AWS Lake Formation vs lakeFS

AWS Lake Formation9.4Visit lakeFS8.5Visit

Higher score AWS Lake Formation #1 in Data Lake Software 9.4/10 Paid ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit site

vs

lakeFS #6 in Data Lake Software 8.5/10 Free plan · pricing on request · 15-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 4 of 4 features Visit lakeFS

• AWS Lake Formation fits best

  AWS-native governed data lakes

• lakeFS fits best

  Versioned, governed data lakes

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature	AWS Lake Formation 9.4/10 Visit ↗	lakeFS 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.5
Ranking	#1 in Data Lake Software	#6 in Data Lake Software
Best for	AWS-native governed data lakes	Versioned, governed data lakes
Pricing model	Paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Not checked yet	—
Free plan	—	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	15 days
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Docs	Community, Docs
Integrations	9 integrations	20 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features AWS Lake Formation 4/4 · lakeFS 4/4
Metadata catalog	✓	✓
Governance controls	✓	✓
Open table formats	✓	✓
Data sharing	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Cloud	Hybrid
Ingestion modes	Batch	Not checked yet
Query interface	Both	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Database, table, column, row, and cell-level access controls Cross-account and cross-organization data sharing with CloudTrail auditing Supports Iceberg, Hudi, and Delta Lake tables across AWS analytics services	Git-like branching, merges, tags, and rollbacks for data Free-forever open-source edition with zero-copy branching Broad integrations across analytics, catalogs, ML, and storage
Cons	No free plan No fixed subscription plans or universal starting price Integrated services and some usage incur separate AWS charges	More specialized in versioning than ingestion and querying Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales Enterprise trial is separate from the permanent Community edition
Our verdict	AWS Lake Formation is a managed cloud service for building and governing data lakes on Amazon S3. It is designed for organizations that need centralized metadata, controlled access, auditing, and data sharing across AWS accounts,… Read the review →	lakeFS is an open-source and commercial data version-control platform for data, AI, and ML teams. It adds Git-like branching, commits, merges, rollbacks, tags, hooks, audit trails, lineage, and zero-copy data environments over object… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• AWS Lake Formation — where it wins

  • Database, table, column, row, and cell-level access controls
  • Cross-account and cross-organization data sharing with CloudTrail auditing
  • Supports Iceberg, Hudi, and Delta Lake tables across AWS analytics services

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan
  • No fixed subscription plans or universal starting price
  • Integrated services and some usage incur separate AWS charges

• lakeFS — where it wins

  • Git-like branching, merges, tags, and rollbacks for data
  • Free-forever open-source edition with zero-copy branching
  • Broad integrations across analytics, catalogs, ML, and storage

  Where it doesn't

  • More specialized in versioning than ingestion and querying
  • Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales
  • Enterprise trial is separate from the permanent Community edition

• AWS Lake Formation9.4/10 · Paid

  A deep AWS-native governance layer for organizations building managed data lakes on Amazon S3.

  Visit siteFull verdict →
• lakeFS8.5/10 · Free plan · pricing on request · 15-day trial

  A governed, Git-like control layer for versioned data lakes.

  Visit lakeFSFull verdict →