AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM) is an open-source framework that defines serverless resources as templates and provides a CLI to build, package, deploy, and locally test AWS serverless applications by transforming SAM templates into CloudFormation-managed deployments.
Published Oct 15, 2026
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| Aspect | AWS SAM | AWS CDK | Terraform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | Open source (service usage costs apply) | Open source (service usage costs apply) | Open source core; commercial editions or vendor offerings available; service usage costs apply |
| Primary Use Case | AWS-first teams building Lambda-centric applications using template-based IaC and CLI-driven workflows | Teams defining infrastructure in programming languages and building higher-level abstractions | Teams prioritizing multi-cloud infrastructure and a centralized state model |
| Key Strength | Serverless-focused abstractions over CloudFormation; CLI-driven local and iterative workflows | Reuse and abstraction via code constructs, testing patterns, and language tooling | Multi-cloud support, state management, and a broad plugin/ecosystem |
| Key Weakness | Template-based models can become verbose at scale; CloudFormation constraints and environment management require conventions | Abstractions can produce generated CloudFormation that is harder to reason about for some teams | Can feel heavyweight for simple serverless applications; may require additional tooling for fast serverless dev loops |
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