Comparison

AWS Cognito vs Zitadel

On the evidence we track, AWS Cognito leads this comparison with a composite score of 81/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★AWS Cognito81
Zitadel56
Score
vioscaleAI score
AWS Cognito81 / 100medium · 73%
Zitadel56 / 100low · 43%
Pricing
Free tier
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Model
AWS Cognitofreemium
Zitadelfreemium
Price level
AWS Cognitolow
Zitadelhigh
Starting price
AWS Cognito$0.02
Zitadel$100
Transparent
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Integrations
Count
AWS Cognito8
Zitadel3
Security
Disclosure policy
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Fedramp
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel–
Gdpr
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Hipaa
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel–
Iso27001
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel–
Pci
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel–
Soc2
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel–
Trust center
Reliability
Sla pct
AWS Cognito–
Zitadel99.5
Status page
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
AWS Cognito–
Zitadel0
Github stars
AWS Cognito–
Zitadel15,201
Activity
Commits last 30d
AWS Cognito–
Zitadel32
Release
Cadence days
AWS Cognito–
Zitadel3
History
AWS Cognito–
Zitadel20 items
License
Spdx
AWS Cognito–
ZitadelAGPL-3.0
Language
Primary
AWS Cognito–
ZitadelGo
Market
Content
Faq
AWS Cognito6 items
Zitadel8 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for auth & identity software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Deployment
Hosting
AWS CognitoCloud only
ZitadelCloud + self-hosted
Methods
Social login
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Passwordless
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Passkeys / WebAuthn
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Multi-factor auth
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Enterprise
SAML SSO
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
SCIM provisioning
AWS Cognito-
Zitadel✓
B2B / multi-tenancy
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Standards
OpenID Connect provider
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Delivery
Hosted UI
AWS CognitoBoth
ZitadelBoth
Access
RBAC
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Licensing
Self-hostable OSS core
AWS Cognito✗
Zitadel✓

What each one is

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

AWS Cognito

Leader

Manages authentication and access control through identity federation, social provider integration, passwordless authentication methods, and multi-factor authentication capabilities. Supports both hosted login interfaces and API-driven custom implementations.

Independently observed

Zitadel

Zitadel is an identity and access management platform that provides API-first authentication, authorization, and user management. It supports multiple deployment models (cloud and self-hosted), comprehensive authentication methods including passwordless and passkeys, and is designed for B2B multi-tenant applications.

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 Cognito

Leader
from $0.02/MAUUsage-basedFree tier

Free tier with 10,000 MAU/month. Usage-based pricing from $0.015–$0.020 per MAU

  • LiteFree
    • User registration
    • Password-based authentication
    • Social identity federation
    • SAML/OIDC provider support
  • EssentialsFree
    • All Lite features
    • Managed Login interface
    • Passwordless authentication
    • Passkeys support
    • Email/SMS OTP
  • Plus$0.020 per MAU
    • All Essentials features
    • Risk-based adaptive authentication
    • Compromised credentials detection
    • Authentication event export
as of verify ↗

Zitadel

from $100/moHybridFree tier

Free plan, Pro from $100/month, Enterprise custom pricing

  • FreeFree
    • All security features
    • Data Residency: EU, US, Switzerland, Australia
    • Store unlimited Users
    • Unlimited Organizations
    • 100 Daily Active Users
    • +3 more
  • Pro$100/month
    • Everything in Free
    • 25,000 Daily Active Users per month included
    • 3 identity providers included
    • Custom domain included
    • 99.5% uptime guarantee
    • +1 more
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Cloud or own infrastructure
    • Unlimited Daily Active Users
    • Custom Support SLA
    • Technical Account Manager
    • Volume discounts
    • +4 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
iOS
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✗
Android
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
AWS Cognito✓
Zitadel✓
Self-hosted
AWS Cognito✗
Zitadel✓

Integrations

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

In common (1)
  • Google

AWS Cognito

Leader
12 total - 11 not shared
  • Apple
  • Facebook
  • Amazon
  • SAML
  • OIDC
  • AWS Lambda
  • AWS Amplify
  • AWS AppSync
  • AWS Verified Permissions
  • AWS CloudTrail
  • AWS CloudWatch
Independently observed

Zitadel

12 total - 11 not shared
  • Microsoft
  • GitHub
  • LDAP
  • SAML 2.0
  • SCIM 2.0
  • OpenID Connect
  • gRPC
  • connectRPC
  • REST API
  • Webhooks
  • Actions
Independently observed
Still deciding?

AWS Cognito or Zitadel: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

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