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Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

AWS Lake Formation enhances data management by facilitating better collaboration within data teams and supporting schema definition and data cataloging.
It offers granular permissions with the LF-Tag system, enabling implementation of filters, Blueprints, and security measures without exposing PII data.
AWS Lake Formation seamlessly integrates with AWS ecosystem services, simplifying access pattern management and providing visibility into data and table access.
Organizations benefit from cost, time, and resource savings, along with improved efficiency in workflows and FinOps due to data control and cost tracking within AWS Cloud Service.
AWS Lake Formation allows real-time data processing, reducing latency and improving visibility into various applications, particularly in healthcare monitoring.

CONS

AWS Lake Formation could benefit from improvements in orchestration and AWS automation, including the use of CIS-compliant hardened images.
Reducing the high cost of professional services and support for AWS could be an improvement area at the managerial level.
More granular access control, such as cell-level or row-level entitlements, is a significant drawback for organizations needing precise data access management.
Enhancements in audit logs, real-time monitoring, and advanced data governance would strengthen AWS Lake Formation capabilities.
Better integration with SageMaker and improvements in Athena's query tools are potential areas for development.
 

AWS Lake Formation Pros review quotes

Ciro Baldim Guerra - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Analytics Engineer at Itau Unibanco S.A.
Sep 9, 2025
AWS Lake Formation significantly improves the structure of the data mesh, making it superior to previous structures we used.
SC
Senior Data Engineer at Kaiser Permanente
Aug 28, 2025
We use this to reduce latency from minutes to seconds, as we aim for real-time visibility into patient healthcare monitoring.
JayShah5 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Engineer at Westpac Institutional Bank
Aug 22, 2025
The most valuable features of AWS Lake Formation were the access model itself, as it allows implementation of filters, Blueprints, and row-level and column-level security to mask data that shouldn't be accessed by certain entities, enabling granular control without exposing PII data.
Learn what your peers think about AWS Lake Formation. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.
SYED SHAAZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder & CTO at Photios AI
Aug 22, 2025
In the shortest form, what I appreciated about AWS Lake Formation was that the schema definition and data cataloging were quite good.
reviewer2751900 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Aug 22, 2025
The integration of AWS Lake Formation with the IAM for authentication and authorization is very good; I didn't have any problems in the setup and thought it was simple.
reviewer2753787 - PeerSpot reviewer
Full Data Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Aug 29, 2025
The main benefits that I have seen from using AWS Lake Formation are related to FinOps because you have control of your data and can track your costs since AWS Lake Formation is integrated into a unique platform, which is AWS Cloud Service.
Rajendra Ganipineni - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Data/Analytics Engineer at a media company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Sep 5, 2025
A favorite feature of AWS Lake Formation is that it provides us with visibility into who has access to a particular table or database in Glue.
reviewer2751837 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Solution Architecht at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 22, 2025
The LF-Tag system with granular permissions was key to the project as a functionality of AWS Lake Formation.
GB
Data Scientist at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Sep 26, 2025
The features and capabilities of AWS Lake Formation that I have found most valuable are that it is really convenient to see all the different data assets that were configured and understand who has and what type of service has or does not have access to those services.
Bartosz Turkowyd - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Platform Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 21, 2025
AWS Lake Formation has several valuable features that enhance data management, and one particularly beneficial aspect is how it facilitates better collaboration within data teams.
 

AWS Lake Formation Cons review quotes

Ciro Baldim Guerra - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Analytics Engineer at Itau Unibanco S.A.
Sep 9, 2025
In our current setup, everyone from my business unit uses the same consumer account. When access is requested for a table, everyone using that business unit account receives access. This could present a security concern, though it benefits new team members who automatically receive all necessary access permissions.
SC
Senior Data Engineer at Kaiser Permanente
Aug 28, 2025
I think AWS Lake Formation could improve by enforcing the least privilege by design, moving from ad hoc grants to role-based access controls.
JayShah5 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Engineer at Westpac Institutional Bank
Aug 22, 2025
Athena can be a bit clunky when writing queries, indicating a potential enhancement point for easier user interaction with query tools such as DataGrip using provided driver JARs.
Learn what your peers think about AWS Lake Formation. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.
SYED SHAAZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder & CTO at Photios AI
Aug 22, 2025
The initial onboarding process is challenging because creating a plan takes a month to a month and a half to build out.
reviewer2751900 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Aug 22, 2025
I haven't seen any measurable benefits from using AWS Lake Formation, such as time saving, resource saving, or efficiency improvements.
reviewer2753787 - PeerSpot reviewer
Full Data Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Aug 29, 2025
I would appreciate online support, which I don't have access to in my corporation at the bank, so that is important.
Rajendra Ganipineni - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Data/Analytics Engineer at a media company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Sep 5, 2025
The main challenge we faced with AWS Lake Formation was related to cross-account sharing. Granting access to other AWS accounts for tables or databases in a different AWS account was somewhat difficult.
reviewer2751837 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Solution Architecht at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 22, 2025
Despite following official documentation, configuration problems persisted, requiring weeks of support from multiple AWS engineers to resolve.
GB
Data Scientist at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Sep 26, 2025
Rather than creating an additional hundred tools, optimizing a tool to have a centralized location to do governance would be beneficial.
Bartosz Turkowyd - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Platform Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 21, 2025
Information about the pricing, cost, and setup cost of the AWS solutions would be beneficial.