Amplify vs SST

What is Amplify?

There are a couple different Amplify tools:

Amplify Libraries

These are libraries to help interact with AWS resources like Cognito. These libraries are commonly used and not restricted to Amplify apps.

Amplify Hosting

A CI/CD pipeline (process to streamline builds usually with git). This is a service and is comparable to Seed.

Amplify CLI / Amplify Studio

The CLI configures and creates AWS resources. After you create a project with the CLI, you can check out the resources in the console with Amplify Studio.

What is SST?

SST, like Amplify CLI, is used to create and deploy AWS resources except with code. This is IaC or infrastructure as code.

When to use what?

The Amplify CLI helps abstract complexity which can make for fast development. A developer making a smaller app with a good idea of its structure ahead of time can benefit from Amplify.

But in most scenarios it makes more sense to use SST:

• It’s easier to make changes; it’s easy to change code.
• The development lifecycle is simpler. Everything can be version controlled with git.
• You can use an IDE to see resource properties and even implement TypeScript to ensure proper configurations.

Example

Let’s create some AWS resources.

Here we’re creating an API with a Lambda function that accesses DynamoDB.

Amplify:

SST:

const demoTable = new Table(stack, 'dynamo2e1dc4eb', {
    fields: {
      id: "string",
    },
    primaryIndex: { partitionKey: "id" }
  })

  const demoApi = new Api(stack, "Api", {
    routes: {
      "GET /items": "functions/itemsLambda.main"
    }
  })

demoApi.attachPermissions([demoTable])