Overview

• Userpools securely store your users and provide sign-up, sign-in, and access control for your applications.

• Userpools support OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, and OpenID Connect standards.

• Userpools can be integrated with HTTP API Gateways using authorizers to provide access only for authenticated users.

When to use

Userpools can be used almost anytime your application needs to authenticate and authorize users.

Advantages

• Pay-per-MAU - You pay for Monthly Active Users.
• Free-tier - There's a free tier of 50,000 MAUs for users who sign in directly to Cognito User Pools (not using SAML or OIDC federation).
• Serverless - You can seamlessly scale your userbase almost indefinitely.
• Secure by default - Your users are securely stored by AWS.
• Compliant - With userpools, you are HIPAA eligible and PCI DSS, SOC, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018, and ISO 9001 compliant by default.

Disadvantages

• Not cheap for large user bases - When you have more than 50,000 MAUs or many users with SAML or OIDC federation, can get expensive.
• Not easy to understand - Similarly to almost everything related to authentication or OAUTH, understanding user pool authentication flows can be complicated.

Basic usage

• Example: Lambda function connected to HTTP API Gateway with authorizer that allows only users authenticated using myUserPool to access the configured path.

YAML
TypeScript
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resources:
  createPost:
    type: function
    properties:
      packaging:
        type: stacktape-lambda-buildpack
        properties:
          entryfilePath: src/index.ts
      events:
        - type: http-api-gateway
          properties:
            httpApiGatewayName: myGateway
            path: /post/create
            method: POST
            authorizer:
              type: cognito
              properties:
                userPoolName: myUserPool

  myUserPool:
    type: user-auth-pool
    properties:
      userVerificationType: email-code
      passwordPolicy:
        minimumLength: 8

Using firewall

To lean more, check web-app-firewall documentation.

YAML
TypeScript
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resources:
  myFirewall:
    type: web-app-firewall
    properties:
      scope: regional
  myUserPool:
    type: user-auth-pool
    properties:
      userVerificationType: email-code
      passwordPolicy:
        minimumLength: 8
      useFirewall: myFirewall

Pricing

Work in progress

Referenceable parameters

API reference