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 Jan 18, 2026

AWS Directory Service and JumpCloud offer cloud-based directory services. AWS Directory Service is superior in seamless integration within the AWS ecosystem, while JumpCloud leads in versatility across various IT environments.

Features: AWS Directory Service offers seamless AWS service integration, Microsoft Active Directory support, and managed solutions for hybrid applications. JumpCloud provides cross-platform compatibility, single sign-on, and policy management, making it suitable for diverse IT environments.

Room for Improvement: AWS Directory Service could benefit from improved UI simplicity, more robust cross-platform support, and enhanced documentation. JumpCloud can improve by refining its scalability options, lowering pricing, and expanding its policy management capabilities beyond registry changes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: AWS Directory Service benefits from quick deployment due to its integration with AWS infrastructure, but may require expertise. JumpCloud offers straightforward deployment without AWS prerequisites and strong customer support, providing accessibility for organizations without specialized support.

Pricing and ROI: AWS Directory Service offers competitive pricing for AWS-integrated firms, yielding good ROI through seamless integrations. JumpCloud has higher initial costs yet provides better long-term value due to its extensive features and cross-platform functionality.

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

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"The console is cloud-based, which is something I really appreciate."

"We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times."

"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."

"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

More iboss pros

"AWS has eliminated the downtime we waste when our on-premises resources go down."

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

"We like the fact that it's got such great redundancy."

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

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

"AWS handles everything on the backend requiring minimal legwork from our team. We only require a dedicated database administrator while depending on Amazon for RDS."

"Two-step authentication is very useful and important."

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

More AWS Directory Service pros

"I rate the stability of JumpCloud ten out of ten."

"The good thing about JumpCloud is having something where in a single tool, I can manage everything: users, groups, their permissions, their different applications, integrations, and the devices."

"The most impactful feature of JumpCloud is that it allows me to use one credential for all platforms or accounts, reducing the need to remember multiple credentials."

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"Ability to integrate all applications."

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

"JumpCloud has positively impacted our organization by drastically improving our security posture with better control over access, and we are definitely saving considerable time with automated onboarding and device management, allowing us to focus more on strategic projects."

"The most valuable features of JumpCloud are flexibility, policy management for devices, and device patch management. For example, we can limit access to devices only in Chile or send a number of commands to the devices to manage them."

More JumpCloud pros

Cons

"Fold that in with the risk intelligence they're getting from all of the different subscriptions they are a part of. Now, these security companies subscribe to things like emerging threats, databases, etc. You can fold all this intelligence to decide what's happening on an endpoint. I would love to see them start moving into that space. That would compete directly with Microsoft. Maybe that's why they haven't. Having that ability native within the solution would be great. The other area in which I would love to see improvement is more detailed descriptions of why they block websites."

"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."

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

"Its pricing could be better."

"SSL decryption: We had issues with learners using apps instead of using web browsers. This type of encryption is tough for any appliance in a BYOD environment."

"Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc. It is easy to gain access if, for example, hackers obtain my username and password."

"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."

"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."

More iboss cons

"I've encountered challenges, particularly with Amazon WorkDocs, which is being deprecated. This has made it necessary to find an alternative document management solution that can handle editing, sharing, and workflow management for documents like Word files and PDFs."

"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."

"Accessing the data needs improvement."

"The AWS Directory Service should be easier to integrate."

"The solution lacks certain features."

"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."

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

More AWS Directory Service cons

"There are a few aspects that could be improved. Their API was a little spotty when I last used it, and some of those use cases were around removing systems from our environment."

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

"I think the reporting in JumpCloud could be improved as it takes a while to pull the exact data you need sometimes."

"The querying for users in Jumpcloud could be improved, it is sometimes difficult to use. When you're trying to query a user and you spell out their name, you don't receive that person. Sometimes you receive a list of people with the same first name or last name. This could be better."

"Support is not good enough."

"The capability to get alerts would be great when CPU or RAM is high on an endpoint, or when a disk is failing. It would be great to get an alert rather than having to go looking for it."

"Lacks the ability to have various VPN applications."

"They need more straightening of the SSO capabilities."

More JumpCloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

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

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

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

"We pay an annual subscription fee."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"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."

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

"Licensing cost can be anywhere between $2 and $18 a month depending on what you want to do."

"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 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."

"We are using an enterprise license for JumpCloud. We have purchased a license for approximately $3,000 a year, but we are charged more than $135,000 annually."

"JumpCloud's monthly license costs around $25 for the complete solution."

"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."

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

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

11%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

18%

Computer Software Company

12%

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	5
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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JumpCloud?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing indicates that pricing can be considered competitive with simil...

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What needs improvement with JumpCloud?

JumpCloud can be improved in several areas. Some users feel the initial configuration can be complex, especially for ...

See all answers

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

Okta Platform vs JumpCloud

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

January 2026

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

January 2026

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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