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AWS Key Management Service vs Amazon Cognito: What are the differences?
AWS Key Management Service vs Amazon Cognito: Key Differences
Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers several services with different functionalities to cater to various security requirements of users. Two such services are AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and Amazon Cognito. Let's explore the key differences between these two services.
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Integration with Different AWS Services:
- AWS KMS is primarily used for cryptographic key management, allowing users to create, manage, and secure encryption keys used to encrypt and decrypt data in other AWS services and applications.
- On the other hand, Amazon Cognito is a fully managed service that provides user authentication, user management, and access control capabilities. It is designed to be integrated with mobile and web applications and can authenticate users via various identity providers, including social media platforms and third-party identity services.
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Scope of Service:
- AWS KMS focuses on secure key management, including key creation, rotation, and management of permissions and policies related to keys. It also supports integration with Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) for added security.
- In contrast, Amazon Cognito offers a broader set of features, including user signup and sign-in, identity verification, multi-factor authentication, and synchronization of user data across devices.
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Encryption of Data:
- With AWS KMS, users can encrypt data at rest and in transit using keys managed by the service. It offers a variety of encryption algorithms and customization options, ensuring data remains secure.
- In contrast, Amazon Cognito does not directly handle encryption. However, it integrates with AWS KMS and allows developers to securely store and retrieve sensitive user data using encryption keys managed by KMS.
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Use Case Orientation:
- AWS KMS is mainly aimed at developers and administrators who need to manage cryptographic keys securely and integrate them into their applications and services.
- On the other hand, Amazon Cognito targets application developers who require user management and authentication features for their mobile and web applications.
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Pricing Model:
- AWS KMS pricing is primarily based on the number of keys managed, API calls made, and the regions in which the service is used. Users are billed for the key requests and AWS CloudTrail logging, among other factors.
- In contrast, Amazon Cognito pricing is based on the number of monthly active users (MAUs) and the volume of data synced across devices.
In summary, AWS KMS focuses on key management and encryption, providing a foundation for secure data storage and transmission, while Amazon Cognito offers user management, authentication, and access control features for mobile and web applications.
Decisions about Amazon Cognito and AWS Key Management Service
Brent Maxwell
CEO at DEFY Labs · | 4 upvotes · 288.8K views
I started our team on Amazon Cognito because I was a Solutions Architect at AWS and found it really easy to follow the tutorials and get a basic app up and running with it.
When our team started working with it, they very quickly became frustrated because of the poor documentation. After 4 days of trying to get all the basic passwordless auth working, our lead engineer made the decision to abandon it and try Auth0... and managed to get everything implemented in 4 hours.
The consensus was that Cognito just isn't mature enough or well-documented, and that the implementation does not cater for real world use cases the way that it should. I believe Amplify has made some of this simpler, but I would still recommend Auth0 as it's been bulletproof for us, and is a sensible price.
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Learn MorePros of Amazon Cognito
Pros of AWS Key Management Service
Pros of Amazon Cognito
- Backed by Amazon14
- Manage Unique Identities7
- Work Offline4
- MFA3
- Store and Sync2
- Free for first 50000 users1
- It works1
- Integrate with Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, SAML1
- SDKs and code samples1
Pros of AWS Key Management Service
- Integrated with AWS CloudTrail6
- KMS4
- Backed by Amazon4
- Free0
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Cons of Amazon Cognito
Cons of AWS Key Management Service
Cons of Amazon Cognito
- Massive Pain to get working4
- Documentation often out of date3
- Login-UI sparsely customizable (e.g. no translation)2
- Docs are vast but mostly useless1
- MFA: there is no "forget device" function1
- Difficult to customize (basic-pack is more than humble)1
- Lacks many basic features1
- There is no "Logout" method in the API1
- Different Language SDKs not compatible1
- No recovery codes for MFA1
- Hard to find expiration times for tokens/codes1
- Only paid support1
Cons of AWS Key Management Service
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What is Amazon Cognito?
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.
What is AWS Key Management Service?
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service that makes it easy for you to create and control the encryption keys used to encrypt your data, and uses Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) to protect the security of your keys. AWS Key Management Service is integrated with other AWS services including Amazon EBS, Amazon S3, and Amazon Redshift. AWS Key Management Service is also integrated with AWS CloudTrail to provide you with logs of all key usage to help meet your regulatory and compliance needs.
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What companies use Amazon Cognito?
What companies use AWS Key Management Service?
What companies use Amazon Cognito?
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What tools integrate with Amazon Cognito?
What tools integrate with AWS Key Management Service?
What tools integrate with Amazon Cognito?
What tools integrate with AWS Key Management Service?
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What are some alternatives to Amazon Cognito and AWS Key Management Service?
Auth0
A set of unified APIs and tools that instantly enables Single Sign On and user management to all your applications.
Okta
Connect all your apps in days, not months, with instant access to thousands of pre-built integrations - even add apps to the network yourself. Integrations are easy to set up, constantly monitored, proactively repaired and handle authentication and provisioning.
Firebase
Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications. Simply add the Firebase library to your application to gain access to a shared data structure; any changes you make to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.
AWS IAM
It enables you to manage access to AWS services and resources securely. Using IAM, you can create and manage AWS users and groups, and use permissions to allow and deny their access to AWS resources.
Keycloak
It is an Open Source Identity and Access Management For Modern Applications and Services. It adds authentication to applications and secure services with minimum fuss. No need to deal with storing users or authenticating users. It's all available out of the box.