.
3. On a Mac, run shasum -a 256 terraform_1.16.3_darwin_arm64.zip in Terminal.
4. Open the SHA256SUMS file, find the line for your archive, and compare the two strings character for character.
5. For a full check, download the signature file and the HashiCorp public key.
6. Run gpg –import pgp-key.txt , then gpg –verify terraform_1.16.3_SHA256SUMS.sig terraform_1.16.3_SHA256SUMS .
7. Confirm the fingerprint reads C874 011F 0AB4 0511 0D02 1055 3436 5D94 72D7 468F .

Only the SHA256SUMS file carries a signature. The archives themselves are hashed rather than signed, so the hash file is the thing you check.

Run Terraform from a USB stick without installing it

The archive holds one self-contained binary with no registry keys and no shared libraries, which makes a portable copy trivial.

1. Download the Windows 64-bit archive on any PC.
2. Extract terraform.exe straight onto the USB stick.
3. Plug the stick into the target PC and open Command Prompt.
4. Run E: to switch to the stick, replacing E with its drive letter.
5. Run terraform.exe version to confirm the binary starts.
6. Change into your configuration folder and run terraform init , which writes providers into a local .terraform folder.

Providers download per working directory, not per binary, so the first terraform init on a new project still needs an internet connection.

How to check your Terraform version and update it

The binary tells you whether a newer build exists. Upgrading means replacing one file.

1. Open Command Prompt or Terminal and run terraform version .
2. Read the first line for your build, and the second for the platform, such as windows_amd64 .
3. Look for the line saying a newer version is available; it names the release to move to.
4. Download the matching archive from the install page.
5. Close every terminal, then replace the old terraform.exe with the new one in the same folder.
6. Run terraform version again to confirm the new build is live.
7. On a Mac with Homebrew, run brew upgrade hashicorp/tap/terraform instead.

Run terraform version -json in a script when you need the build and the provider selections as machine-readable output.

Is Terraform free?

Yes. The Terraform CLI is a free download under the Business Source License 1.1, and you may use it in production. The licence is source-available rather than open source: the one thing it forbids is offering Terraform to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in competition with HashiCorp’s paid products. Internal use inside an organisation is explicitly not a competitive offering. The money sits in HCP Terraform, the hosted service for remote state and runs. Its Free plan covers 500 managed resources, after which Essentials starts at $0.10 per resource per month, Standard at $0.47 and Premium at $0.99, with Terraform Enterprise quoted individually. Nobody sells a licence key for the CLI, so a site charging for one is a scam.

Read the licence terms and the pricing page before you commit a team to a plan.

Should you install Terraform 1.16 or the 1.17 beta?

Install the 1.16 stable line for any configuration that touches real infrastructure. 1.16.3 is the build the install page serves and the newest stable tag in the repository. The 1.17.0-beta1 pre-release exists on GitHub for testing only, and beta state changes can be awkward to roll back. Take the beta on a scratch project when you need to check a new language feature against your modules early, and pin the stable line everywhere else with a required_version constraint.

Check the Terraform system requirements before you download

The binary itself is undemanding. Disk space goes on the providers that terraform init pulls into each working directory.

Fix Terraform not installing or not running on Windows 11 or 10

‘terraform’ is not recognized as an internal or external command

The folder holding terraform.exe is not on your PATH, or the terminal predates the change.

1. Close every Command Prompt and PowerShell window, then open a new one.
2. Run where terraform . Silence means Windows cannot find the binary.
3. Confirm terraform.exe really sits in C:\terraform and not inside a nested folder from the zip.
4. Add C:\terraform to Path under Environment Variables, following Microsoft’s PATH guidance.
5. Open a new terminal and run terraform -help again.

The zip extracts but nothing happens when you double-click the file

This is a command-line program with no window of its own.

1. Open Command Prompt rather than File Explorer.
2. Run cd C:\terraform , then terraform version .
3. Read the output in the terminal; there is no graphical interface to appear.

Windows SmartScreen or your antivirus blocks the extracted binary

An unsigned command-line tool from a browser download carries the mark of the web.

1. Confirm the archive hash matches the SHA256SUMS entry first.
2. Right-click the zip, choose Properties, tick Unblock and click OK.
3. Extract the archive again and run terraform version .

terraform init fails with a provider registry or TLS error

A proxy or firewall is intercepting the connection to the provider registry.

1. Run terraform init again with TF_LOG=DEBUG set to see the failing host.
2. Allow registry.terraform.io and releases.hashicorp.com through the proxy.
3. Set HTTPS_PROXY in the same terminal if your network requires an explicit proxy.

The command runs but reports an unexpected build

A second copy is earlier on the PATH, often from Homebrew or a package manager.

1. Run where terraform on Windows or which -a terraform on a Mac.
2. Delete or rename every copy you did not intend to keep.
3. Run terraform version in a new terminal to confirm which build answers.

How to uninstall Terraform

Nothing was written to Apps & features, because nothing was installed. Removal means deleting the binary and tidying the PATH.

1. Run where terraform on Windows, or which -a terraform on a Mac, to locate every copy.
2. Delete terraform.exe from that folder, or run sudo rm /usr/local/bin/terraform on a Mac.
3. Open Environment Variables and remove the folder entry you added to Path.
4. Delete the %APPDATA%\terraform.d folder on Windows, or ~/.terraform.d on a Mac, to clear plugin caches and credentials.
5. Delete the .terraform folder inside each project you initialised, which holds the downloaded providers.
6. Run brew uninstall hashicorp/tap/terraform instead if you installed it through the tap.
7. Open a new terminal and run terraform version . A not-found error confirms the removal.

Leave the .tfstate files alone unless you have destroyed the infrastructure they describe. They are the only record of what was built.

Which Terraform option should you use instead of a local binary?

The CLI is the same binary in every case. HCP Terraform changes where the runs and the state live, not the commands you type.

Frequently asked questions

Is Terraform free to download?

Yes. The Terraform CLI is a free download under the Business Source License 1.1, with no trial period and no licence key. Paid plans apply only to HCP Terraform, the hosted service for remote state and runs.

Where is the official Terraform download page?

The official page is the install page on developer.hashicorp.com. It links every platform archive on releases.hashicorp.com and lists the Homebrew, apt and yum commands. No other site distributes the binaries.

Does Terraform work on Windows 11?

Yes. HashiCorp publishes AMD64, ARM64 and 386 Windows archives that run on Windows 11 and Windows 10. There is no minimum build requirement, because the binary is self-contained and has no framework dependency.

Is there a Terraform installer or setup file for Windows?

No. HashiCorp distributes a zip archive holding a single terraform.exe, not an MSI or a setup executable. You extract the file yourself and add its folder to your PATH. Treat any setup.exe offered elsewhere as unofficial.

How big is the Terraform download?

The Windows 64-bit archive is 35.0 MB. The other builds range from 30.9 MB for Windows ARM64 to 35.8 MB for Intel Mac. Providers downloaded later by terraform init take far more disk space than the binary.

Is there a Terraform offline installer?

Yes, in effect. Each archive is a complete self-contained binary, so you can copy it to a machine with no internet access and run it. Only terraform init needs a connection, to fetch providers.

Is there a Terraform download for Mac?

Yes. HashiCorp ships darwin_arm64 for Apple silicon and darwin_amd64 for Intel Macs, plus an official Homebrew tap. Homebrew handles the PATH and upgrades, which is why the documentation lists it first.

Is there a 32-bit or ARM64 version of Terraform?

Yes to both on Windows: the 386 archive covers 32-bit systems and the ARM64 archive covers Snapdragon PCs. macOS gets ARM64 and AMD64 builds, and Linux gets AMD64 and ARM64.

Is Terraform safe to download?

It is, when the archive comes from releases.hashicorp.com. Compare its SHA256 hash against the published SHA256SUMS file, which is itself signed with the HashiCorp key, fingerprint C874 011F 0AB4 0511 0D02 1055 3436 5D94 72D7 468F.

What is the latest version of Terraform?

The current stable release is 1.16.3, published on 16 September 2026 and served by the HashiCorp install page. A 1.17.0-beta1 pre-release sits alongside it on GitHub for testing.

Why does Windows say terraform is not recognized?

The folder holding terraform.exe is not on your PATH, or the terminal was open before you added it. Close every terminal, confirm the path entry, then open a new Command Prompt and try again.

Do I need an account to use Terraform?

No account is needed for the CLI itself. You need credentials for whichever cloud you are managing, and a HashiCorp account only if you sign up for HCP Terraform.

Can I install older versions of Terraform?

Yes. The HashiCorp release directory keeps a folder per version with the same set of platform archives. Pin the version your configuration expects with a required_version constraint.