Amplify is not one product. It is Hosting, a TypeScript backend framework (Gen 2), client libraries, UI components and an AI kit, plus a Gen 1 CLI, Studio and DataStore that reach end of life on May 1, 2027, and Pinpoint-backed analytics and push that lost their backend on October 30, 2026. What each piece is, what it costs and whether to use it.
People say "we use Amplify" and mean very different things: a Next.js site on Amplify Hosting, a React Native app calling Cognito through the Amplify libraries, or a whole backend defined in Amplify Gen 2. Those pieces have different futures. This is the whole family as of October 2026.
Book a free 30-minute call. You'll leave knowing what we'd do first and roughly what it costs, whether or not you hire us.
Amplify Hosting is a fine default for front ends, especially Next.js, until data transfer or the need for your own CloudFront configuration makes a CDK-built distribution worthwhile.
Amplify Gen 2 is a good way for a small TypeScript team to get a real AWS backend quickly, and it is CDK underneath, so you are not trapped.
The libraries and UI components are useful even with no Amplify backend at all: they work against Cognito, AppSync and S3 you created yourself.
Anything on Gen 1 or the Pinpoint-backed categories needs a plan now, not in 2027.
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Book a free 30-minute call about it. Bring your setup and your bill; you'll leave knowing what we'd do first and roughly what it costs, whether or not you hire us.
Or keep reading
Amplify Gen 1 Reaches End of Life on May 1, 2027: Migrating to Gen 2, Gap by Gap
Gen 1 backends have received only critical fixes since May 1, 2026, and reach end of life on May 1, 2027. Gen 2 covers most of Gen 1 and adds OIDC and SAML, SQL databases and TypeScript functions, but it drops DataStore, many-to-many relationships, @searchable, Studio's visual configuration and Pinpoint analytics. The parity table and a migration order.
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Amplify Gen 2 Is CDK Underneath: How to Extend It, and When to Graduate to Plain CDK
Amplify Gen 2 compiles TypeScript resource definitions into AWS CDK, so anything it does not model can be added as CDK in the same backend, and it can deploy from your own CI with ampx pipeline-deploy. When that is enough, and the signs a team should move the backend to a plain CDK app.
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As of October 25, 2026. Provided as is, for general information, and accurate to the best of our knowledge on the date shown. Not legal, compliance, tax, financial or other professional advice. Prices, limits and vendor services change; check current vendor documentation before relying on anything here. Terms of use.