Amazon has rapidly expanded in recent years, becoming one of the top choices for digital business solutions in addition to its incredible selection of millions of in-demand items.
If you’re interested in Amazon Web Services, then you may be wondering what is Amazon Cognito? The same thought occurred to me, so I did some deeper research and here’s what I can confirm about Amazon Cognito!
What Is Amazon Cognito In [currentyear]?
Amazon Cognito is a data synchronization solution offered through Amazon Web Services (AWS). This program supports user registration, log-in, and access control for web and mobile apps, providing reliable user identification services with a pay-as-you-go cost structure. Amazon Cognito allows you to set password policies and verification requirements to protect your digital platforms.
If you think Amazon Cognito may be right for you, keep reading the rest of our guide to learn more about this digital service, including how it works and what platforms it supports.
What Does Amazon Cognito Do?
Amazon Cognito is an innovative program that supports fast and highly secure user sign-up and identity authentication on web and mobile apps.
If your business has an app where people can sign-up, Amazon Cognito works in the background to confirm their identity and accept their credentials for access.
In other words, Amazon Cognito offers reliable user authentication as well as temporary access for backend AWS resources.
Amazon Cognito supports access to Amazon API Gateway services and works with external identity providers using OpenID Connect and SAML.
You can also use Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and similar social identity providers or your own ID program with Amazon Cognito.
This program is used to sync data on several user devices for a consistent user experience on different computers, phones, and tablets.
With Amazon Cognito, your app retains user data so it works with offline devices, automatically synching the data once the device comes back online.
All of these high-tech features mean companies with Amazon Cognito can expect excellent app experiences thanks to consistent user authentication, access management, and sync settings on all platforms and devices.
Who Can Use Amazon Cognito?
Amazon Cognito is made with web and app developers in mind, particularly those who need to enhance user management and implement straightforward synching on their digital platforms.
Developers rely on Amazon Cognito Identity to incorporate sign-up and sign-in options into their apps, as well as provide access to user resources.
Tech professionals and business owners may also choose to use Amazon Cognito for accurate data synching on all devices and applications.
Cognito supports many of the most popular app platforms, including iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, Unity, and JavaScript.
Users can opt for the AWS mobile software development kits to further improve the app experience both within their organization and for the wider community.
If you already have an Amazon Web Services account, you can sign up and start using Amazon Cognito, otherwise, you can create an account in the AWS Console to explore the benefits of this authentication service.
Is Amazon Cognito Secure?
The key advantage of Amazon Cognito is how secure it is, with flexible options based on your business needs.
As a Cognito user, you can establish policies on password strength and character requirements for your user pool, which is a configured directory for mobile and web apps.
A user pool safely stores profile attributes and can be managed through the AWS console, command line interface, or software development kit.
In addition to password policies and user directory management, Amazon Cognito lets you safely customize the user experience by retaining valuable information like name, location, time zone, phone number, and address.
All relevant login information goes through a stringent authentication process to ensure only approved people get access to your app. This includes a verification code to the nominated phone number or email address.
Another aspect of Amazon Cognito’s security is the temporary credentials used for limited access.
You have full control over how much access each user has, and you can set rules for individuals and user pools, as well as create S3 buckets so users can only see certain files and information.
Overall, thousands of developers find Amazon Cognito to be incredibly secure alongside the rest of Amazon Web Services, and it helps that you can completely customize your security experience.
How Much Does Amazon Cognito Cost?
Not only is Amazon Cognito an attractive option thanks to its security solutions, but also because it’s priced on a pay-as-you-go basis.
This means you only pay for the identity and synching services you actually use, making Cognito a cost-effective option for small and medium-sized businesses as well as large enterprises.
You don’t need to meet any minimum fees or make lengthy commitments to use Amazon Cognito.
With a user pool, costs are calculated based on the number of monthly active users (MAUs), which are identified by actions like sign-up, log-in, password change, account update, or token refresh.
Amazon Cognito does not charge for inactive users or subsequent sessions, although there are separate charges for optional SMS messages.
Keep in mind there is a free tier for up to 50,000 monthly active users, which does not expire and can be used by new and existing AWS accounts.
For Cognito Sync, charges depend on the total data saved and how many sync operations are required.
There is a free tier for synching too, as eligible AWS accounts get 10 GB of cloud sync storage and one million sync operations every month for the first year.
Other than that, Amazon Cognito monthly prices include $0.15 per GB of sync storage and $0.15 per 10,000 sync operations.
For more information, view the Amazon Cognito pricing page, which provides custom estimates on pricing for different AWS services.
To find out more, you can also read our posts on what is Amazon MTurk, is Amazon better than eBay, and what is Amazon.ca.
Conclusion
Since the introduction of Amazon Web Services in 2006, the array of AWS digital solutions has grown rapidly. Now, Amazon’s cutting-edge IT infrastructure and cloud computing services cover a number of in-demand options for growing businesses, including Amazon Cognito.
As a user ID and data sync solution, Amazon Cognito streamlines access control and user sign-up/log-in for websites and mobile apps.
Like other AWS programs, Amazon Cognito offers scalable services on a pay-as-you-go model with no long-term commitments or minimum fees.
There is also a free tier so app developers with fewer than 50,000 active monthly users may find Amazon Cognito an especially attractive and effective use of resources, although it’s affordable either way.
If you’re a developer looking for a more streamlined user experience that saves their app credentials across devices and platforms, the impressive security and flexibility of Amazon Cognito may be worthwhile for your web or mobile app.
