diff --git a/addrs/instance_key.go b/addrs/instance_key.go
index 41576c0b6..cef8b2796 100644
--- a/addrs/instance_key.go
+++ b/addrs/instance_key.go
@@ -68,3 +68,56 @@ func (k StringKey) String() string {
 	// slightly different than HCL's, but we'll accept it for now.
 	return fmt.Sprintf("[%q]", string(k))
 }
+
+// InstanceKeyLess returns true if the first given instance key i should sort
+// before the second key j, and false otherwise.
+func InstanceKeyLess(i, j InstanceKey) bool {
+	iTy := instanceKeyType(i)
+	jTy := instanceKeyType(j)
+
+	switch {
+	case i == j:
+		return false
+	case i == NoKey:
+		return true
+	case j == NoKey:
+		return false
+	case iTy != jTy:
+		// The ordering here is arbitrary except that we want NoKeyType
+		// to sort before the others, so we'll just use the enum values
+		// of InstanceKeyType here (where NoKey is zero, sorting before
+		// any other).
+		return uint32(iTy) < uint32(jTy)
+	case iTy == IntKeyType:
+		return int(i.(IntKey)) < int(j.(IntKey))
+	case iTy == StringKeyType:
+		return string(i.(StringKey)) < string(j.(StringKey))
+	default:
+		// Shouldn't be possible to get down here in practice, since the
+		// above is exhaustive.
+		return false
+	}
+}
+
+func instanceKeyType(k InstanceKey) InstanceKeyType {
+	if _, ok := k.(StringKey); ok {
+		return StringKeyType
+	}
+	if _, ok := k.(IntKey); ok {
+		return IntKeyType
+	}
+	return NoKeyType
+}
+
+// InstanceKeyType represents the different types of instance key that are
+// supported. Usually it is sufficient to simply type-assert an InstanceKey
+// value to either IntKey or StringKey, but this type and its values can be
+// used to represent the types themselves, rather than specific values
+// of those types.
+type InstanceKeyType rune
+
+const (
+	NoKeyType     InstanceKeyType = 0
+	IntKeyType    InstanceKeyType = 'I'
+	StringKeyType InstanceKeyType = 'S'
+)
diff --git a/addrs/module_instance.go b/addrs/module_instance.go
index ba1ee3e00..53184deda 100644
--- a/addrs/module_instance.go
+++ b/addrs/module_instance.go
@@ -235,6 +235,27 @@ func (m ModuleInstance) String() string {
 	return buf.String()
 }
 
+// Less returns true if the receiver should sort before the given other value
+// in a sorted list of addresses.
+func (m ModuleInstance) Less(o ModuleInstance) bool {
+	if len(m) != len(o) {
+		// Shorter path sorts first.
+		return len(m) < len(o)
+	}
+
+	for i := range m {
+		mS, oS := m[i], o[i]
+		switch {
+		case mS.Name != oS.Name:
+			return mS.Name < oS.Name
+		case mS.InstanceKey != oS.InstanceKey:
+			return InstanceKeyLess(mS.InstanceKey, oS.InstanceKey)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
 // Ancestors returns a slice containing the receiver and all of its ancestor
 // module instances, all the way up to (and including) the root module.
 // The result is ordered by depth, with the root module always first.
diff --git a/addrs/resource.go b/addrs/resource.go
index a57a29255..526a309a0 100644
--- a/addrs/resource.go
+++ b/addrs/resource.go
@@ -204,6 +204,35 @@ func (r AbsResourceInstance) String() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", r.Module.String(), r.Resource.String())
 }
 
+// Less returns true if the receiver should sort before the given other value
+// in a sorted list of addresses.
+func (r AbsResourceInstance) Less(o AbsResourceInstance) bool {
+	switch {
+
+	case len(r.Module) != len(o.Module):
+		return len(r.Module) < len(o.Module)
+
+	case r.Module.String() != o.Module.String():
+		return r.Module.Less(o.Module)
+
+	case r.Resource.Resource.Mode != o.Resource.Resource.Mode:
+		return r.Resource.Resource.Mode == DataResourceMode
+
+	case r.Resource.Resource.Type != o.Resource.Resource.Type:
+		return r.Resource.Resource.Type < o.Resource.Resource.Type
+
+	case r.Resource.Resource.Name != o.Resource.Resource.Name:
+		return r.Resource.Resource.Name < o.Resource.Resource.Name
+
+	case r.Resource.Key != o.Resource.Key:
+		return InstanceKeyLess(r.Resource.Key, o.Resource.Key)
+
+	default:
+		return false
+
+	}
+}
+
 // ResourceMode defines which lifecycle applies to a given resource. Each
 // resource lifecycle has a slightly different address format.
 type ResourceMode rune