Give users an identity to interact with our web or mobile application

Cognito User Pools

  • Sign in functionality for app users
  • Integrate with API Gateway & ALB

Cognito Identity Pools (Federated Identity)

  • Provide AWS credentials to users so they can access AWS resources directly
  • Integrate with Cognito User Pools as an identity provider

Cognito vs IAM: ‘hundreds of users’, ‘mobile users’, ‘authenticate with SAML’

Cognito User Pools (CUP) - User Features

Create a serverless database of user for your web & mobile apps

Simple login with username/password. Ability to reset password, email & phone verification, MFA, featured identities like Facebook, google

Cognito Identity Pools (Federated Identities)

Get identities for users so they obtain temporary AWS credentials

  • Users can access AWS services directly or through API Gateway.
  • IAM policies applied to credentials defined in Cognito.
  • Customizable based on user_id for fine-grained control.
  • Default IAM roles for authenticated and guest users