Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Amazon Cognito VS FusionAuth

Compare Amazon Cognito VS FusionAuth and see what are their differences

Amazon Cognito logo Amazon Cognito

Amazon Cognito lets you add user sign-up, sign-in, and access control to your web and mobile apps quickly and easily. It scales to millions of users and supports sign-in with social identity providers and enterprise identity providers via SAML 2.0.

FusionAuth logo FusionAuth

FusionAuth is a CIAM platform that is 100% free for unlimited users.
  • Amazon Cognito Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-13
  • FusionAuth Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-10

FusionAuth adds authentication, authorization, user management, reporting, analytics and much more in minutes not months.

Amazon Cognito features and specs

  • Scalability
    Amazon Cognito can automatically scale to handle millions of users, making it suitable for both small and large applications.
  • Security
    It is integrated with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and comes with built-in security features such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and encryption.
  • Integrations
    Cognito seamlessly integrates with other AWS services and can be easily incorporated into your existing AWS infrastructure.
  • Federated Identities
    It supports federated identities, allowing users to sign in with different identity providers like Google, Facebook, and enterprise identity providers via SAML.
  • User Management
    Offers robust user management features such as user groups, roles, and fine-grained access permissions, which are essential for more complex applications.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon Cognito

  • Complexity
    Setting up and configuring Cognito can be complex, especially for developers who are not familiar with AWS services or identity management.
  • Cost
    While the initial tier is free, costs can add up quickly for applications with a large user base and high interaction volume.
  • Limited Customization
    Although you can customize some aspects of the authentication flow, there are limitations which can be restrictive if you need highly tailored authentication processes.
  • Regional Availability
    Cognito may not be available in all AWS regions, which can be a limitation if your application needs to comply with data residency requirements or leverage a specific AWS region.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a learning curve associated with understanding how to effectively use and integrate Cognito within your application, which can take time and resources.

FusionAuth features and specs

  • Comprehensive Feature Set
    FusionAuth provides a wide range of authentication and authorization features including OAuth, SSO, MFA, social login, and user management.
  • Developer Friendly
    FusionAuth offers extensive documentation, APIs, and SDKs that make it easy for developers to integrate and customize.
  • Self-Hosted and SaaS Options
    FusionAuth can be deployed on-premises or accessed as a cloud service, providing flexibility based on organizational needs.
  • Scalable
    FusionAuth is designed to handle millions of users, making it suitable for both small-scale and enterprise-grade applications.
  • Good Community Support
    There is a vibrant community and responsive support team that can help with troubleshooting and advice.
  • Free Tier
    FusionAuth offers a free version that includes a substantial set of features, which is beneficial for startups and small projects.

Possible disadvantages of FusionAuth

  • Complex Initial Setup
    The initial configuration and setup can be complex and time-consuming, particularly for users who are not familiar with authentication systems.
  • Cost
    While there is a free tier, the advanced features and higher usage plans can become costly for larger applications.
  • Resource Intensive
    Self-hosting FusionAuth may require significant server resources, which can be a drawback for smaller organizations.
  • Learning Curve
    Given its comprehensive feature set, there can be a steep learning curve for new users to fully leverage all the capabilities.
  • Limited Customization for SaaS
    The SaaS version may have limitations in customization and control compared to the self-hosted option.

Amazon Cognito videos

Amazon Cognito Tutorial - Amazon Cognito User Pools & AWS Amplify Setup

FusionAuth videos

Replicating StackOverflow login with FusionAuth

More videos:

  • Demo - FusionAuth Demo

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Amazon Cognito and FusionAuth)
Identity Provider
81 81%
19% 19
SSO
75 75%
25% 25
Identity And Access Management
APIs
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Amazon Cognito and FusionAuth

Amazon Cognito Reviews

12 User Authentication Platforms [Auth0, Firebase Alternatives]
Cognito is Amazon’s cloud application authentication solution for the masses. It’s a low code deployment that can be used with conventional passwords or 3rd party logins like Google or Facebook.
Source: geekflare.com
Auth0 Vs cognito
Auth0 is far, far easier to implement. But… it is way more expensive. We started on Auth0 and then switched to Cognito. Cognito has cost us a lot of development time. On the other hand all of our data is collected in a single place, AWS, making it easier to analyze (Cloudwatch alerts).

FusionAuth Reviews

10 Best Auth0 Alternatives and Similar Platforms
Like Auth0, FusionAuth is a powerful user management solution with a lot more to offer. Getting started and setting up FusionAuth takes no time because it is compatible with databases, such as Java and C#.
IAM: A comparison of open-source tools
/ Digitalberry news / IAM: A comparison of open-source toolsIAM: A comparison of open-source toolsWhy use an Identity Provider (IdP)?Comparative study of Identity Providers (IdP)1. Our team’s first choice: Keycloak2. In second place of our comparative study: Gluu3. Special mention: FusionAuthDiscover our expertiseContact our experts
Auth0 and FusionAuth: A Tale of Two Solutions
One of the biggest differences between Auth0 and FusionAuth is cost. FusionAuth is free for unlimited users. No strings, gimmicks, or tricks. No cost increases when you hit a certain Monthly Active User threshold. Much like a database or a web server, secure authentication is so essential that developers should be able to implement it quickly and easily without cost...
Source: fusionauth.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Amazon Cognito should be more popular than FusionAuth. It has been mentiond 69 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Amazon Cognito mentions (69)

  • Securing Your Spring Boot Fortress: Best Practices for Robust Applications
    AWS Cognito: Offers user management, authentication, and authorization services. Provides pre-built UI components for user registration and login. AWS Cognito Documentation. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Make Tekton Dashboard user authenticated at EKS using AWS Cognito
    -- There will be a oauth2-proxy service deployed -- This service will be exposed via the loadbalancer and the loadbalancer will be mapped against the your domain eg tekton-dashboard.myeks.com -- The upstream of the oauth-proxy service is the tekton-dashboard service. -- We will use AWS Cognito as the OIDC provider for oauth2-proxy service ie user will be authenticated via AWS Cognito. -- With the above setup,... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Serverless Security - Cognito Misconfigurations
    Below I look into two possible misconfigurations for the Amazon Cognito service. This is a service from AWS that let's you add sign-up and authentication capabilities to your application quickly and easily. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • AWS Cognito - IAM in the Cloud
    AWS Cognito is a service that simplifies identity management for apps built in the AWS ecosystem. It facilitates the authentication of users and the authorization of those users to access resources in your application. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Friday Thoughts on email validation
    The authentication system is web based and thus uses HTML1. There is a backend written in JavaScript (actually TypeScript), which in turn - for some operations - talks to a service written in .NET that stores data in AWS Cognito. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
View more

FusionAuth mentions (30)

  • Launch HN: Stack Auth (YC S24) – An Open-Source Auth0/Clerk Alternative
    As someone who came from Auth0 and god-awful Amazon Cognito, we've been using FusionAuth for years. Their APIs and SDKs have been amazing to work with. https://fusionauth.io It does what Auth0 does but significantly more cheaper and you can also self-host if you want. I built the Pulimi plugin for it which helps us easily configure it. If you don't use Terraform or Pulumi, they have this really cool kickstart... - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Top 6 Open Source Identity and Access Management (IAM) Solutions For Enterprises
    FusionAuth is one of the most decorated and successful open-source IAM solutions. It has been downloaded by more than 10 million customers and hosts over 1 million digital identities. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Evolutive and robust password hashing using PBKDF2 in .NET
    Ideally, I would recommend not handling and storing passwords yourself. It is preferable to use an identity provider (IdP), such as Azure AD B2C, Auth0, or FusionAuth. These systems are designed to manage your users' identity (including their passwords) so you don't have to. You could also use Single Sign-On with cloud providers. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2023)
    FusionAuth | Senior Java Engineer, Senior TechOps Engineer, Senior Support Engineer | Full-time | Denver CO, USA | https://fusionauth.io FusionAuth is the authentication and authorization platform built for devs, by devs. Our software solves the problem of integrating essential user security without adding risk or distracting from the primary application. Ya know, the one with the features your users want to pay... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • SSO yet again - Authentik / Authelia / FusionAuth / Teleport / etc.
    But I rarely see a comprehensive comparison that is current for any of them. And then there are others out there like Teleport and FusionAuth. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Amazon Cognito and FusionAuth, you can also consider the following products

Auth0 - Auth0 is a program for people to get authentication and authorization services for their own business use.

Okta - Enterprise-grade identity management for all your apps, users & devices

Keycloak - Open Source Identity and Access Management for modern Applications and Services.

OneLogin - On-demand SSO, directory integration, user provisioning and more

Microsoft Azure Active Directory - Azure Active Directory is a comprehensive identity and access management cloud solution that provides a robust set of capabilities to manage users and groups and help secure access to applications including Microsoft online services like Office 365 …

LoginRadius - Loginradius is a cloud-based customer identity and access management platform. LoginRadius empowers businesses to deliver a delightful customer experience without compromising security.