Netlify vs AWS Amplify |Which is better?

Static websites are hardly a new concept. The early days of the world wide web were mostly static HTML webpages before Common Gateway Interface enabled dynamic websites that were running server-side scripts.

However, recently there has been a resurgence in the popularity of static websites, with developers focusing explicitly on the speed and performance of a webpage that provides simple services, like landing pages and business profiles.

Netlify has been one of the most popular tools for site hosting, with exceptional features like 1-click rollback and split testing. Here, we compare it against Amplify, which is a part of Amazon Web Services.

If you are looking a hosting platform for your project, continue reading as we compare the pros and cons of each of these offerings, so that you can make an informed decision.

What is Netlify? 

Netlify is essentially a serverless continuous development platform as a service (PaaS) implementation that helps developers build, deploy, and scale modern applications and web projects.

To get started with Netlify, you only need an account on the platform and a source control repository, like GitHub, BitBucket, or GitLab. While the platform is built on JAMstack, you cannot run a NodeJS express site on Netlify, but you can use Node along with Grunt, Gulp, Webpack, or Yarn to build your static website.

Moreover, it can build your website if you are using a static site generator like Hugo or Gatsby.

Netlify Core Features 

• Connect to the JAMstack ecosystem

JavaScript is used to build your site, but not run it. API supports server-side functionality with API calls from the browser, and also allows you to integrate a headless CMS implementation with the help of the WordPress API.

Moreover, the entire frontend is prebuilt into highly optimized static webpages and assets, meaning your sites can be served directly from a CDN like Netlify Edge.

• Lambda functions

Netlify Edge is built on several major cloud platforms, allowing developers to leverage the global presence of platforms like Google, AWS, and Digital Ocean.

You can add server-side functions to your code repository that Netlify can deploy to Lambda, thereby eliminating the hassles of worrying about service discovery, CORS, or even handling the AWS Console.

Netlify Advantages 

• Advanced split testing

One of the most unique features of Netlify is that it allows editors to create unlimited branches of their websites whenever they make any changes to the source code of the website.

Essentially, you can provide your testers with different versions of the website by spinning a URL, enabling them to test various changes and preview them in real-time before updating the entire website.

• More deploy methods

As stated earlier, Netlify also works with static site generators like Gatsby and Hugo by requesting the project’s build commands and public directories when connecting the source control repository to the platform.

It will automatically monitor any changes to the repo and rebuild the branches as required. Finally, it also supports drag and drop deploys when you are signed onto the platform.

What is AWS Amplify?

Amazon Web Services offers Amplify as a Backend as a Service (BaaS) implementation and is a full suite of tools and services to accelerate the development of web and mobile deployments.

It can help you configure backends, deploy static web apps instantly, connect apps, and manage external content. Amplify consists of code libraries, an Admin Console UI, and a CLI Toolchain, which work together to manage and accelerate the app production cycle.

Users have the flexibility to choose the platform that they are most comfortable in building apps, making it extremely developer-friendly for front-end development. 

AWS Amplify Core Features 

• Persistent data storage

With AWS Amplify, you can either store your data in S3 buckets for accessing them from anywhere at any time or use the persistent storage engine called DataStore.

With DataStore, you can easily manage distributed data without making any changes to code backend and sync data between the apps and the cloud, which makes it easier to work with cross user data in various scenarios.

• Flexible authentication

Amplify also allows you to create seamless onboarding workflows, with a fully managed user directory, pre-built sign up, forgot password, and multi-factor authentication.

Moreover, it also supports logging in with Amazon Login, Facebook, Google, etc., and also provides finer access control for web and mobile deployments.

AWS Amplify Advantages 

• Managed hosting

Amplify primarily aims to accelerate the app production cycle and achieves that by integrating any changes you make to the app code repository within a single CI/CD workflow.

Using the Amazon CDN, you can build and host static websites with several points of presence globally. You can work on new features without impacting production and create new environments, set up custom domains, monitor hosting metrics, etc.

• Advanced integrations

Amazon Sagemaker enables developers with advanced machine learning and artificial learning capabilities which can be directly integrated into their applications.

Moreover, you can use the AWS Management Console to integrate various other AWS solutions like S3 and AppSync for advanced capabilities. Therefore, developers can integrate advanced features like TTS, translation, object identification, transcription, etc., using GraphQL directives to chain multiple AI actions.

Moreover, Amplify natively integrates with React, Vue, Angular, and Ionic for web deployment, and supports Android, iOS, Flutter, and React Native.

Netlify vs AWS Amplify

Conclusion

This article compared Netlify and AWS Amplify.

Netlify is a serverless cloud computing platform specialized in deploying websites. Key features include deploying previews, forms, analytics, and plugins. It’s free to start, and customers include Peloton, Twilio, and Mailchimp.

Amplify is the Backend as a Service from Amazon Web Services. Key features include data storage, authentication, hosting, and analytics. It’s free to start, and customers include Busby, Orangetheory, and Creditgenie.

I hope this articles helps you to understand the difference between these two cloud providers.

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