Predictable cloud architectures but not without a catch
October 28, 2025

Predictable cloud architectures but not without a catch

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with AWS CloudFormation

The big problem it's solving for us is reducing configuration drifts and deployment time. Because of the multiple client stacks that we manage at a go, stack drift is a common issue but it helps us stay on top of that. CloudFormation is basically the foundation of how we enforce governance and scale consistently

Pros

  • Automation is always reliable
  • It integrates with AWS config and cloudtrail so well

Cons

  • I write this just after the recent worldwide AWS outage, so that's one
  • When nested stacks fail deep down, you have too spend way too much time digging through the cloudwatch logs just to locate the root cause. This is something AWS could fix with contextual debugging in their troubleshooters.
  • Our infrastructure set up time is down by 80%. Initially, onboarding a new client environments could take a week or 2 but now we so it in under 3 days
  • We have insane reliability across client projects thanks to the automations
You just have to learn how it thinks then you'll be set. That however comes with a learning curve. Writing YAML or jSON templates feels natural now but early on, even a small syntax mistake could break a whole stack.

Do you think AWS CloudFormation delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with AWS CloudFormation's feature set?

Yes

Did AWS CloudFormation live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of AWS CloudFormation go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy AWS CloudFormation again?

Yes

I still give it an 8 because it's one of those tools that just quietly does the heavy lifting for you but it can really test your patience when it breaks esp with deep nested stacks. It's perfect for projects where we need clean consistent environments every time. It's less ideal for quick experimental setups like new EC2 configs or Lambda permission tweaks.

AWS CloudFormation Feature Ratings

Configuration Management
7.8
Infrastructure Automation
8
Automated Provisioning
7
Parallel Execution
8
Node Management
8
Reporting & Logging
7
Inventory Control
8
Version Control
8
Role-based access control
8

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