Compare · Amazon Cognito
Seamless Auth vs Amazon Cognito
Amazon Cognito user pools are an AWS-operated identity service. Seamless Auth is an open source, passwordless-only auth server that you self-host, on AWS or anywhere else, or run on the managed service.
Read the full comparisonChoose Amazon Cognito if
- Your application is built on AWS and leans on IAM, identity pools and API Gateway authorizers.
- You need SAML enterprise SSO.
- You need an OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect provider for other applications, or machine-to-machine tokens.
- You need password sign-in, or to import existing password hashes.
- You want to run custom code inside the sign-in flow with Lambda triggers.
- You need a vendor’s compliance coverage, or want nothing to run yourself.
Choose Seamless Auth if
- You want passkeys enforced, not just offered alongside another first factor.
- You want a stricter passkey policy: user verification required by default, and allow or deny rules for authenticator models.
- Users and sessions must stay inside your own boundary, on any cloud.
- You want the auth server, adapters, SDKs, dashboard and CLI under Apache-2.0.
- You prefer not to pay per active user or per token request.
- You want your user data in a database you can query, and organizations built in.
At a glance
| Feature | Seamless Auth | Amazon Cognito |
|---|---|---|
| License | Apache-2.0 for the server, SDKs, dashboard and CLI | Proprietary AWS service |
| Hosting | Self-host (Docker, Postgres) or Seamless Auth managed hosting | Operated by AWS, per AWS Region |
| Passwords | No, by design | Yes |
| SAML enterprise SSO | No | Yes |
| Custom code in the sign-in flow | No, the logic goes in your own backend | Yes, Lambda triggers |
| AWS integration | None; your backend verifies sessions with a server adapter | Identity pools, API Gateway authorizers, Amplify |
Sources and the full table
The docs page has the full feature table, the architecture difference, when not to use Seamless Auth, and a source for every Amazon Cognito detail with the date it was checked.
Seamless Auth vs Amazon Cognito in the docs →What it costs
Prices change, so this site does not repeat them. Any published prices are in the docs comparison with their sources and dates, and the cost calculator puts Auth0 and Okta Customer Identity list prices next to the cost of running Seamless Auth yourself.
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