vioscale
Comparison

AWS CDK vs AWS CloudFormation

No clear leader: AWS CDK (65.0) and AWS CloudFormation (60.3) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

AWS CDK full profile →AWS CloudFormation full profile →
Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
AWS CDK65
AWS CloudFormation60
Score
Vioscale score
AWS CDK65 / 100high · 76%
AWS CloudFormation60 / 100medium · 73%
Pricing
Free tier
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Model
AWS CDKopen_source
AWS CloudFormationfreemium
Price level
AWS CDKfree
AWS CloudFormationlow
Transparent
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Integrations
Count
AWS CDK5
AWS CloudFormation21
Security
Disclosure policy
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Fedramp
AWS CDK–
AWS CloudFormation✓
Gdpr
AWS CDK–
AWS CloudFormation✓
Hipaa
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Pci
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Scorecard
AWS CDK5.9
AWS CloudFormation–
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
AWS CDK4,665
AWS CloudFormation–
Github stars
AWS CDK12,876
AWS CloudFormation–
Package downloads weekly
AWS CDK1,691,427
AWS CloudFormation–
Activity
Commits last 30d
AWS CDK100
AWS CloudFormation–
Release
Cadence days
AWS CDK4
AWS CloudFormation–
History
AWS CDK20 items
AWS CloudFormation–
License
Spdx
AWS CDKApache-2.0
AWS CloudFormation–
Language
Primary
AWS CDKTypeScript
AWS CloudFormation–
Market
Availability

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for infrastructure as code tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
Paradigm
AWS CDKGeneral language
AWS CloudFormationDeclarative DSL
Language
AWS CDKTypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go
AWS CloudFormationJSON, YAML, TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET
Portability
Multicloud / cloud-agnostic
AWS CDK✗
AWS CloudFormation✗
Architecture
State management
AWS CDKVendor-managed
AWS CloudFormationVendor-managed
Extensibility
Pluggable provider ecosystem
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Governance
Policy as code
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Ops
Drift detection
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
GitOps continuous reconciliation
AWS CDK-
AWS CloudFormation✓
Deployment
Managed SaaS offering
AWS CDK✗
AWS CloudFormation✓
Hosting
AWS CDK-
AWS CloudFormationCloud only
Adoption
Import existing resources
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Licensing
Open-source engine
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✗
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity
AWS CDK-
AWS CloudFormation-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

AWS CDK

A development framework that lets you define AWS cloud resources and infrastructure using standard programming languages like TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, and Go. CDK compiles your code into CloudFormation templates for deployment.

Independently observed

AWS CloudFormation

A managed service for provisioning and managing AWS and third-party cloud resources through declarative templates (JSON/YAML) or programmatic languages. Automates infrastructure deployment across regions and accounts, detects configuration drift, and provides automatic rollback on errors.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

AWS CDK

Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

AWS CloudFormation

from $0.00/moUsage-basedFree tier

Usage-based: $0.0009/handler operation + $0.00008/sec overage. 1,000 free operations/month. Data transfer at AWS rates.

  • Third-party Resources & Custom Hooks$0.0009/handler operation after 1,000 free ops/month
    • Unlimited AWS::* and Alexa::* resource operations (no handler charges)
    • Third-party resource provisioning
    • Custom hook support
    • Handler operation billing after free tier
    • Duration overage billing
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
AWS CDK✗
AWS CloudFormation✓
CLI
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
AWS CDK✗
AWS CloudFormation✓
Self-hosted
AWS CDK✓
AWS CloudFormation✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

AWS CDK

5 total
  • AWS CloudFormation
  • AWS Lambda
  • AWS SNS
  • AWS Step Functions
  • AWS EC2
Independently observed

AWS CloudFormation

21 total
  • MongoDB
  • Datadog
  • Atlassian Opsgenie
  • JFrog
  • Trend Micro
  • Splunk
  • Aqua Security
  • FireEye
  • Sysdig
  • Snyk
  • Check Point
  • Spot by NetApp
  • Gremlin
  • Stackery
  • Iridium
  • AWS CDK
  • AWS SAM (Serverless Application Model)
  • Visual Studio
  • Kiro
  • AWS CloudFormation Registry
  • AWS Partner Network (APN)
Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.