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AWS Amplify VS Amazon ECS

Compare AWS Amplify VS Amazon ECS and see what are their differences

AWS Amplify logo AWS Amplify

JavaScript library for app development using cloud services

Amazon ECS logo Amazon ECS

Amazon EC2 Container Service is a highly scalable, high-performanceโ€‹ container management service that supports Docker containers.
  • AWS Amplify Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-07-18
  • Amazon ECS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-05

AWS Amplify features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    AWS Amplify provides a straightforward and user-friendly interface, making it easier for developers to deploy, manage, and scale full-stack applications.
  • Integration with AWS Services
    Amplify seamlessly integrates with a wide range of AWS services such as DynamoDB, S3, Lambda, and more, allowing developers to leverage the power of the AWS ecosystem.
  • Speed of Deployment
    It enables rapid deployment of web and mobile applications, reducing the time to market for new features and updates.
  • Automated Workflows
    With features like CI/CD, Amplify automates many aspects of the development workflow, particularly deploying and hosting applications, which saves time and reduces manual effort.
  • Scalability
    Amplify inherits AWS's robust scalability features, enabling your application to handle a growing number of users seamlessly.
  • Custom Domain Management
    The service offers easy management of custom domains and SSL certificates, enhancing the security and professionalism of your application.
  • Real-time and Offline Support
    Provides built-in support for real-time data and offline functionality, which is important for modern web and mobile applications.

Possible disadvantages of AWS Amplify

  • Cost
    While Amplify offers a range of pricing plans, costs can accumulate quickly depending on the usage of various AWS services, especially for startups and small businesses.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Using Amplify extensively can lead to significant dependency on AWS services, making it difficult to migrate to other cloud providers in the future.
  • Learning Curve
    Although it's user-friendly, there can still be a learning curve for those unfamiliar with the wider AWS ecosystem, which might require an investment in training and education.
  • Limited Customization
    While it covers a broad range of functionalities, some developers find the customization options limited compared to setting up and managing AWS services independently.
  • Complexity for Simple Apps
    For simpler applications, the full suite of AWS Amplify's features might be overkill, introducing unnecessary complexity.
  • Debugging Challenges
    Debugging issues can sometimes be more complicated due to the abstraction layers that Amplify adds, which can make it less transparent compared to traditional setups.

Amazon ECS features and specs

  • Cost-Effective
    Amazon ECS allows you to run only the computing resources you need. You can scale your services up or down based on demand, optimizing costs efficiently.
  • Integration with AWS Services
    ECS seamlessly integrates with other AWS services like IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, and more, providing a cohesive and robust ecosystem for your applications.
  • Ease of Use
    ECS is managed by AWS, reducing the complexity of setting up, operating, and scaling containerized applications. It handles orchestration tasks, simplifying deployment and management.
  • Security
    Offers strong security features like IAM roles for tasks, fine-tuned network policies, and encrypted traffic between services, ensuring robust security for your applications.
  • High Availability
    ECS leverages AWSโ€™s global infrastructure, enabling you to deploy applications across multiple availability zones for high availability and fault tolerance.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon ECS

  • Complexity in Hybrid Environments
    Integrating ECS with non-AWS components in a hybrid cloud setup can be complex, requiring additional configuration and management effort.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Being tightly integrated with AWS services means that migrating away from ECS to another container orchestration platform could be challenging and time-consuming.
  • Learning Curve
    While ECS simplifies many tasks, users still need to understand AWS services and best practices, creating a learning curve for those new to the AWS ecosystem.
  • Limited Multi-Cloud Support
    Unlike Kubernetes, which can be deployed in multi-cloud environments, ECS is mainly optimized for AWS, limiting its flexibility in multi-cloud strategies.
  • Dependency on AWS Infrastructure
    The performance and availability of ECS are dependent on AWS infrastructure, making it less appealing for organizations that need infrastructure independence.

Analysis of Amazon ECS

Overall verdict

  • Amazon ECS is a good choice for organizations that are heavily invested in the AWS ecosystem and require a managed container orchestration service. It is a stable and reliable option with comprehensive features and excellent performance, especially for large-scale deployments.

Why this product is good

  • Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) is a highly scalable and fast container management service that simplifies running, stopping, and managing containers on a cluster. ECS provides seamless integration with the AWS ecosystem, offering robust security, scalability, and reliability. It eliminates the need for cluster management, allowing teams to focus on their applications. Additionally, ECS is deeply integrated with Amazon services like IAM, CloudWatch, ALB, VPC, and others, making it a preferred choice for AWS users.

Recommended for

    ECS is recommended for development teams that prefer AWS-managed solutions, organizations seeking to streamline container deployments, and companies looking for secure and scalable orchestration without the overhead of managing Kubernetes. It is also ideal for enterprises that require tight integration with other AWS services.

AWS Amplify videos

Delivering Mobile Apps Using AWS Mobile Services

More videos:

  • Review - Firebase vs AWS Amplify
  • Review - What is AWS Amplify
  • Tutorial - AWS Amplify with React Tutorial - 1. Setup
  • Review - What is AWS Amplify? Pros and Cons?
  • Tutorial - AWS Amplify in Plain English | Getting Started Tutorial for Beginners

Amazon ECS videos

Amazon ECS: Core Concepts

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to AWS Amplify and Amazon ECS)
Developer Tools
53 53%
47% 47
Realtime Backend / API
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100
App Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare AWS Amplify and Amazon ECS

AWS Amplify Reviews

Top 7 Firebase Alternatives for App Development in 2024
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amplify is a comprehensive development platform designed to provide the tools necessary to build scalable mobile and web applications. AWS Amplify offers a suite of services that mirror many of the core functionalities of Firebase, such as authentication, analytics, and storage, while leveraging the robust infrastructure of AWS.
Source: signoz.io
Best Serverless Backend Tools of 2023: Pros & Cons, Features & Code Examples
AWS Amplify packs several tools in the Amazon ecosystem to allow you to build full-stack web and mobile apps in hours.
Source: www.rowy.io
What is AWS Amplify? - AWS Amplify Alternatives
This article briefly introduces you to "What is AWS Amplify." All aspects of AWS Amplify, including its features, integrations, pricing models, benefits, and drawbacks, will be explored in detail by the end of this article. We'll also explain how it may be applied to develop and launch applications quickly. Here, you'll know exactly what AWS Amplify is and whether it's a...
Source: mindmajix.com
2023 Firebase Alternatives: Top 10 Open-Source & Free
AWS Amplify is acknowledged as one of the best Firebase alternatives because of its full-stack development products. Amazon Web Services launched this cloud platform in 2017, and it has the ability to confer huge support to build the backend and client side of mobile and web applications. Similarly, the developer team can also benefit from the outstanding hosting of this CSP.
Exploring alternatives to Vercel: A guide for web developers
AWS Amplify is a powerful platform that goes beyond static site hosting, offering a full suite of tools for building, deploying, and managing modern web and mobile applications. Amplify is part of the broader AWS ecosystem, providing deep integration with other AWS services.
Source: fleek.xyz

Amazon ECS Reviews

The Top 7 Kubernetes Alternatives for Container Orchestration
Amazon ECS is a flexible, high-performing, scalable container management solution compatible with Docker containers that let you run your applications on a controlled group of Amazon EC2 instances. Through Amazon ECS, you donโ€™t have to set up and manage the clusterโ€™s management infrastructure or set up tasks. You can use the management tools of AWS Console or SDKs, AWS CLI...
Top 10 Best Container Software in 2022
If you are looking for great backup recovery and building cloud-native applications, then AWS Fartgate is one of the best tools. If you initially want to do POCs without investing much in infrastructure, then Amazon ECS is a good choice because of its pay per use pricing model.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Amazon ECS seems to be a lot more popular than AWS Amplify. While we know about 55 links to Amazon ECS, we've tracked only 3 mentions of AWS Amplify. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

AWS Amplify mentions (3)

  • Videos REST API with API Gateway, Lambda, Aurora Serverless - FakeTube #5
    So far our high level architecture diagram wasn't very impressive - we only used AWS Amplify service to host our web application. Of course there are many services under the hood like Route 53, CloudFront, Certificate Manager, Lambda and S3, but Amplify provides level of abstraction, so that we don't have to think about it. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Comprehensive Guide for Understanding the Self-Taught Web Developer Path in 2025
    Mastering fundamental skills is essential. Focus on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, ensuring confidence in areas like Flexbox, responsive design, and jQuery. Practical experience is gained through personal projects, which should be original and functional. Start with a portfolio site, ensuring performance and accessibility using tools like Lighthouse, and expand to projects like utility apps leveraging APIs. Hosting on... - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Advance Features and Deploying the Project (Nerd Streetwear Online Store) Part III
    AWS Amplify: Strengths: AWS Amplify is a robust platform for deploying full-stack applications. Itโ€™s backed by AWS infrastructure and offers scalability and a wide range of services, including hosting, authentication, and real-time data. Integration: Amplify integrates with popular Git services and offers a CI/CD pipeline that supports automatic deployments. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Remix Authentication with Amazon Cognito
    Many guides for integrating Amazon's Cognito service recommend using AWS's Amplify library. While Amplify works well for the traditional, client-side rendered single-page application (SPA), it doesn't yet support newer SSR paradigms. At the time of this writing, AWS Amplify doesn't support SSR in Remix source, though Amplify's Hosting service recently added support for SSR in Next versions 12 and greater. While... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • DC Bat Cowls with Amplify Gen 2 Fullstack Typescript
    I built an application that helps users find the DC Bat Cowls trait rarity using Amplify Gen 2 with Typescript. What a Bat Cowl is can be found here. The marketplace for them is here. Summary on Bat Cowls is a really cool project that has enabled me to create our own DC Comic... And created our own super villain within the DC Universe. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago

Amazon ECS mentions (55)

  • Ask Your Video: Build a Containerized RAG Application for Visual and Audio Analysis
    Unlimited processing time using Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amaozon ECS). - Source: dev.to / 11 days ago
  • CMS Migration: From Nuxeo to Strapi
    For middleware, we implemented ECS-containerized Node.js services and AWS Lambda functions:. - Source: dev.to / 17 days ago
  • The Devs Guide to Ruby on Rails API Development and Best Practices
    Once your Ruby on Rails API is production-ready, selecting the right deployment platform significantly impacts performance and scalability. Heroku offers zero-configuration deployments, but the costs increase at scale. Fly.io excels with global edge deployment, positioning your application closer to users worldwide for reduced latency. AWS ECS provides maximum control and cost efficiency but requires significant... - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • AWS ECS vs Sliplane
    Amazon's Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Sliplane both simplify deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications. However, there are some key differences, and both platforms serve different users and use cases. Let's compare them side by side. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Top 8 Docker Alternatives to Consider in 2025
    AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) provide managed container orchestration platforms integrated with AWS infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing AWS Amplify and Amazon ECS, you can also consider the following products

Firebase - Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications for mobile and web.

Docker - Docker is an open platform that enables developers and system administrators to create distributed applications.

Parse - Build applications faster with object and file storage, user authentication, push notifications, dashboard and more out of the box.

Google Kubernetes Engine - Google Kubernetes Engine is a powerful cluster manager and orchestration system for running your Docker containers. Set up a cluster in minutes.

Amazon AWS - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

Kubernetes - Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers