AWS Directory Service vs JumpCloud comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and JumpCloud are both solutions in the Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #18 with an average rating of 8.7, while JumpCloud is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4. Additionally, 93% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of JumpCloud users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 12, 2025

AWS Directory Service and JumpCloud compete in the identity and access management category. JumpCloud edges ahead due to its broad feature set, which provides flexibility suited to mixed IT environments.

Features: AWS Directory Service is valued for its seamless Amazon Web Services integration, robust security features, and compatibility with Microsoft Active Directory. JumpCloud stands out with cross-platform identity management, a zero-trust security model, and device management capabilities fitting diverse IT needs.

Room for Improvement:AWS Directory Service could improve in its user interface design, cross-platform support beyond AWS, and integration with non-AWS services. JumpCloud would benefit from refining its documentation, enhancing advanced analytics capabilities, and providing more granular access controls.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:AWS Directory Service offers simplified deployment through its integration with AWS infrastructure but demands strong AWS knowledge. Its customer service efficiently supports needs within the AWS ecosystem. JumpCloud provides straightforward deployment in varied IT environments, backed by comprehensive support skilled in navigating different platforms.

Pricing and ROI:AWS Directory Service presents competitive setup costs, especially for AWS users, yielding a strong ROI due to minimal extra infrastructure needs. JumpCloud, though potentially pricier, justifies its cost with extensive features and flexibility, leading to significant ROI gains in varied IT landscapes.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Directory Service vs. JumpCloud Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Directory Service vs. JumpCloud

December 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

iboss

Featured Reviews

reviewer2701851

Managing Director

Enhances web security with a single pane of glass and flexible deployment

I don't see any need for improvement; one of the really good things about iboss as a company is that they listen to customer feedback. I have suggested enhancements, and they are responsive, making changes for the better, and they do a lot of testing. To improve iboss, although we haven't used it, we considered the VPN solution that comes with the highest tier licensing, which includes DLP and various other add-ons. We prefer using another product which automatically logs you back onto your network when turning on your PC. With iboss, the connection is manual, which doesn't meet our needs. Additionally, sizing can be tricky because, although the initial recommendations may seem adequate, actual usage may require more gateways than anticipated.

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Mirza Mujtaba Baig

Lead AWS Data Engineer at Fission Labs

Centralized data repository integration supports data governance and improves security

AWS Directory Service offers important features for accessing different data modules through Cognito and web browsers. It supports data warehousing and analytics services for building a secure data lake for data ingestion, processing, governance, storage, and management activities. Its close integration with other AWS services and support for network protocols enhances its value.

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Arun Jose

System Administrator at Mensa Brands

Unified directory and device management has streamlined remote workforce security and onboarding

JumpCloud can be improved in several areas. Some users feel the initial configuration can be complex, especially for larger organizations, and better guided onboarding could be helpful. Additionally, while its reporting and integrations are strong, more granular and customizable metrics and real-time alerts would be beneficial for advanced use cases. From my team's perspective, there is often a desire for even more intuitive administrative controls, particularly when managing complex policy sets. Enhanced integrations with specific industry-specific applications could provide even greater efficiency. It is about refining the user experience and expanding compatibility. Another area for potential enhancement could be customer support and resources. While generally good, faster response times and more comprehensive or specialized documentation could further improve the user experience, especially during complex deployments.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

"Because of iboss, I did not have to assign web filtering tasks to my techs on a daily basis."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"We chose iboss for both zero trust and proxy (SWG) because their SWG was superior."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device."

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

More iboss pros

"I like the manageability. Activate Connect makes it easier to assign information and to manage the resources in the network."

"I would rate AWS Directory Service nine out of ten."

"The pricing is very good because it is low and there is no management cost."

"The support is very good. I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten."

"Provides good performance and availability."

"The most valuable feature of AWS Directory Service is cost-cutting features."

"We can provide specific access to people based on what they need from our accounts."

"The most valuable feature is that because it's all in the cloud, you don't need to manage the infrastructure."

More AWS Directory Service pros

"The interface is clean and user-friendly. Setting up new devices or setting up new users inside the system is easy. Also, it integrates with Office 365, which is pretty much a must for our organization."

"Some of the most valuable features of Jumpcloud have been the use of the policies. They have been very helpful. There are modules in there for policies where you can create your own which indirectly are GPOs similar to what you have for Microsoft environments, however, they are only doing registry changes. They are very powerful and useful. Additionally, having your directory and SSO in one spot is another thing that they provide in application management. Adding, removing, and updating applications are in one place for desktop administration."

"The usual authentication and authorization, which were all controlled into one portal, are very convenient."

"The UI is intuitively easy to use. It is easy to set up a user. I have found the group management to be pretty simple. You can group users, then assign them to groups of systems, and that relationship allows us to ease the management burden."

"The cross-platform support and easy policy deployment from JumpCloud have greatly assisted my team, especially since it is typically difficult to deploy services across various directory services on Linux."

"The whole product is great. The device management is amazing. The fact that you can basically set up an entire machine without having the machine in front of you is most valuable."

"JumpCloud has positively impacted my organization because we can work more efficiently by focusing on the one user portal to use the applications."

"After deploying to the cloud, we had remote device management on all of our corporate laptops."

More JumpCloud pros

Cons

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"The reporting feature needs improvement."

"Its pricing could be better."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."

"Their on-premise hardware's network interface is capped at one gigabit, which is sort of a problem. If you stand a filter up where all traffic flows through that, according to them, in order to go above a gigabit, you have to have multiple devices, which in today's IT seems a little bit silly. They could easily put in an SFP port into their device that could accommodate 10 gigs or at least offer a box."

More iboss cons

"Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration."

"Can be improved by including on-premises access for services through Identity Access Management."

"Some of the security protocols are difficult to understand."

"Currently, there is no option to integrate our on-premises Cisco AWS Directory Service, requiring some manual configuration. If AWS Active Directory Service provided additional domain controller functionalities, like other on-premises Active Directory, it would be very helpful."

"AWS Directory Service needs to improve processing."

"I would like to grant partial access to a table contained in a database without having to provide full access to the whole database."

"Accessing the data needs improvement."

"To get CloudWatch to monitor your memory and storage, you have to do some configuration within your server, which sometimes results in errors."

More AWS Directory Service cons

"Customer service is fairly good, and sometimes it takes a little time to hear back."

"They need more straightening of the SSO capabilities."

"The visual tool and interface must be more fine-tuned."

"It could dip into CI/CD tooling as well. That would be a very interesting part to see."

"JumpCloud can improve in its synchronization of identities. More specifically, groups with Office 365. They've been working on it, but it's not where I would necessarily like it to be."

"I would like AWS to integrate more cloud platforms with JumpCloud, such as Alibaba or Oracle."

"Lacks the ability to have various VPN applications."

"I chose to give it a nine out of ten because I see the need for improved security levels in JumpCloud, including more security features."

More JumpCloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"The pricing depends because with AWS there are two types of directory objects: 30,000 and 500,000. It varies. AWS provides the pricing calculators so we can get an estimate from there as per the company requirement of how many users and objects that we need to create. So we can go to that portal, put in the data, and get the quotation. There are no extra licensing fees. It's all included."

"We pay an annual subscription fee."

"AWS' pricing is fair, and costs can be cut if you look carefully at when you're using it."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The cost of the solution is approximately $12 per user. However, the cost depends on what modules you're using. They have an all-in-one package and they do have tiers. For example, the more users you have, the cheaper it ends up being in the end too. I know they've done some changes to the pricing model and I haven't been involved in a lot of the licensing lately. I don't know the exact cost at this time."

"The cost was around $5 per user per month."

"I rate the product's pricing a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"I am pretty sure that the cost to acquire JumpCloud is less. They have à la carte or per-user pricing. The pricing is there on their webpage. I am not sure if they have any enterprise pricing or discounts if you have more users. But the overall pricing is less than Okta."

"The pricing is all on the JumpCloud website. It's not hidden, you don't have to go through a show me a quote type procedure. The pricing is straightforward to understand."

"The solution is pretty expensive."

"JumpCloud offers several subscription plans as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider. The pricing is based on the number of users and the services that are required, meaning that you only pay for what you consume and don't have to pay for services that you don't need. When compared to other solutions, JumpCloud can actually be more cost-effective, as it eliminates the need to hire a team, purchase hardware, pay for licenses and software, and worry about updates, security, and backups. Thus, it offers a more efficient and cost-effective solution for managing your needs."

"The pricing model changed about 18 months ago. It used to be that you got 10 users free, and then you paid for any user above 10 users. Now, when you go above 10 users, you pay for every user. It has become a bit more expensive, but it's such a good product. When you take into account Microsoft licenses, if you were to run Active Directory, you'd need a server to put it on, or you would need a couple of servers, backup, etc. It's a no-brainer. JumpCloud is so much easier to manage from my perspective, regardless of the cost increase. It's just brilliant."

More JumpCloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Performing Arts

12%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

17%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

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What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Directory Service?

The pricing is very good because it is low and there is no management cost. You do not need to hire any system admini...

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What needs improvement with AWS Directory Service?

Accessing the data needs improvement. Additionally, integration and compatibility with other AWS ( /products/amazon-a...

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What advice do you have for others considering AWS Directory Service?

I would rate AWS Directory Service nine out of ten. Users need to be aware of how the system works locally to adapt e...

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What do you like most about JumpCloud?

The product enables device management.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JumpCloud?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that JumpCloud licensing is based on how many users they reg...

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What needs improvement with JumpCloud?

I think JumpCloud can be improved by enhancing their support because it takes so long to get feedback from them if I ...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs iboss

Compared 7% of the time

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Microsoft Entra ID vs AWS Directory Service

Compared 38% of the time

Microsoft Entra External ID vs AWS Directory Service

Compared 16% of the time

Okta Platform vs AWS Directory Service

Compared 14% of the time

Omada Identity vs AWS Directory Service

Compared 11% of the time

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs AWS Directory Service

Compared 11% of the time

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Teleport vs JumpCloud

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs JumpCloud

Compared 8% of the time

Scalefusion vs JumpCloud

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Active Directory vs JumpCloud

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Intune vs JumpCloud

Compared 7% of the time

More JumpCloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

December 2025

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS)

November 2025

Download AWS Directory Service product report

Buyer's Guide

JumpCloud

December 2025

Download JumpCloud product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

AWS Managed Microsoft AD

Resmo

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

AWS Directory Service lets you run Microsoft Active Directory (AD) as a managed service. AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory, also referred to as AWS Managed Microsoft AD, is powered by Windows Server 2012 R2. When you select and launch this directory type, it is created as a highly available pair of domain controllers connected to your virtual private cloud (VPC). The domain controllers run in different Availability Zones in a region of your choice. Host monitoring and recovery, data replication, snapshots, and software updates are automatically configured and managed for you.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

JumpCloud offers efficient device management, single sign-on, and integration capabilities. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, streamlining user management across diverse environments.

JumpCloud delivers device, user, and application management across platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux, and cloud services such as AWS and Azure. Acting as a cloud-based directory, it facilitates single sign-on and identity access management, making it an attractive replacement for Active Directory and LDAP directories. Its policy management and centralized directory simplify user and device administration, offering a user-friendly interface with flexible access control and remote management. Organizations can experience streamlined onboarding and offboarding processes, robust authentication, and scalability. Despite being powerful, room for improvement is noted in alert capabilities, comprehensive MDM for Windows, multi-tenant features, and API reliability.

What are the key features of JumpCloud?

Device Management: Manage Windows, Mac, and Linux devices efficiently.
Single Sign-on: Seamlessly integrate with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Centralized Directory: Simplifies administration by consolidating user credentials.
Policy Management: Enforce policies and provide VPN access.
Remote Management: Provides flexible access control.

Why should users consider JumpCloud?

Streamlined Onboarding/Offboarding: Efficient user management saves time.
Robust Authentication: Enhances security through strong credential management.
Scalability: Adapts well to growing business needs.
Integration Capabilities: Supports seamless connections with cloud applications.

Companies across industries utilize JumpCloud for comprehensive management of devices and user identities. It is especially beneficial in technology-driven sectors where centralized directory services replace traditional Active Directory and LDAP models. Organizations employing platforms like AWS and Azure find it essential for maintaining efficient and secure access management.

JumpCloud

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Cars.com, GoFundMe, Grab, ClassPass, Uplight, Beyond Finance, Foursquare

Buyer's Guide

AWS Directory Service vs. JumpCloud

December 2025

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