What is Amazon Cognito?
Amazon Cognito is an identity management service for web and mobile applications. The service provides user registration, authentication, and access control without your own identity infrastructure. Cognito supports social login, SAML, and OpenID Connect for federation with external identity providers.
Key Features
- User Pools for user registration and login
- Identity Pools for AWS credential exchange
- Social login with Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon
- SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect federation
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Common Use Cases
SaaS Applications: Cognito fully manages user registration, login, and password recovery. SDKs for JavaScript, iOS, Android, and React Native accelerate integration.
Federated Identity: Connect enterprise identity providers via SAML or OIDC. Employees log in with their company credentials without creating separate accounts.
Serverless Backends: Identity Pools exchange Cognito tokens for temporary AWS credentials. Authenticated users can directly access S3, DynamoDB, or API Gateway.
Benefits
- No own identity infrastructure required
- Scales automatically to millions of users
- Integrated security features like MFA and password policies
- Pay-per-use without upfront investments
Integration with innFactory
As an AWS Reseller, innFactory supports you with Amazon Cognito: authentication architecture, federation setup, user migration, and integration into your applications.
Typical Use Cases
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Amazon Cognito cost?
The first 50,000 MAUs (Monthly Active Users) are free in the Free Tier. Additional MAUs then cost $0.0055. SAML/OIDC federation costs $0.015 per MAU after 50 free.
What is the difference between User Pools and Identity Pools?
User Pools manage user registration and authentication. Identity Pools exchange User Pool tokens or social login tokens for temporary AWS credentials for accessing AWS services.
Which social login providers does Cognito support?
Cognito supports Login with Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Additionally, you can integrate any SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect identity providers.
Can I connect Cognito with existing user databases?
Yes, Cognito User Pools support User Migration Triggers. On first login, a Lambda function checks the legacy database and seamlessly migrates the user to Cognito.