Comparison

AWS CDK vs SST

On the evidence we track, AWS CDK leads this comparison with a composite score of 65/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

AWS CDK full profile →SST full profile →

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★AWS CDK65

SST50

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	AWS CDKLeader	SST
Vioscale score	65 / 100high · 76%	50 / 100medium · 64%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	open_source	open_source
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	free
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	5	14
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	-
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	✓	-
Pcisecurity.pci	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	5.9	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 8 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=aws-cdk-lib&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 3 · Max severity: HIGH	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40jaydeebee%2Fsst&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	-
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	4,665	0
Github starsadoption.github_stars	12,876	26,260
Package downloads weeklyadoption.package_downloads_weekly	1,691,427	844,585
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	1
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	4	1
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	Apache-2.0	MIT
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	TypeScript	TypeScript
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide · HQ US	-

Score

Vioscale score

AWS CDK65 / 100high · 76%

SST50 / 100medium · 64%

Pricing

Free tier

AWS CDK✓

SST✓

Model

AWS CDKopen_source

SSTopen_source

Price level

AWS CDKfree

SSTfree

Transparent

AWS CDK✓

SST✓

Integrations

Count

AWS CDK5

SST14

Security

Disclosure policy

AWS CDK✓

SST–

Hipaa

AWS CDK✓

SST–

Pci

AWS CDK✓

SST–

Scorecard

AWS CDK5.9

SST–

Vulnerabilities

AWS CDKCount: 8 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=aws-cdk-lib&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 3 · Max severity: HIGH

SSTCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40jaydeebee%2Fsst&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

AWS CDK✓

SST–

Adoption

Dependent repos

AWS CDK4,665

SST0

Github stars

AWS CDK12,876

SST26,260

Package downloads weekly

AWS CDK1,691,427

SST844,585

Activity

Commits last 30d

AWS CDK100

SST1

Release

Cadence days

AWS CDK4

SST1

History

AWS CDK20 items

SST20 items

License

Spdx

AWS CDKApache-2.0

SSTMIT

Language

Primary

AWS CDKTypeScript

SSTTypeScript

Market

Availability

AWS CDKAvailable worldwide · HQ US

SST–

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Infrastructure as Code Tools
Capability	AWS CDK	SST
Core
Paradigm	General language	Declarative DSL
Language	TypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go	TypeScript
Portability
Multicloud / cloud-agnostic	✗	✗
Architecture
State management	Vendor-managed	Vendor-managed
Extensibility
Pluggable provider ecosystem	✓	✓
Governance
Policy as code	✓	✗
Ops
Drift detection	✓	✗
GitOps continuous reconciliation	-	✗
Deployment
Managed SaaS offering	✗	✓
Hosting	-	Cloud only
Adoption
Import existing resources	✓	✗
Licensing
Open-source engine	✓	✓
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity	-	-

Core

Paradigm

AWS CDKGeneral language

SSTDeclarative DSL

Language

AWS CDKTypeScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go

SSTTypeScript

Portability

Multicloud / cloud-agnostic

AWS CDK✗

SST✗

Architecture

State management

AWS CDKVendor-managed

SSTVendor-managed

Extensibility

Pluggable provider ecosystem

AWS CDK✓

SST✓

Governance

Policy as code

AWS CDK✓

SST✗

Ops

Drift detection

AWS CDK✓

SST✗

GitOps continuous reconciliation

AWS CDK-

SST✗

Deployment

Managed SaaS offering

AWS CDK✗

SST✓

Hosting

AWS CDK-

SSTCloud only

Adoption

Import existing resources

AWS CDK✓

SST✗

Licensing

Open-source engine

AWS CDK✓

SST✓

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

AWS CDK-

SST-

What each one is

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

AWS CDK

Leader

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

SST

A framework that defines and deploys complete applications with a single TypeScript config file, automating infrastructure setup for databases, APIs, web servers, and cloud services.

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

Leader

Open sourceFree tier

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

SST

Open source

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	AWS CDK	SST
WindowsPlatforms	✗	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✗	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

Windows

AWS CDK✗

SST✓

CLI

AWS CDK✓

SST✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

AWS CDK✗

SST✓

Self-hosted

AWS CDK✓

SST✗

Integrations

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

In common (1)

AWS Lambda

AWS CDK

Leader

5 total - 4 not shared

AWS CloudFormation
AWS SNS
AWS Step Functions
AWS EC2

Independently observed

SST

14 total - 13 not shared

AWS API Gateway
AWS RDS Aurora
AWS ElastiCache Redis
AWS ECS Fargate
AWS CloudFront
AWS SES
AWS Cognito
PlanetScale
Cloudflare
Next.js
Astro
Rails
Hono

Independently observed

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