Amazon Cognito vs. The Okta Identity Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Amazon Cognito
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Amazon Cognito is a mobile identity product that allows users to add user sign-up and sign-in to mobile and web apps, and authenticate users through social identity providers.
$0.01
Per MAU
The Okta Identity Cloud
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Okta is an enterprise grade identity management service, built in the cloud. IT can manage access across any application, person or device. Whether the people are employees, partners or customers or whether the applications are in the cloud, on premises or on a mobile device, Okta helps IT become more secure and maintain compliance. The Okta service provides directory services, single sign-on, authentication, provisioning, workflow, and built in reporting. ment systems.
$0
per month per user
Pricing
Amazon CognitoThe Okta Identity Cloud
Editions & Modules
Starting Price
$0.01
Per MAU
Single Sign on
$2.00
Per User Per Month
Multi Factor Authentication
$3.00
Per User Per Month
Single Sign on Adaptive
$5.00
Per User Per Month
Multi Factor Authentication Adaptive
$6.00
Per User Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Amazon CognitoThe Okta Identity Cloud
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsBrowse products and price points that make the most sense for your organization on our website.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Amazon CognitoThe Okta Identity Cloud
Considered Both Products
Amazon Cognito
Chose Amazon Cognito
- Cost-Effective and cheaper than Okta for up to 100K users.
- Easy to set up and configure.
- Integration with other AWS services like Lambda, Pinpoint.
Chose Amazon Cognito
It is easier to build multi-factor single sign-on with Okta. Okta has better documentation and provides a better developer experience. It lacks Cognito's seamless integration with other AWS products, however, integration with other Amazon products (like Lambda for customizing …
Chose Amazon Cognito
When compared to Okta, I would say Cognito is still not up to pace with Okta. However, I guess they are constantly updating their features and will soon come with the new features. I would say Cogntio provides a better interface than Azure.
The Okta Identity Cloud

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
TrustRadius Insights
Amazon CognitoThe Okta Identity Cloud
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

PfSense and Untangle NG are competing firewall solutions with options for SMBs, remote workers and home offices, as well as larger campuses, designed to help users manage and protect their networks against attacks (e.g. phishing, malware). PfSense software is available through an open source Community Edition, or the pfSense Plus licensed edition. These can be bundled with relatively low priced Netgate pfSense security gateway appliances, priced and oriented around the needs of small to medium sized businesses and branch offices. Untangle, also catering to small businesses, offers a collection of NG Firewall Apps to give users custom, a la carte protection, that provides the user just what his small businesses needs, without undue cost and bloat. Untangle also offers their z series appliances that come pre-loaded with NG Firewall, packaged and ready for small businesses. There is also a higher tier edition for corporate campuses and data centers.

Features

PfSense and Untangle NG Firewall support core network security features such as spam or GeoIP blocking, VPN functionality, WAN balancing, etc. but users describe a few standout features that distinguish them from each other, though bear in mind these are similar entry level network security options, equally well regarded.

PfSense has a strong and helpful open-source community, with plenty of documentation and expertise available online to get users started. The open-source Community Edition of the product is serviceable, and with it companies with niche security needs can customize a solution to fit their distinct requirements at little cost, low resource usage, and on commodity hardware if desired. PfSense has libraries of free and purchasable add-ons that add new features and extend on basic functionality. Its VPN and load balancing are favored.

Untangle NG Firewall apps share a UI that is easy to work with, and notably Untangle apps also work well with the user’s choice of hardware, from commodity to enterprise (e.g. Cisco) appliances, or Untangle’s own budget friendly z series. Implementing Untangle is easy. Particularly, Untangle NG Firewall’s web filtering feature is very well regarded, and allows administrators to selectively block portions of a website without blocking the entire site. Users report helpful, responsive support from Untangle’s customer assistance team. 

Limitations

PfSense and Untangle NG Firewall have much in common as full featured open source firewall solutions with free options and are highly rated, but they have limitations to consider before choosing one over the other.

PfSense’s wide array of open-source add-ons can be a strength and a weakness. Administrators using PfSense add-ons must continually check for updates to maintain their system. Since add-on developers are under no obligation to continue development, critical add-ons may be deprecated without warning and with no guarantee that others will continue development. Some users find PfSense’s UI dated, hard to navigate, and difficult to learn for new users. Implementing PfSense as a free solution may require more technical knowledge than some users have, removing the free option for businesses without the expertise.

Untangle NG Firewall offers limited documentation in comparison to PfSense, and a few have said Untangle apps can be resource-intensive. Finally, Untangle NG Firewall hasn’t offered a wide variety of VPN features in the past. However, recent updates to the software have added new, streamlined VPN options and improved existing VPN functionality to give users faster, more stable VPN connections. While available at lower cost than strictly enterprise-focused security options, Untangle pricing can increase steeply for the user on a budget. 

Pricing

PfSense is open-source and available for free download. The vendor also offers a wide variety of pre-configured hardware, ranging from $179.00 to $5,298.00. Additionally, PfSense is available in a cloud-based service, starting at $0.08 per hour. Cloud-based pricing varies depending on whether you use AWS or Microsoft Azure. Contact the vendor for a customized quote.

Untangle NG Firewall offers a free 14-day trial. Their Complete package starts at $25.00 per month and includes all of the product’s features and functionality for up to 12 licensed devices. Pricing for the Complete package varies depending on the number of licensed devices. The z series appliances are available from $299 for the branch office z4, and range to z20 campus edition, coming in at $3499.

Features
Amazon CognitoThe Okta Identity Cloud
Identity Management
Comparison of Identity Management features of Product A and Product B
Amazon Cognito
-
Ratings
The Okta Identity Cloud
8.9
156 Ratings
10% above category average
ID-Management Access Control00 Ratings9.1144 Ratings
ID Management Single-Sign On (SSO)00 Ratings9.5152 Ratings
Multi-Factor Authentication00 Ratings9.2142 Ratings
Password Management00 Ratings8.7138 Ratings
Account Provisioning and De-provisioning00 Ratings8.9129 Ratings
ID Management Workflow Automation00 Ratings8.279 Ratings
ID Risk Management00 Ratings8.3106 Ratings
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Amazon CognitoThe Okta Identity Cloud
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User Ratings
Amazon CognitoThe Okta Identity Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(15 ratings)
9.0
(198 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(18 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(3 ratings)
8.1
(12 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(50 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Amazon CognitoThe Okta Identity Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
Amazon AWS
Well Suited
  1. B2C mobile and web apps with a high number of users.
  2. Cheaper and cost-effective.
  3. If the other pieces of the infra are already using AWS services like Lambda, S3, Pinpoint, etc.
Not Suited For:
  1. Advanced use-cases (Biometrics based authentication) Email, and other MFA channels.
  2. For any use-cases needing SCIM.
  3. Customized flows of SSO, and MFA will need a layer on Lambda and other AWS services.
Read full review
Okta
I would definitely suggest this tool to my colleagues. When it comes to single sign to integrate all our applications under one umbrella, this will be the tool to go for sure. In our company, when we were moving our applications to the cloud one by one, we wanted one tool that could serve as a platform for all the applications with one password and with enhanced multi factor authentication and we choose The Okta Identity Cloud. When it comes to SAP, integration with The Okta Identity Cloud was a little tedious.
Read full review
Pros
Amazon AWS
  • Strong integration with React.js and client-side applications
  • Easy to bridge Cognito identities with the rest of the AWS ecosystem
  • Easy to store user profile data directly in Cognito rather than having to build additional services/endpoints
  • Easy integration with AWS Lambda to extend and add sophistication to the service
Read full review
Okta
  • RBAC is simple, straight forward and easy to manage
  • Integrations of Social Login are simple to configure and the Auth0 documentation shows step by step how to configure it
  • Rules/Hooks provide customization to the Auth0 flow, making it a great solution to define how we allow our users to login into our applications
Read full review
Cons
Amazon AWS
  • Amazon Cognito has a bit of a learning curve. You need to learn its concepts and terminology. The documentation does not describe some topics comprehensively.
  • Some Console screens would benefit from improved search and filtering options.
  • When another AWS product (e.g., SageMaker) configures Cognito on your behalf, it is not clear what you're getting. For example, the expiration of a temporary password was configured but never communicated.
Read full review
Okta
  • The user interface of Okta is basic and needs improvement. There's some learning curve for new users.
  • One time integration effort is high for the initial setup. Took us around 3 weeks.
  • Okta times out pretty quick making us login multiple times in the day.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Amazon AWS
No answers on this topic
Okta
Okta has a passion to provide secure and scalable identity solution. Their passion has come across as advocacy in a way that has deepened my knowledge of the field of authentication. I took identity for granted before but after seeing features such as external authentication I know that Okta can enable my business to reach new heights
Read full review
Usability
Amazon AWS
All the features AWS Cognito offers gives the user the options they need without making it too complicated. Your customers will be happy. On the administration site usability is also great. After a small learning curve, you can setup Cognito for your usage
Read full review
Okta
Some of its features are great and some are slightly complex and not easy without vendor support.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Amazon AWS
No answers on this topic
Okta
The Okta Identity Cloud advertises 4 9's of reliability and I would go as far to say that it may even do better than that. As a true Global organization that operates in just about every region of the world, we have yet to have an issue with The Okta Identity Cloud that has impacted our business operations.
Read full review
Performance
Amazon AWS
No answers on this topic
Okta
The Okta Identity Cloud performance is very good and there is never any reports from the user community or from the IT administrative team of slow response or sluggishness. In addition, integrations with other systems does not slow them down and everything works seamlessly. The only other feedback is that once in a while there is a slight delay in receiving a second factor on a mobile device but this is likely due to a phone endpoint issue and not the The Okta Identity Cloud service.
Read full review
Support Rating
Amazon AWS
AWS Support overall is poor. Your main resources are trainings and the docs, and the docs can be very confusing. Using Cognito well involves having a developer learn it deeply and help support your team in understanding it. That said, Cognito's competitors also have dismal support and even worse documentation, so while this isn't a strength for Cognito it may still be the frontrunner here.
Read full review
Okta
There isn't a clear method to get a hold of support when trouble arises if you're on their standard plan. You can file a support ticket and they generally are responsive. I've often been able to find similar questions to the questions I've had when it comes to support in their ticket history, however, some have been closed without a satisfactory conclusion for the original poster.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Amazon AWS
They are ideal tools to create a secure and unique login experience for our applications. Thanks to its API authorization, Amazon Cognito ensures connections to applications that are secure.It is easy to use and provides easy access to files and applications that you need to complete your goal.
Read full review
Okta
Okta was the most expensive choise between than, but still our best bet. This was caused because they were able to integrate with 90% of our software without any headache and 10% with some studies - this work would be higher and requires more working hours from our engineers if we opted to their competitors.
Read full review
Scalability
Amazon AWS
No answers on this topic
Okta
Being a cloud native application, The Okta Identity Cloud is extremely scalable and easy to setup. By integrating into existing directories and applications via standard techniques and protocols, it is very easy to both initially setup and add additional users as required. Once all the necessary integrations are setup, it's a simple rinse and repeat process to onboard additional users (which can be automated with imports as well)
Read full review
Return on Investment
Amazon AWS
  • ROI is great for Amazon Cognito Overall.
  • It is included in the AWS Free Tier so you can use it for a good amount without paying, so the software can be tested beforehand.
  • The paid pricing is also affordable, so a positive impact on ROI.
Read full review
Okta
  • Customer experience has been a big win for us. Extremely minimal issues reported.
  • We did not have a PAM in place at all until The Okta Identity Cloud
  • Relatively easy to deploy. No major downtimes to deploy was a nice bonus.
Read full review
ScreenShots