Key Differences Between Amplify Gen 1 and Gen 2¶
Estimated time to read: 2 minutes
AWS Amplify Gen 2 introduces a code-first approach to building full-stack applications, improving speed, developer experience (DX), and workflow efficiency compared to Amplify Gen 1.
Core Comparison¶
| Feature | Amplify Gen 1 | Amplify Gen 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure Setup | CLI or Amplify Studio | TypeScript files (e.g., resource.ts) |
| Developer Experience | Manual provisioning | IDE-friendly with IntelliSense and type safety |
| Local Development | Shared environments | Isolated sandboxes per developer (faster, safer iterations) |
| Environment Management | Manual CLI/console setup | Git branch = environment (zero-config setup) |
| Frontend Type Integration | Requires codegen for types | Auto-generated types for real-time data binding |
| Workflow Integration | Backend-focused | Fullstack-first: backend, hosting, auth, UI all unified |
| API & DB Definition | JSON-based GraphQL schema | TypeScript-based schema with live code integration |
| Authentication | AWS Cognito with CLI setup | Cognito via TS config with extendable user flows |
| Custom AWS Services | Limited/extensible via CLI | Built on AWS CDK — fully modular and extensible |
| Management Console | Basic deployment and hosting | Unified view of builds, hosting, env vars, users, data |
Key Amplify Gen 2 Features¶
- Code-first full-stack development
- Real-time API & NoSQL DB auto-generated from data schema
- Git-based environments (e.g.,
main,dev,feature/*) - Instant preview deploys from pull requests
- Cognito Auth with simple custom user flows
- AWS CDK foundation for modular extension (e.g., S3, Lambda, Location)
We can now proceed with the actual workshop using Amplify Gen 2, where we’ll walk through creating a real-time API, setting up authentication, and deploying your fullstack app from scratch.