AWS CloudFormation vs AWS Systems Manager comparison

AWS CloudFormation and AWS Systems Manager are both solutions in the Configuration Management category. AWS CloudFormation is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.8, while AWS Systems Manager is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.1. AWS CloudFormation holds a 1.3% mindshare in CM, compared to AWS Systems Manager’s 10.7% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of AWS CloudFormation users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of AWS Systems Manager users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

AWS CloudFormation and AWS Systems Manager provide essential solutions for infrastructure automation and operational management. CloudFormation stands out with its infrastructure as code capabilities, enhancing deployment efficiency and scalability.

Features: CloudFormation supports infrastructure as code, enabling rapid environment deployment with reusable templates, modular design through nested stacks, and comprehensive automation. Systems Manager automates operational tasks, offers patch management and configuration tools, and integrates seamlessly with other AWS services.

Room for Improvement: CloudFormation's complexity with verbose syntax and AWS exclusivity can be challenging for newcomers, limiting its flexibility. Systems Manager would benefit from improved analysis tools and integration capabilities beyond EC2, particularly for dynamic configuration management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CloudFormation supports diverse environments, including public, hybrid, and on-premises clouds, with robust technical support. Systems Manager is optimized for public cloud with satisfactory support; however, CloudFormation offers broader deployment flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: CloudFormation is free to use, with costs only for AWS resources, providing cost-effectiveness and efficient rollback features. Systems Manager is generally low-cost, with some costs under increased demand, facilitating effective budget management. Both solutions offer substantial returns on investment.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS CloudFormation vs. AWS Systems Manager Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS CloudFormation vs. AWS Systems Manager

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Intune

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Configuration Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 10.2%, up from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS CloudFormation is 1.3%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Systems Manager is 10.7%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

AkashKamble

Sr MacOS specialist engineer at Cyber24

Enables management of multiple operating systems with a single license

The best feature is that it's a Microsoft product, so if anything goes wrong, we get quick support for anything required. Remote system functionality allows us to sit anywhere and take control of any device via remote management. We can enhance security for clients' laptops with built-in Microsoft Defender, which is available with the Microsoft Intune license. We use it for reporting purposes through endpoint analytics. When pushing scripting, there are two types available: remediation script and reservation script. Through endpoint analytics, you can push defender policies to clients. It helps with reporting, inventory updates, and monitoring tenant status health.

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Mbula Mboma

AWS Cloud Re-Start Program Specialist at Orange RDC (Congo)

Facilitates efficient infrastructure deployment with visibility into resource connections

I primarily use AWS CloudFormation for deploying infrastructure efficiently. For instance, if I want to create load balancers with target groups and EC2 instances, I find CloudFormation simplifies the process of deployment and configuration, reducing the possibility of errors AWS CloudFormation…

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Ambe Frankline

Cloud/DevOps Engineer at Innovative Technology Systems

Tracks every action on AWS accounts in a centralized way

Setting up AWS Systems Manager to monitor and control other services is easy. You need to link the services you want to observe and track. The time it takes to deploy depends on factors like connectivity, latency, and the complexity of the services. For example, setting up a simple application is faster than setting up a more complicated three-tier or multi-tier system. Using the solution for batch updates varies depending on the number of servers involved and the commands needed. Personally, when I do small projects at home, deploying a few servers doesn't take long. But at work, where we handle larger deployments with hundreds of servers, it's faster due to better connectivity and resources.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Application deployment and keeping the devices secure no matter where they are, by having this cloud solution — that has been great."

"It is a very helpful solution."

"Microsoft Endpoint Manager is not expensive overall, especially for small environments."

"We were trying to solve many issues, mainly the lack of centralized management. Before Microsoft Intune, we had to manually support devices one by one, installing applications and configuring policies individually. When we implemented the tool, it became much easier to manage our devices. We enroll them in Microsoft Intune and can manage all devices with a few clicks. For application management, it's the same process. If we want to deploy applications to hundreds or thousands of devices, we can do it easily with just a few clicks. This also applies to policies."

"Technical support, in general, has been quite helpful."

"At the moment, Autopilot is the most valuable feature."

"The many policies available in Microsoft Intune for managing our devices are valuable."

"If I assess Intune's user experience, I would say it is perfect and simple."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"The CloudFormation template can be reused to create multiple stacks, reducing duplications and improving our infrastructure."

"With CloudFormation, there is no need to use complicated coding."

"The reusability of the solution is valuable."

"It allows defining the infrastructure as code using templates, which describe the desired state of the infrastructure."

"The product uses a simple JSON file format, so it's easy for a beginner to start. But you can use Terraform once you get good hands-on experience and know the infrastructure and resources well."

"The most valuable features of AWS CloudFormation are all the resources documentation is located in one location, simple resource reverting, and ease of use of the full package for new users."

"AWS CloudFormation has automated the resource-building process, thereby removing the scope of human errors. We can tag the resources which help the billing process."

"By using AWS CloudFormation, I can automate tasks like creating VPCs and load balancers instead of doing them manually each time. The features I like most include improved scalability, resource management, ease of deployment, template creation, and resource provisioning."

More AWS CloudFormation pros

"The solution is user-friendly"

"The store organizes parameters hierarchically, making it easier to configure and control versions. It also ensures scalability and high availability, automatically scaling to handle increasing workloads and providing reliable access to configuration data across multiple AWS availability zones."

"AWS Systems Manager's most valuable feature is its ability to dynamically export and import values in various AWS accounts."

"It is beginner-friendly with extensive features that can be learned gradually based on the user's needs and tasks."

"With AWS Systems Manager, our company can patch our systems directly from it, so we don't need to patch our systems manually."

"I use AWS Systems Manager primarily for infrastructure management and automation. One of its key benefits is managing patches and updates for our EC2 instances, including both Windows and Linux workloads. It can perform compliance checks on all managed workloads, identifying which systems aren't compliant or haven't been patched."

"AWS Systems Manager's most valuable feature is its ability to dynamically export and import values in various AWS accounts"

"When we do the automation in the cloud, we use the SSM agent. This helps us to test our automation and documents, and monitor the cloud."

More AWS Systems Manager pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement in integration and security as well."

"Intune could be improved by organizing different solutions, like Defender and Sentinel, into a single package. This would allow us to focus on security while Microsoft manages other areas. Having a unified solution would drive better management of various sectors. Although the Intune user experience is good, we should continue enhancing it."

"Microsoft Intune lacks the ability to provide seamless remote assistance or remote control."

"Lacking ability to leverage more iOS device management internally."

"Reporting can be better. Only global administrators can see detailed reports at the moment, and I don't want to use the global admin."

"I find the price for Microsoft Intune too high, which represents an area for improvement in Microsoft's pricing model."

"Microsoft support was not very responsive, and it took approximately one and a half months to get on a call to clear what the problem was."

"The solution's app deployment needs to be improved."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"They could improve the product's capability to handle circular dependencies more effectively."

"For improvement, it's crucial that AWS provides options in terms of computing services, DB related services, and machine learning solutions. If I'm not hands-on with a particular service, like machine learning applications, I struggle to write the CloudFormation code."

"The product should be made cloud-agnostic, allowing users to deploy the same environment with minimal tweaks across different cloud platforms, similar to Terraform. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have the ability to manage templates outside of the AWS environment."

"It's not that easy to use, but I can learn very fast."

"The code we write in AWS CloudFormation is pretty big compared to Terraform. We need to have more modules in the solution. A library should also be there where we can save code lines. A dashboard feature would be good for designers."

"There is room for improvement in the optimization of AWS CloudFormation."

"If Amazon could extend CloudFormation to other cloud platforms, that would be good. Currently, it is only limited to AWS."

"GUI could be improved by adding graphical components."

More AWS CloudFormation cons

"I'd like to see more automation for monitoring and managing things like AWS CloudWatch and AWS Config. It would be a significant improvement if it could automatically handle these tasks and address issues as they arise."

"The fact that AWS Systems Manager takes time to complete the patching process, makes it an area where improvements are required."

"It could be agentless if there's room for improvement in the AWS Systems Manager. Currently, you have to install agents, although, for most of the latest EC2 images, the agents come preinstalled. If it could be at the level of Ansible, which is agentless, that would be fantastic. When you compare the solution to Ansible, one of the most widely accepted tools, the agentless feature stands out. So, if the AWS Systems Manager could become agentless, that would be a significant improvement."

"Every AWS service comes with some associated costs."

"We formerly used third-party products to analyze the log, give us information, and find bottlenecks. Systems Manager could provide more tools that conduct this analysis, so we don't have to do it ourselves."

"AWS does not have EKS cluster backup."

"Lacks sufficient integrations."

"Ensuring broader OS coverage in patch management could be beneficial for the product."

More AWS Systems Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For organizations that are a Microsoft shop, the pricing is compelling."

"It's affordable. In comparison to the competitors, the price depends on what features you need from Intune, but it's affordable. There are no hidden costs, but there are some features that go for a premium price. Those are the add-ons for which you have to pay extra."

"The solution is cost-efficient."

"Pricing depends on the features. Microsoft offers special packages if there are more than 10,000 users, and you may be able to get a reduced rate."

"While I don't have access to high-level financial information, I believe we have achieved lower costs with this implementation."

"We work with the subscription rather than a server license. I think it's economical this way because we don't have to have a server license for that, and I think that works in our favor."

"Microsoft Intune is reasonably priced for large organizations that already have Microsoft Enterprise licenses, but it is less affordable for smaller businesses."

"I have no comment on pricing of the solution."

More Microsoft Intune pricing and cost advice

"If you compared serverless and container-based, serverless is less expensive. If you use certain instances the price can increase and become too expensive."

"The price of the solution is good because it is scalable."

"There's no cost for launching any template using CloudFormation."

"The tool is free for the AWS environment."

"The solution's cost is normal, neither cheap nor expensive."

"The tool's pricing depends on the page model."

"This solution is free to use and does not require a license."

"The pricing is not notably high."

More AWS CloudFormation pricing and cost advice

"As we were doing a government project so the government got the project at a very nominal cost."

"The platform provides excellent value for the capabilities it offers when compared to third-party tools for similar tasks."

"Most of the features are free. I'm not entirely certain, but I believe the pricing is generally very low. Some services that are part of Ops Manager might have associated costs."

"An AWS cloud engineer can bring down the costs."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?

Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...

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What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...

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How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...

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What do you like most about AWS CloudFormation?

AWS Cloud automation reduces the time needed to create AWS resources.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS CloudFormation?

AWS CloudFormation is free. However, there may be unexpected costs if developers deploy services incorrectly without ...

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What needs improvement with AWS CloudFormation?

Improvements are needed for sharing resources between template files, especially when using AWS ( /products/amazon-aw...

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What do you like most about AWS Systems Manager?

With AWS Systems Manager, our company can patch our systems directly from it, so we don't need to patch our systems m...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Systems Manager?

Every AWS service comes with some associated costs. While using AWS Systems Manager, we continually monitor to optimi...

See all answers

What needs improvement with AWS Systems Manager?

There isn't anything specific I remember at the moment.

See all answers

Comparisons

Jamf Pro vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 11% of the time

Workspace ONE UEM vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine Endpoint Central vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 7% of the time

SOTI MobiControl vs Microsoft Intune

Compared 2% of the time

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VMware Aria Automation vs AWS CloudFormation

Compared 17% of the time

Red Hat Satellite vs AWS CloudFormation

Compared 16% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs AWS CloudFormation

Compared 12% of the time

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Microsoft Configuration Manager vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 15% of the time

AWS Config vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 15% of the time

Red Hat Satellite vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 8% of the time

BigFix vs AWS Systems Manager

Compared 4% of the time

More AWS Systems Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Intune

June 2025

Download Microsoft Intune product report

Buyer's Guide

AWS CloudFormation

July 2025

Download AWS CloudFormation product report

Buyer's Guide

Configuration Management

June 2025

Download AWS Systems Manager product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

CloudFormation

Amazon Elastic Container Registry

Overview

Microsoft Intune provides centralized management of mobile devices and applications, ensuring security, compliance, and productivity through integration with Microsoft services like Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory.

Organizations use Intune for managing mobile devices and applications, enhancing security and compliance across platforms. With features like single sign-on, conditional access, and zero-touch deployment via Autopilot, it facilitates efficient operations. Intune's scalability, easy enrollment, and capabilities such as remote wipe support diverse device management, offering robust data protection and efficient operation. Despite its features, improvement areas include reporting, compatibility with non-Microsoft devices, and better support for macOS and Linux devices.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Seamless Integration: Works with Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory, and System Center for streamlined management.
Conditional Access: Enhances security with policies that restrict access based on conditions.
Autopilot: Provides zero-touch deployment for setting up new devices efficiently.
Mobile Device Management: Enables control over both personal and corporate devices.
Application Deployment: Facilitates app delivery across a range of devices.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Centralized Management: Reduces complexity by managing devices and applications in one place.
Security Enhancement: Protects data with features like remote wipe and compliance monitoring.
Improved Productivity: Enhances efficiency with seamless integration and automation features.
Device Scalability: Supports diverse device management for growing business needs.

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure secure and compliant device management. Companies leverage its capabilities to deploy security policies and manage both corporate-owned and BYOD environments, facilitating a unified approach to data protection and compliance.

Microsoft

AWS CloudFormation provides a common language for you to model and provision AWS and third party application resources in your cloud environment. AWS CloudFormation allows you to use programming languages or a simple text file to model and provision, in an automated and secure manner, all the resources needed for your applications across all regions and accounts. This gives you a single source of truth for your AWS and third party resources.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS Systems Manager is a management service that helps you automatically collect software inventory, apply OS patches, create system images, and configure Windows and Linux operating systems. These capabilities help you define and track system configurations, prevent drift, and maintain software compliance of your EC2 and on-premises configurations. By providing a management approach that is designed for the scale and agility of the cloud but extends into your on-premises data center, Systems Manager makes it easier for you to seamlessly bridge your existing infrastructure with AWS.

Systems Manager is easy to use. Simply access Systems Manager from the EC2 Management Console, select the instances you want to manage, and define the management tasks you want to perform. Systems Manager is available now at no cost to manage both your EC2 and on-premises resources.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

Nextdoor, Coinbase, Expedia

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Buyer's Guide

AWS CloudFormation vs. AWS Systems Manager

July 2025

Free Report: AWS CloudFormation vs. AWS Systems Manager

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