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Keras VS Amazon SageMaker

Compare Keras VS Amazon SageMaker and see what are their differences

Keras logo Keras

Keras is a minimalist, modular neural networks library, written in Python and capable of running on top of either TensorFlow or Theano.

Amazon SageMaker logo Amazon SageMaker

Amazon SageMaker provides every developer and data scientist with the ability to build, train, and deploy machine learning models quickly.
  • Keras Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-16
  • Amazon SageMaker Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-15

Keras features and specs

  • User-Friendly
    Keras provides a simple and intuitive interface, making it easy for beginners to start building and training models without needing extensive experience in deep learning.
  • Modularity
    Keras follows a modular design, allowing users to easily plug in different neural network components, such as layers, activation functions, and optimizers, to create complex models.
  • Pre-trained Models
    Keras includes a wide range of pre-trained models and offers easy integration with transfer learning techniques, reducing the time required to achieve good results on new tasks.
  • Integration with TensorFlow
    As part of TensorFlow’s ecosystem, Keras provides deep integration with TensorFlow functionalities, enabling users to leverage TensorFlow's powerful features and performance optimizations.
  • Extensive Documentation
    Keras has comprehensive and well-organized documentation, along with numerous tutorials and code examples, making it easier for developers to learn and use the framework.
  • Community Support
    Keras benefits from a large and active community, which provides support through forums, GitHub, and specialized user groups, facilitating the resolution of issues and sharing of best practices.

Possible disadvantages of Keras

  • Performance Limitations
    Due to its high-level abstraction, Keras may incur performance overheads, making it less suitable for scenarios requiring extremely fast execution and low-level optimizations.
  • Limited Low-Level Control
    The simplicity and abstraction of Keras can be a downside for advanced users who need fine-grained control over model components and custom operations, which may require them to resort to lower-level frameworks.
  • Scalability Issues
    In some complex applications and large-scale deployments, Keras might face scalability challenges, where more specialized or low-level frameworks could handle such tasks more efficiently.
  • Dependency on TensorFlow
    While the integration with TensorFlow is generally an advantage, it also means that the performance and features of Keras are closely tied to the development and updates of TensorFlow.
  • Lagging Behind Latest Research
    Keras, being a user-friendly high-level API, might not always incorporate the latest cutting-edge research advancements in deep learning as quickly as more research-oriented frameworks.

Amazon SageMaker features and specs

  • Fully Managed Service
    Amazon SageMaker is a fully managed service that eliminates the heavy lifting involved with setting up and maintaining infrastructure for machine learning. This allows data scientists and developers to focus on building and deploying machine learning models without worrying about underlying servers or infrastructure.
  • Scalability
    Amazon SageMaker provides scalable resources that can automatically adjust to the needs of your workload, ensuring that you can handle anything from small-scale experimentation to large-scale production deployments.
  • Integrated Development Environment
    SageMaker includes a built-in Jupyter notebook interface, which makes it straightforward for data scientists to write code, visualize data, and run experiments interactively without leaving the platform.
  • Support for Popular Machine Learning Frameworks
    SageMaker supports popular frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, Apache MXNet, and more. It also provides pre-built algorithms that can be used out-of-the-box, offering flexibility in choosing the right tool for your ML tasks.
  • Automatic Model Tuning
    SageMaker includes hyperparameter tuning capabilities that automate the process of finding the best set of hyperparameters for your model, thus saving significant time and computational resources.
  • Advanced Security Features
    SageMaker integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for fine-grained access control, supports encryption of data at rest and in transit, and complies with various security standards, ensuring that your machine learning projects are secure.
  • Cost Management
    With SageMaker, you only pay for what you use. This pay-as-you-go pricing model allows for better cost management and optimization, making it a cost-effective solution for various machine learning workloads.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon SageMaker

  • Complexity for New Users
    The plethora of features and options available in SageMaker can be overwhelming for beginners who are new to machine learning or the AWS ecosystem. It might require a steep learning curve to become proficient in using the platform effectively.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using Amazon SageMaker ties you to the AWS ecosystem, which can be a disadvantage if you want flexibility in switching between different cloud providers. Migrating models and workflows from SageMaker to another platform could be challenging.
  • Cost Management Challenges
    While SageMaker offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, the costs can quickly add up, especially for large-scale or long-running tasks. It may require diligent monitoring and optimization to avoid unexpectedly high bills.
  • Resource Limitations
    While SageMaker is highly scalable, there are certain resource limits (like instance types and quotas) that might be restrictive for very high-demand or specialized machine learning tasks. These limits could potentially hinder the flexibility you get from an on-premises or custom deployed solution.
  • Integration Complexity
    Integrating SageMaker with other tools and systems within your workflow might require additional development effort. Custom integrations can be complex and could involve additional overhead to set up and maintain.

Keras videos

3. Deep Learning Tutorial (Tensorflow2.0, Keras & Python) - Movie Review Classification

More videos:

  • Review - Movie Review Classifier in Keras | Deep Learning | Binary Classifier
  • Review - EKOR KERAS!! Review and Bike Check DARTMOOR HORNET 2018 // MTB Indonesia

Amazon SageMaker videos

Build, Train and Deploy Machine Learning Models on AWS with Amazon SageMaker - AWS Online Tech Talks

More videos:

  • Review - An overview of Amazon SageMaker (November 2017)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Keras and Amazon SageMaker)
Data Science And Machine Learning
Data Science Tools
100 100%
0% 0
AI
0 0%
100% 100
OCR
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 Keras and Amazon SageMaker

Keras Reviews

10 Python Libraries for Computer Vision
TensorFlow and Keras are widely used libraries for machine learning, but they also offer excellent support for computer vision tasks. TensorFlow provides pre-trained models like Inception and ResNet for image classification, while Keras simplifies the process of building, training, and evaluating deep learning models.
Source: clouddevs.com
25 Python Frameworks to Master
Keras is a high-level deep-learning framework capable of running on top of TensorFlow, Theano, and CNTK. It was developed by François Chollet in 2015 and is designed to provide a simple and user-friendly interface for building and training deep learning models.
Source: kinsta.com
15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Keras is a programming interface that enables data scientists to more easily access and use the TensorFlow machine learning platform. It's an open source deep learning API and framework written in Python that runs on top of TensorFlow and is now integrated into that platform. Keras previously supported multiple back ends but was tied exclusively to TensorFlow starting with...

Amazon SageMaker Reviews

7 best Colab alternatives in 2023
Amazon SageMaker Studio is a fully integrated development environment (IDE) for machine learning. It allows users to write code, track experiments, visualize data, and perform debugging and monitoring all within a single, integrated visual interface, making the process of developing, testing, and deploying models much more manageable.
Source: deepnote.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Amazon SageMaker might be a bit more popular than Keras. We know about 44 links to it since March 2021 and only 35 links to Keras. 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.

Keras mentions (35)

  • Top Programming Languages for AI Development in 2025
    The unchallenged leader in AI development is still Python. And Keras, and robust community support. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • Top 8 OpenSource Tools for AI Startups
    If you need simplicity, Keras is a great high-level API built on top of TensorFlow. It lets you quickly prototype neural networks without worrying about low-level implementations. Keras is perfect for getting those first models up and running—an essential part of the startup hustle. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Top 5 Production-Ready Open Source AI Libraries for Engineering Teams
    At its heart is TensorFlow Core, which provides low-level APIs for building custom models and performing computations using tensors (multi-dimensional arrays). It has a high-level API, Keras, which simplifies the process of building machine learning models. It also has a large community, where you can share ideas, contribute, and get help if you are stuck. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Using Google Magika to build an AI-powered file type detector
    The core model architecture for Magika was implemented using Keras, a popular open source deep learning framework that enables Google researchers to experiment quickly with new models. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • My Favorite DevTools to Build AI/ML Applications!
    As a beginner, I was looking for something simple and flexible for developing deep learning models and that is when I found Keras. Many AI/ML professionals appreciate Keras for its simplicity and efficiency in prototyping and developing deep learning models, making it a preferred choice, especially for beginners and for projects requiring rapid development. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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Amazon SageMaker mentions (44)

  • Dashboard for Researchers & Geneticists: Functional Requirements [System Design]
    Leverage Amazon SageMaker: For machine learning (ML) tasks, users can leverage Amazon SageMaker to analyze large datasets and build predictive models. - Source: dev.to / 18 days ago
  • Address Common Machine Learning Challenges With Managed MLflow
    MLflow, an Apache 2.0-licensed open-source platform, addresses these issues by providing tools and APIs for tracking experiments, logging parameters, recording metrics and managing model versions. It also helps to address common machine learning challenges, including efficiently tracking, managing, deploying ML models and enhancing workflows across different ML tasks. Amazon SageMaker with MLflow offers secure... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • How I suffered my first burnout as software developer
    Our first task for the client was to evaluate various MLOps solutions available on the market. Over the summer of 2022, we conducted small proofs-of-concept with platforms like Amazon SageMaker, Iguazio (the developer of MLRun), and Valohai. However, because we weren’t collaborating directly with the teams we were supposed to support, these proofs-of-concept were limited. Instead of using real datasets or models... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • 👋🏻Goodbye Power BI! 📊 In 2025 Build AI/ML Dashboards Entirely Within Python 🤖
    Taipy’s ecosystem doesn’t stop at dashboards. With Taipy you can orchestrate data workflows and create advanced user interfaces. Besides, the platform supports every stage of building enterprise-grade applications. Additionally, Taipy’s integration with leading platforms such as Databricks, Snowflake, IBM WatsonX, and Amazon SageMaker ensures compatibility with your existing data infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Understanding the MLOps Lifecycle
    Based on your technological stack, various services are used to deploy machine learning models. Some popular services are AWS Sagemaker, Azure Machine Learning, Vertex AI, and many others. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Keras and Amazon SageMaker, you can also consider the following products

TensorFlow - TensorFlow is an open-source machine learning framework designed and published by Google. It tracks data flow graphs over time. Nodes in the data flow graphs represent machine learning algorithms. Read more about TensorFlow.

IBM Watson Studio - Learn more about Watson Studio. Increase productivity by giving your team a single environment to work with the best of open source and IBM software, to build and deploy an AI solution.

PyTorch - Open source deep learning platform that provides a seamless path from research prototyping to...

Scikit-learn - scikit-learn (formerly scikits.learn) is an open source machine learning library for the Python programming language.

Azure Machine Learning Studio - Azure Machine Learning Studio is a GUI-based integrated development environment for constructing and operationalizing Machine Learning workflow on Azure.

TFlearn - TFlearn is a modular and transparent deep learning library built on top of Tensorflow.