Amazon Cognito Reviews

Name: Amazon Cognito
Brand: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Rating: 3.7 (14 reviews)

3.7 out of 5

14 reviews
78% willing to recommend

What is Amazon Cognito?

Amazon Cognito is a simple user identity and data synchronization service that helps you securely manage and synchronize app data for your users across their mobile devices. You can create unique identities for your users through a number of public login providers (Amazon, Facebook, and Google) and also support unauthenticated guests. You can save app data locally on users’ devices allowing your applications to work even when the devices are offline. With Amazon Cognito, you can save any kind of data in the AWS Cloud, such as app preferences or game state, without writing any backend code or managing any infrastructure. This means you can focus on creating great app experiences instead of having to worry about building and managing a backend solution to handle identity management, network state, storage, and sync.

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Amazon Cognito is the #6 ranked solution in top Access Management solutions. PeerSpot users give Amazon Cognito an average rating of 7.4 out of 10. Amazon Cognito is most commonly compared to Microsoft Entra ID: Amazon Cognito vs Microsoft Entra ID. Amazon Cognito is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 57% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 17% of all views.

Helped 841,164 peers since 2012

Featured Amazon Cognito reviews

Wojciech Doganowski

Solutions Architect & PMO at AS TV Play Baltics/TV3 Group

We are using it in an international setup where we have multiple services running in multiple countries. Cognito localizes only regarding language, but the service is localized in each country. Cognito has the possibility to render the login screen and all the customer flows related to managing the account. Still, it's useless in an international setup. They are unable to localize these screens, so we had to write our own screens and just use the Cognito API. I hope they will fix this soon because it's useful to rely on already prepared flows for all the account management. As it doesn't work with different languages, rewriting it is quite complicated. Additionally, maybe they could find another step in the price so there is not such a significant jump from the basic to extended functionality. Some flexibility would be helpful.

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Erik Aceiro

Solutions Architect III at Raizen

The developer experience for mobile apps is terrible. Documentation is very poor and it is difficult to read the documents available to put things into practice. Our team has issues finding information related to using the solution. SDK and libraries available for mobile apps are terrible. For example, if you use MFA to migrate one user from your database to the pool, you need to use Lambda functions or other methods in AWS to get the solution enabled. It is extremely difficult to put a very, very scalable project into practice. Our team doesn't think you can use the solution for B2C on a large scale. We thought the solution would provide an agile experience but it does not. The solution needs to keep a history of passwords. For example, you should be able to check if customers used the same password in the past when connecting to a company by username and password. This type of feature is a must for our project. The MFA related to the solution's side is nonexistent. MFA should occur on the Facebook or Google side and also on the solution's side. This is a big problem because we have wallets, credit cards, and sensitive data stored for each customer. One layer of security is totally missing.

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Subrata Mukherjee

Senior Technical Architect; Head of Platform at Blenheim Chalcot IT Services India

With Cognito, user authentication is more secure, and we no longer have to build and scale our own authentication model. It has benefited us by eliminating the need to incorporate security pointers manually. Furthermore, with Cognito's advanced features, we now achieve improved integration capability with other federated IDPs, enhancing our security and user management.

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Amazon Cognito mindshare

As of March 2025, the mindshare of Amazon Cognito in the Access Management category stands at 6.4%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Access Management

PeerAnalyst reports based on Amazon Cognito reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	Access Management	Mar 10, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Mar 10, 2025	Download
Comparison	Amazon Cognito vs Microsoft Entra ID	Mar 10, 2025	Download
Comparison	Amazon Cognito vs Auth0	Mar 10, 2025	Download
Comparison	Amazon Cognito vs Okta Workforce Identity	Mar 10, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Microsoft Entra ID	4.3	27.8%	94%	218 interviews Add to research
Cloudflare One	4.4	3.2%	100%	20 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

Amazon Cognito stands out for its efficient integration with AWS services, single sign-on, and seamless user verification. Its flexible token generation and various triggers, including OTP and email validation, enhance functionality. User management modules facilitate swift, time-saving operations without needing custom authentication systems. Integration ease across platforms and secure credential storage adds value, providing scalability and maintaining security. It efficiently manages user access and authentication, simplifying the process for diverse applications and environments.

"What is quite valuable is that we can outsource storage of the credentials to AWS, and they manage it quite securely."
"What I find most valuable about Amazon Cognito is the single sign-on feature that provides a token for accessing protected APIs."
"What I find most valuable about Amazon Cognito is the single sign-on feature that provides a token for accessing protected APIs."

Room for Improvement

Amazon Cognito integration complexity and poor documentation challenge developers. Mobile app SDK and libraries are inadequate. Limited security features like MFA and password history are concerns. High costs are burdensome. User experience is hampered by a complex interface and configuration. Localization issues exist for international operations. Lacking robust tracking for permissions, Amazon Cognito requires improvements for a scalable, customizable, and intuitive experience, with more security measures and streamlined user management processes needed.

"Cognito has the possibility to render the login screen and all the customer flows related to managing the account. Still, it's useless in an international setup. They are unable to localize these screens, so we had to write our own screens and just use the Cognito API."
"Amazon Cognito could be improved by making it easier for us to add more data to the token, allowing customization of JWT. It requires a complex program to customize the token currently, however, the UI could support this configuration better."
"Amazon Cognito could be improved by making it easier for us to add more data to the token, allowing customization of JWT."

ROI

Users consistently noted high ROI from Amazon Cognito, citing its cost-effectiveness and ease of integration. They experienced significant reductions in development time due to pre-built authentication features. Enhanced security protocols also provided peace of mind, reducing potential liabilities. Scalability allowed businesses to grow without additional costs, further maximizing returns. User feedback emphasized Amazon Cognito’s ability to handle large user bases efficiently, enhancing overall satisfaction and perceived value.

Pricing

Enterprise buyers find Amazon Cognito's pricing to vary widely based on user count and chosen functionalities. Some consider it inexpensive and scalable with a reasonable pay-as-you-go model, particularly for basic functions. However, others find extended functionalities and security to be costly, with monthly user licensing fees around $600. While some rate it affordable, others view the costs as high, especially for smaller organizations. Pricing opinions differ, typically rated between two and seven out of ten.

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"The product is relatively inexpensive compared to other tools."
"The price of the solution depends on the number of users using it."

Popular Use Cases

Companies primarily use Amazon Cognito for authentication, authorization, and user management. It is integrated with other systems like Okta for cost efficiency. Cognito enables projects with large user bases, offering features like multifactor authentication, SSO with Azure and Okta, OTP, and email verification. Companies also use Cognito for web and mobile app authentication, social sign-in, and integrating with identity providers for onboarding. It manages access control, policies, and user data efficiently, saving development time.

Service and Support

Premium AWS customers receive efficient support. Technical support is rated five out of ten. Some have not used Amazon Cognito support, while others find general Amazon service satisfactory, rated nine out of ten for communication via calls and email. Contacting support can be difficult, with general service rated eight out of ten. Documentation is extensive, yet understanding could improve, viewed as a six to seven if considered support.

Deployment

Initial setup of Amazon Cognito is generally straightforward, though complexity varies with environment and dependencies. Some rate it between five and eight out of ten, noting ease with documentation and Terraform use. Setup times range from 15 minutes to several hours depending on automation and configuration. Users highlight a need for better template options to simplify features. Customization and additional service integration may increase complexity, while strong documentation aids implementation.

Scalability

Amazon Cognito is generally seen as having strong scalability with positive ratings. Several users highlight its capacity to support thousands of users, although concerns exist over cost increases as usage grows. While many find it efficient and capable of supporting growth, some express concerns about backend scalability. Most users give high scores, indicating satisfaction with its ability to handle increased demand, with a few noting future plans to test scalability further.

Stability

Amazon Cognito experiences varied stability perceptions. Some users report stable performance across applications, rating it between seven to ten. Others note differences in behavior for native and iOS apps. Some mention integration challenges, specifically when using rest APIs. Many users express satisfaction with stability, mentioning no significant downtime or security issues. Several users highlight consistent performance without breakdowns or bugs, positioning Cognito as highly reliable in their experiences.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Amazon Cognito Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.