AWS Cognito
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
Cognito is AWS's 'please don't build your own auth' service. It handles sign-up, sign-in, MFA, social logins, and token management so you don't have to store passwords in a spreadsheet (we've all seen it). It's like Auth0 but with AWS's signature 'the docs could be better' energy.
Real Talk
Amazon Cognito provides user authentication, authorization, and user management for web and mobile apps. User Pools handle user directories and authentication flows (including OAuth2/OIDC), while Identity Pools provide temporary AWS credentials for accessing other AWS services. Supports MFA, social login, and SAML.
When You'll Hear This
"Cognito handles all our auth — sign-up, MFA, the whole thing." / "We use Cognito User Pools for authentication and Identity Pools for S3 access."
Related Terms
Auth0
Auth0 is the auth service that enterprise companies pay for because it has compliance checkboxes, SAML, and an SLA.
IAM (Identity and Access Management)
IAM is the permission system for AWS. It controls who (users, roles, services) can do what (read S3, start EC2, invoke Lambda) on which resources.
JWT (JSON Web Token)
A JWT is a special kind of token that contains information inside it. It has three parts: a header, a payload (with your user ID, role, etc.
MFA (MFA)
MFA stands for Multi-Factor Authentication. It's the umbrella term for requiring multiple proofs of identity. 2FA is MFA with exactly two factors.
OAuth2
OAuth2 is the updated version of OAuth that everyone actually uses today.