AWS Cognito Alternatives: Open Source and Managed Options

Last updated: March 2026

AWS Cognito is the default choice for teams already on AWS. It integrates with API Gateway, ALB, and IAM out of the box. But Cognito has well-known limitations: user pool size caps, limited customization of authentication flows, vendor lock-in to AWS, and a pricing model that gets expensive at scale.

If you are evaluating alternatives — either because you have hit Cognito’s limits or because you want to avoid single-cloud dependency — this guide compares the leading options across pricing, features, migration difficulty, and AWS integration capabilities.

Why Teams Leave Cognito

Before comparing alternatives, it helps to understand the common pain points:

1. Customization limits. Cognito’s hosted UI is difficult to customize beyond basic styling. Authentication flows are constrained to Lambda triggers at specific hook points, and some scenarios (like conditional MFA based on risk signals) require workarounds.

2. User pool size. While Cognito removed the hard 40-million user cap, large pools experience slower query performance. Complex queries against the user store require custom DynamoDB or Elasticsearch indexes.

3. Standards compliance. Cognito’s SAML and OIDC implementations have quirks. SAML IdP-initiated flows have limitations. Token customization requires Lambda triggers rather than server-side policy configuration.

4. Vendor lock-in. Cognito user pools cannot be exported with passwords. Migrating away means either resetting all passwords or implementing a lazy migration that authenticates users against Cognito and rehashes credentials in the new system.

5. Pricing opacity. Cognito’s per-MAU pricing includes a free tier, but advanced security features (adaptive authentication, compromised credential detection) add significant cost.

The Alternatives

1. Keycloak (Self-Hosted or Managed via Skycloak)

Keycloak is the most feature-complete open-source identity and access management platform. It runs on the JVM (Quarkus), supports OIDC, SAML 2.0, and OAuth 2.0, and provides a full admin console, user federation, identity brokering, and fine-grained authorization.

Pricing:

• Self-hosted: Free (open source). Infrastructure costs depend on your deployment, typically $100-500/month for a two-node cluster on AWS.
• Managed via Skycloak: Starts with predictable monthly pricing that includes hosting, monitoring, backups, and support. No per-MAU charges.

AWS Integration:

• Deploy on ECS, EKS, or EC2
• Use RDS PostgreSQL as the database
• ALB as a load balancer with health check integration
• Secrets Manager for credential storage
• CloudWatch for log aggregation
• S3 for backup storage

# Quick start with Docker on AWS
docker run -p 8080:8080 
  -e KC_DB=postgres 
  -e KC_DB_URL=jdbc:postgresql://your-rds-endpoint:5432/keycloak 
  -e KC_DB_USERNAME=keycloak 
  -e KC_DB_PASSWORD=your-password 
  -e KC_HOSTNAME=auth.example.com 
  quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:26.1.0 start

Feature highlights:

• Unlimited users with no per-MAU pricing
• Full SAML and OIDC support with extensive customization
• Built-in identity brokering (connect to any OIDC/SAML provider)
• SCIM 2.0 for user provisioning
• Fine-grained authorization with UMA 2.0
• Custom authentication flows without writing code
• Multi-factor authentication with TOTP, WebAuthn, and more
• Audit logging with event listeners

Migration from Cognito:
Medium difficulty. Keycloak can import users via the Admin REST API. Passwords must be rehashed (Cognito does not export password hashes), so plan for a lazy migration:

1. Import user profiles (email, attributes) into Keycloak.
2. Configure a custom User Storage SPI or use Keycloak’s User Federation to authenticate against Cognito during a transition period.
3. On successful authentication, Keycloak stores the password locally.
4. After a migration window, disable the Cognito federation.

Best for: Teams that need full control over authentication, want to avoid vendor lock-in, or need features Cognito does not support (SAML IdP, advanced authorization, custom protocols).

2. Auth0 (Okta)

Auth0 is a fully managed identity platform now owned by Okta. It is the most directly comparable SaaS alternative to Cognito.

Pricing:

• Free tier: 25,000 MAUs (recently expanded)
• Essentials: Starting at $35/month for up to 500 external MAUs
• Professional: Starting at $240/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Auth0’s pricing scales per MAU with significant jumps at higher tiers. Features like Adaptive MFA, breached password detection, and Organizations (multi-tenancy) require Professional or Enterprise plans.

AWS Integration:

• Fully managed SaaS — no AWS infrastructure to manage
• Integrates with AWS API Gateway via JWT authorizers
• Auth0 Actions (serverless hooks) replace Cognito’s Lambda triggers
• Private Cloud deployment available (Enterprise) for data residency requirements

Feature highlights:

• Extensive SDK ecosystem (React, Next.js, Angular, mobile)
• Actions pipeline for custom logic during authentication flows
• Organizations feature for B2B multi-tenancy
• Universal Login with customizable hosted pages

Migration from Cognito:
Low to medium difficulty. Auth0 provides bulk import APIs and supports automatic migration connections that validate against Cognito on first login.

Best for: Teams that want a fully managed SaaS solution with a mature developer experience and are comfortable with per-MAU pricing.

For a detailed comparison, see Keycloak vs Auth0 Comparison Guide.

3. Firebase Authentication (Google)

Firebase Auth is Google’s authentication service. Like Cognito, it is tightly coupled to a cloud provider’s ecosystem.

Pricing:

• Free: Up to 50,000 MAUs for standard providers
• Identity Platform (upgraded): $0.0055/MAU after 50K for SAML/OIDC providers, $0.01/SMS sent

Firebase Auth’s free tier is generous for startups. But if you need SAML federation, multi-tenancy, or blocking functions, you need Identity Platform pricing.

AWS Integration:
Firebase is a Google product. Using it on AWS means your authentication traffic goes through Google’s infrastructure while your application runs on AWS. This adds latency and creates a cross-cloud dependency. There is no native integration with AWS services like API Gateway or ALB.

Feature highlights:

• Simple API for email/password, social login, phone auth
• Client SDKs for web, iOS, Android, Flutter
• Anonymous authentication for progressive profiling
• Integration with Firestore for user data

Migration from Cognito:
Low difficulty for simple setups. Firebase supports email/password import with password hash. Limited if you use Cognito’s advanced features (custom attributes, groups, app clients with different scopes).

Best for: Small teams building mobile-first applications who want the simplest possible authentication API. Not suitable for enterprise use cases requiring SAML, advanced MFA, or fine-grained authorization.

For an in-depth look, see Firebase Auth Alternatives: Beyond Google Lock-In.

4. SuperTokens

SuperTokens is an open-source authentication platform built on Node.js. It offers a managed cloud option and self-hosting.

Pricing:

• Self-hosted: Free (open source core)
• Cloud: Free up to 5,000 MAUs, then $0.02/MAU

AWS Integration:

• Self-hosted: Deploy on ECS or EKS with a PostgreSQL database
• Cloud: SaaS with no AWS-specific integrations

Feature highlights:

• Pre-built login UI with React components
• Session management with anti-CSRF tokens
• Passwordless (magic link, OTP)
• Multi-tenancy support

Migration from Cognito:
Medium difficulty. SuperTokens can import users via its API. Session management is handled differently (SuperTokens uses its own session tokens rather than JWTs by default).

Best for: Node.js teams that want a lightweight, developer-friendly auth library with optional managed hosting.

For a deeper comparison, see Keycloak vs SuperTokens.

5. Ory (Kratos, Hydra, Keto)

Ory is a suite of open-source identity tools: Kratos (identity management), Hydra (OAuth 2.0/OIDC server), and Keto (authorization). They can be used individually or together.

Pricing:

• Self-hosted: Free (open source, Apache 2.0 license)
• Ory Network (managed): Free developer tier, paid plans from $29/month

AWS Integration:

• Self-hosted: Deploy on ECS or EKS
• Each component runs as a separate service, adding operational complexity
• PostgreSQL or CockroachDB for storage

Feature highlights:

• API-first design (no admin UI — everything is API-driven)
• Ory Hydra is a certified OAuth 2.0 and OIDC provider
• Ory Keto implements Google Zanzibar-style authorization
• Written in Go (low resource footprint)

Migration from Cognito:
High difficulty. Ory’s multi-component architecture means mapping Cognito concepts (user pools, app clients) to separate Ory services (Kratos for users, Hydra for OAuth). No built-in migration tooling.

Best for: Teams that want maximum architectural flexibility, are comfortable operating multiple services, and prefer an API-first approach over admin UIs.

Feature Comparison Table

Feature	Cognito	Keycloak	Auth0	Firebase Auth	SuperTokens	Ory
Open source	No	Yes	No	No	Partial	Yes
Self-hosting	No	Yes	No (except Private Cloud)	No	Yes	Yes
OIDC provider	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	No	Yes (Hydra)
SAML IdP	No	Yes	Yes (paid)	Yes (paid)	No	No
SAML SP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (paid)	No	No
SCIM provisioning	No	Yes	Yes (paid)	No	No	No
Custom auth flows	Lambda triggers	Flow editor	Actions	Blocking functions	Hooks	Selfservice flows
MFA	SMS, TOTP, WebAuthn	TOTP, WebAuthn, SMS, email	SMS, TOTP, WebAuthn, push	SMS, TOTP	TOTP	TOTP, WebAuthn
RBAC	Groups + IAM	Yes (roles, groups, policies)	Yes	Custom claims	Yes	Yes (Keto)
User federation (LDAP/AD)	External provider sync	Yes (built-in)	Yes (paid)	No	No	No
Multi-tenancy	User pools	Realms + Organizations	Organizations (paid)	Tenants (paid)	Yes	Built-in
Admin console	AWS Console	Built-in web UI	Dashboard	Firebase Console	Dashboard	API only
Pricing model	Per MAU	Free / managed pricing	Per MAU	Per MAU + SMS	Per MAU	Per MAU

Migration Strategies

Lazy Migration (Recommended)

The safest approach when moving from Cognito:

1. Export user profiles from Cognito (all attributes except passwords).
2. Import profiles into the new system as password-less accounts.
3. Configure a migration authentication flow that, on login failure, attempts to authenticate against Cognito.
4. On success, store the password in the new system and mark the user as migrated.
5. After the migration window (60-90 days), force remaining users to reset their passwords.

Keycloak supports this pattern natively through User Storage SPIs.

Big Bang Migration

For smaller user bases (under 10,000 users):

1. Export all users from Cognito.
2. Import into the new system.
3. Trigger password reset for all users.
4. Switch DNS to the new authentication endpoint.
5. Decommission Cognito.

This is simpler but requires coordinating a password reset campaign.

AWS Integration Without Cognito

One concern teams have about leaving Cognito is losing AWS-native integration. Here is how to maintain AWS integration with Keycloak:

API Gateway JWT Authorizer

{
  "Type": "AWS::ApiGatewayV2::Authorizer",
  "Properties": {
    "ApiId": "your-api-id",
    "AuthorizerType": "JWT",
    "IdentitySource": "$request.header.Authorization",
    "JwtConfiguration": {
      "Audience": ["your-keycloak-client-id"],
      "Issuer": "https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm"
    },
    "Name": "KeycloakAuthorizer"
  }
}

ALB OIDC Authentication

Configure your Application Load Balancer to authenticate users via Keycloak’s OIDC endpoints:

{
  "Type": "authenticate-oidc",
  "AuthenticateOidcConfig": {
    "Issuer": "https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm",
    "AuthorizationEndpoint": "https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm/protocol/openid-connect/auth",
    "TokenEndpoint": "https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm/protocol/openid-connect/token",
    "UserInfoEndpoint": "https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm/protocol/openid-connect/userinfo",
    "ClientId": "aws-alb",
    "ClientSecret": "your-client-secret"
  }
}

IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA) Replacement

If you use Cognito Identity Pools to exchange tokens for AWS credentials, you can achieve the same with Keycloak using AWS STS AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity:

aws sts assume-role-with-web-identity 
  --role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/keycloak-role 
  --role-session-name my-session 
  --web-identity-token "keycloak-access-token-here"

This requires configuring Keycloak as an OIDC identity provider in IAM.

Cost Comparison

For a SaaS application with 50,000 MAUs:

Provider	Monthly Cost (Estimated)
AWS Cognito (with advanced security)	$275-500/month
Auth0 Professional	$800+/month
Firebase Auth (Identity Platform)	$200-300/month
SuperTokens Cloud	$900/month
Keycloak self-hosted (AWS)	$150-400/month (infra only)
Keycloak managed (Skycloak)	See pricing page

These estimates are approximations. Actual costs depend on feature usage, region, and support tier. Use the IAM ROI Calculator to model costs for your specific scenario.

Making the Decision

Choose Keycloak/Skycloak if you need maximum flexibility, want to avoid vendor lock-in, need SAML IdP capabilities, or want predictable pricing that does not scale with MAUs. Skycloak’s managed hosting eliminates the operational burden while preserving all of Keycloak’s capabilities.

Choose Auth0 if you want a fully managed SaaS experience, have budget for per-MAU pricing, and need the most extensive SDK ecosystem.

Choose Firebase Auth if you are building a small-to-medium mobile application and want the simplest possible integration.

Choose SuperTokens if you are a Node.js team building a B2C application and want lightweight session management.

Choose Ory if you want API-first infrastructure, are building a custom authentication experience, and are comfortable operating multiple services.

Stay with Cognito if you are deeply embedded in AWS, have simple authentication needs, and Cognito’s limitations do not affect your use case.

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Want to migrate from Cognito to Keycloak without the operational complexity? Skycloak provides managed Keycloak with AWS-compatible deployment, built-in monitoring, and SOC 2 compliance. See our pricing or explore our documentation to get started.