# AWS Cognito vs Descope

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Descope

| Attribute | AWS Cognito | Descope |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 44.8 (73% (medium)) | 90.5 (72% (medium)) |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | AWS Cognito provides secure, scalable user authentication and access management that enables applications to support user sign-up, sign-in, and multi-factor authentication. It offers both a pre-built login interface and APIs for custom implementations, supports passwordless authentication via passkeys and SMS/email OTP, and federates with social and enterprise identity providers. | Descope is an identity and access management platform that enables developers to build and customize authentication flows for customers, partners, AI agents, and MCP servers. It offers drag-and-drop workflows, passwordless authentication, MFA, SSO, and token management with features designed to reduce friction while preventing account takeover. |
| features.capabilities | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":true,"hosting":"cloud","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":false,"passwordless":true,"social_login":true,"passkeys_webauthn":true}` | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":true,"rbac":true,"hosting":"cloud","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":false,"passwordless":true,"social_login":true,"b2b_multi_tenant":true,"passkeys_webauthn":true,"scim_provisioning":true}` |
| integrations.count | 10 | 50 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Apple"},{"name":"Facebook"},{"name":"Google"},{"name":"Amazon"},{"name":"SAML"},{"name":"OIDC"},{"name":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"AWS Amplify"},{"name":"AWS AppSync"},{"name":"AWS Verified Permissions"}]` | `[{"name":"Vercel"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Google Calendar"},{"name":"Facebook"},{"name":"MCP servers"},{"name":"Email/SMS platforms"},{"name":"CRM platforms"},{"name":"CDP platforms"},{"name":"Audit solutions"},{"name":"Fraud detection systems"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` | `{"cli":true,"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Lite","description":"Basic user registration, authentication, and management capabilities, including social identity and SAML/OIDC provider integration, and password-based authentication.","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Essentials","description":"Comprehensive user authentication and access control with Managed Login, passwordless login using passkeys, email, or SMS, access token customization, and password reuse restrictions.","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Plus","description":"Advanced security with risk-based adaptive authentication, compromised credentials detection, and authentication event log export.","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Usage-based pricing with no minimum fees or upfront commitments. Three tiers available (Lite, Essentials, Plus).","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aws.amazon.com/cognito/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T14:06:18.259Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free Forever","summary":"Free tier with M2M and agentic identity essentials","description":"Includes M2M and agentic identity essentials available to all developers","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Usage-based pricing with Monthly Active Consents (MAC), Monthly Active Tokens (MATK), and M2M Exchanges. Free tier available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.descope.com/blog/post/m2m-agentic-identity-pricing-update","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:38:03.189Z","billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.pci | yes | yes |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |

## Capabilities (Auth & Identity Software)

| Capability | AWS Cognito | Descope |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud only | Cloud only |
| **Methods** |  |  |
| Social login | ✓ | ✓ |
| Passwordless | ✓ | ✓ |
| Passkeys / WebAuthn | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-factor auth | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Enterprise** |  |  |
| SAML SSO | ✓ | ✓ |
| SCIM provisioning | - | ✓ |
| B2B / multi-tenancy | - | ✓ |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OpenID Connect provider | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Delivery** |  |  |
| Hosted UI | Both | Both |
| **Access** |  |  |
| RBAC | - | ✓ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Self-hostable OSS core | ✗ | ✗ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:32:51.452Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*