Amazon Cognito review
A low-cost AWS-native choice for application authentication and customer identity.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Amazon Cognito is a managed identity and access service for web, iOS, Android, and API applications. It provides user directories, authentication, authorization, identity federation, and temporary AWS credentials. The service is aimed primarily at developers building customer-facing applications, especially those already using AWS. User pools support local accounts, Managed Login, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML 2.0, social identity providers, MFA, passkeys, passwordless sign-in, and Lambda-backed custom authentication flows.
Pricing is usage-based per monthly active user. Lite costs $0.0055 per monthly active user and includes registration, authentication, user management, social, SAML, and OIDC provider integration, username-and-password sign-in, and authenticator-app and SMS MFA. Eligible accounts receive 10,000 monthly active users free per month on Lite. Essentials costs $0.015 per monthly active user and adds Managed Login, passwordless login with passkeys, email, or SMS, email MFA, and access-token customization. Plus costs $0.02 per monthly active user and adds threat protection, risk-based adaptive authentication, compromised-credentials detection, and threat-profile and user-activity logging. The published plans also show a 50-MAU free tier for SAML/OIDC-federated users, while Plus has no free tier.
AWS integration is a major reason to choose Cognito. It connects with Lambda, API Gateway, IAM, S3, DynamoDB, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, SNS, and SES, while identity pools can issue temporary AWS credentials. OAuth 2.0 client credentials support machine-to-machine authorization. MFA methods include email, SMS, TOTP authenticator apps, and supported passkeys, and passwordless sign-in supports email, SMS OTPs, and WebAuthn passkeys. Choose Cognito for low-cost application authentication with AWS services; choose another category fit if the priority is a standalone workforce directory.
Amazon Cognito pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free plan with 10,000 MAUs for eligible Lite and Essentials accounts
- OAuth, OIDC, SAML, social login, MFA, and passwordless access
- Identity pools issue temporary credentials for AWS resource access
- Where it doesn't
- Usage-based pricing can vary with monthly active users
- Plus has no free tier and adds cost for threat protection
- Developer-oriented customer IAM rather than a workforce directory
Amazon Cognito fact sheet, pricing and score →
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.
Last updated · How we research and update