# AWS Directory Service Reviews **Vendor:** Amazon Web Services (AWS) **Category:** [Cloud Directory Services](https://www.g2.com/categories/cloud-directory-services) **Average Rating:** 4.1/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 20 ## About AWS Directory Service AWS Directory Service is a fully managed service that enables organizations to run Microsoft Active Directory (AD) in the AWS Cloud without the need to deploy and maintain their own infrastructure. It simplifies the integration of AD-dependent applications and services, allowing users to access AWS resources using their existing AD credentials. Key Features and Functionality: - Managed Microsoft Active Directory: AWS Directory Service offers a native Microsoft AD environment, eliminating the need for data synchronization or replication from on-premises directories. - High Availability: The service deploys domain controllers across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring resilience and continuous operation. - Seamless Integration: It integrates with various AWS services, including Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS for SQL Server, and Amazon WorkSpaces, facilitating the deployment of directory-aware workloads. - Security and Compliance: AWS Directory Service provides end-to-end encryption and meets compliance standards such as SOC, PCI, HIPAA, and FedRAMP. - Scalability: The service supports organizations of different sizes, offering Standard, Enterprise, and Hybrid editions to meet varying needs. Primary Value and Solutions Provided: AWS Directory Service addresses the challenges of managing and scaling Active Directory infrastructure by offering a fully managed, secure, and scalable solution in the cloud. It enables organizations to: - Simplify Cloud Migration: Easily migrate AD-dependent workloads to AWS without modifying existing applications or user credentials. - Enhance Security: Leverage AWS's robust security measures to protect directory data and meet regulatory compliance requirements. - Reduce Operational Overhead: Offload routine maintenance tasks such as patching, monitoring, and backups to AWS, allowing IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives. - Ensure High Availability: Benefit from a highly available directory service that spans multiple Availability Zones, providing resilience against failures. By utilizing AWS Directory Service, organizations can seamlessly extend their on-premises AD to the cloud, maintain a consistent user experience, and efficiently manage access to AWS resources. ## AWS Directory Service Reviews ### 1. Strong, scalable identity and access management, data protection, and compliance **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Francisco C. | Chief Reveue Officer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2025 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** What I like best about AWS Cloud Security is the seamless integration across services, particularly the centralized control offered by AWS IAM and AWS Organizations. It enables fine-grained access management, strong compliance alignment, and automated security best practices, which are critical for maintaining a secure and scalable cloud infrastructure. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** One area for improvement in AWS Cloud Security is the complexity of initial configuration and the steep learning curve for new users. While the tools are powerful, achieving optimal setup often requires deep expertise, and the documentation, although comprehensive, can sometimes be overwhelming or too fragmented for quick implementation. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** AWS Cloud Security helps us solve important problems like safe access management, following the rules, and stopping threats in a cloud environment with multiple accounts. It lowers operational risk, makes audits easier, and improves overall security posture by centralizing identity management and allowing for continuous monitoring. This gives us more confidence to scale securely in the cloud. ### 2. Great choice for a managed directory service **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aaron A. | Systems Architect, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 02, 2022 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** No domain controller servers to manage! I like that it natively integrates with almost every AWS service. Being in the DoD and having a managed service does help us since it is one less server to STIG. We also do not have Domain or Enterprise admin users, which makes achieving Authority to Operate more straightforward. Super easy to EC2 instances to the domain at launch, and makes resetting user passwords a breeze. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** I said no more servers for running the domain controller, but if you want to do more heavy editing of some AD and GPO features, you will have to have a computer or utility server running ADUC or GPOe. Not a huge deal. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are able to move away from the more traditional Windows DC environment. We not longer need a server for each FSMO role, and we have at least two less servers to patch! Very nice. ### 3. Its a stable and working but not running latest version of AD **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Retail | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 06, 2020 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** Its a managed service that we dont need to care about **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** It is not the latest version of Active Directory and its underlying windows server **Recommendations to others considering AWS Directory Service:** its a bit limited on what you can do but it works enough for our purpose **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Less to manage and apatch ### 4. Flexible and Dead Simple **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Goods | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 12, 2019 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** AWS Directory Service is extremely easy to set up, but remains an extremely flexible product, allowing you to interface with it both from Cloud Services and using native protocols (LDAP), and giving you the ability to extend its functionality as you would any other directory. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** Not much - it has worked very well so far. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Simple user management for a variety of services, IAM, and testing our various AWS technologies. It has made the process of managing user accounts for these services extremely easy. ### 5. The AWS directory service has been a good alternative for us **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 29, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** AWS has enabled us to run Microsoft AD with the Amazon Cloud Service. Its been a great tool to extend our existing domains to one software program. It also has a good simple infrastructure to manage the whole service. We have a few team members working with this and it was an easy set-up process. It also allows us to see the workloads quickly and simply. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** From our experience, it does not allow us much customization. There also is a limited number of users that have access. There are so many features, which is amazing, but also makes it a bit confusing at times. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Now we can manage the Active Directory from the cloud, which is a HUGE benefit. We can access it from anywhere and not worry about the user access. We can also manage all groups from 1 location. ### 6. Decentralized Directory Delivers Desireable Developments **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alfonso A. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** AWS Active directory provides a simple way to setup directory services for users/clients at remote sites and manage the directory without much hassle. Being able to manage users and objects from anywhere in the world with an internet connection without having to worry about VPNs, network outage at the site that is using the directory, or any other scenario makes things a lot less complicated. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** From my experience, it doesn't seem like there is much customization in terms of performance. There is a limit to the number of users and objects that AWD Directory Services provides; however, in my use cases implementing it the hard limit never came to be an issue. **Recommendations to others considering AWS Directory Service:** Test the waters and try out other services that offer hosted directories, and make an informed decision. AWS Directory Services is a great service, but I don't see it being ideal for every single use-case, so make your decision having done adequate research. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** With many clients having remote offices, AWS Directory Services provides an easy way to keep remote workers connected. Some of the clients that I have implemented AWS Directory Services for have the only regret of having not started using it sooner. The operating expense versus the capital expense of having an on-site server is especially a no-brainer for cash-strapped startups, or any business that wants to keep from having to plan out massive expenses every few years keeping a necessary service running. ### 7. AD in THE CLOUD **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** It allows and enables an IT administrator to run Microsoft AD in the public cloud, easing setup of user and group data and giving an end user access to cloud services. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** There are a lot of features available with this product choosing the right one for you can be hard at times. Also setting it up for MAC OS can be hard as well. **Recommendations to others considering AWS Directory Service:** I do not have any recommendations to add at this time. I think that the product is headed in the right direction. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** It makes giving permission and access to users in the cloud very easy for the IT administrator. ### 8. Encompasses all of the software solutions we need in one place. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Erika S. | Associate, Institutional Relationship Manager (Capital Markets), Internet, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 20, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** Helps with efficiency, speed and reliability. Allows for easier and more organised deployments. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** Interface could be more intuitive i.e. more user friendly **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Allows our team to automate manual tasks as well as show new team members that they have a good support tool to utilise. ### 9. Review **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lerida R. | Principal IT Architect, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 26, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** Like the ablity to quick.y configure an AD environment without having to stand up EC2 instances **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** Limited on things that can be done vs. native items with EC2 AD. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Authentication for our users in the cloud ### 10. Active Directory **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 04, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** The best part is to have 3 options that helps customers choose the right option that would help their situation. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** Its really hard to setup client to access AWS microsoft AD service. At least for the first time when we setup the service, it was hard to find documentation to setup client to access the AD as a service platform. **Recommendations to others considering AWS Directory Service:** NA **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Local authentication for applications hosted in AWS Cloud. ### 11. Managed AD Services **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shahbaz Z. | Cloud Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 28, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** Managed AD services with minimum effort. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** Managed DNS and route 53 need to be aligned. Two way trust between on-prem and managed AD require for most of the AWS services **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Integrating with on-prem AD ### 12. Review of AWS Directory Service **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 27, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** AWS handles the complexity and presents you with just the directory tools that you need to manage your directory. It's extremely quick and simple to get started, whereas deploying an on-premises domain service is very time consuming and complicated. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** Some advanced functionality that exists in a traditional on-prem domain is not available. **Recommendations to others considering AWS Directory Service:** Delivers exactly what you expect it should. Very easy to setup and use. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Centralised user management. ### 13. Great simple AD service **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Insurance | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 28, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** We use Simple AD and it was extremely quick and easy to set up and utilize. The deployment takes under 15 minutes and it was up and running. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** I didn't run into any issues with the service. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm using it to resolve internal DNS IPs for a VPC peered service. I'm now able to use it with conditional forwarders to resolve the internal IPs of said service. ### 14. Review **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Defense & Space | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 05, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** Overall It's a great product. Learned how to use this product from the current company from my boss and it wasn't hard to learn it. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** There is a lot of room for customization. That often can be frustrating, especially for the first timers. Although it's not the products fault, when there is a bad Internet connection in the office, it was hard to login to the directory. **Recommendations to others considering AWS Directory Service:** Every company is different. There are all kinds of products out there. I learned this product after I joined the current firm. While this product seems to be working very well for my company and I have zero complaints. Ultimately, each company has to decide what's good for them. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Managing the Active Directory on the cloud. For me and my company, it's easy accessibility to the Active Directory from other regions. ### 15. I've used it in several AWS account and region and had no issues with it so far **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 06, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** In my experience working with this, this is stable and reliable. We use it to as connectors (AD connector) to link the corporate domains to AWS. One thing I like is it is easy to setup, even the automation is easy. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** At times, the config file used to setup is sometimes too immature and limited. I wish it will support more defined or customizability when setting up connectors. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** link the corporate domains to AWS ### 16. Works S advertised **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Utilities | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 26, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** Alerts when issues arise and we’ve had no issues **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** Backups are not very long can’t restore from 30 days ago **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Auto for services ### 17. Simplify your IT management with AWS Directory Service **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Health, Wellness and Fitness | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 24, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** Ease of setup and maintenance and the ability to scale **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** Not able to name snapshots so managing them can be challenging **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Set an users and groups and manage them from one central location and use across set of EC2 instances ### 18. AWS review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Networking | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** Overall experience has been wonderful. Ease of use and availability. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** There is a lot of features available, to chose which one you need is cumbersome at times. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** To manage the Active Directory from the cloud. Now since it's in the cloud, it is accessible even from another continent, which is by far the most beneficial thing according to me. ### 19. Great Services for storing files **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 21, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** I really like that it is easy to use and very quick. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** That when using Amazon glacier, there is no sort of GUI for Mac OS. There is a way to do it but it is too complicated. **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Storing old archived files and saving space on our servers. ### 20. Not as easy as anticipated **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2018 **What do you like best about AWS Directory Service?** I think that AWS is a great platform and is very flexible. No matter the size of my project, I know that it will have an option. **What do you dislike about AWS Directory Service?** I don't think it's very user-friendly. Coming in as a beginner was very confusing and I couldn't find information on what I should use for my specific needs. **Recommendations to others considering AWS Directory Service:** Go with Azure **What problems is AWS Directory Service solving and how is that benefiting you?** Trying to have something on the cloud that is easily accessible by the entire team ## AWS Directory Service Discussions - [What is the main characteristic that makes Amazon cloud directory a better option than traditional directory systems?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/aws-directory-service-what-is-the-main-characteristic-that-makes-amazon-cloud-directory-a-better-option-than-traditional-di) - [What is AWS Active Directory used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-aws-active-directory-used-for) - [What is the primary benefit of AWS directory services?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-primary-benefit-of-aws-directory-services) - [What does AWS directory service provide?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-does-aws-directory-service-provide) - [View AWS Directory Service pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/aws-directory-service/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-14+03%3A27%3A55+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=366ee2dc-ccb5-45d8-ab32-a3043fb79b16&secure%5Btoken%5D=aca2f0c016c34b182ae6f47e55f7a696d12325bf2095f37a0db4855c17fe8123&format=llm_user) ## AWS Directory Service Features **User on/off Boarding** - Self Service Access requests - Smart/Automated Provisioning - Role Management - Policy Management - Access Termination - Approval Workflows **Access Control** - Role Management - Access Termination - Remote Access - Partner Access **User Maintenance** - Self Service Password Reset - Bulk Changes - Bi-directional Identity Synchronization **Administration** - Smart/Automated Provisioning - Policy Management - On-premise identity repositories supported - Ease of Connecting Applications **Governance** - Identifies and Alerts for Threats - Compliance Audits **Functionality** - SSO - Multi-Factor Authentication - Supports Required Authentication systems **Administration** - Reporting - Mobile App - Ease of set up for target systems - APIs ## Top AWS Directory Service Alternatives - [Microsoft Entra ID](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-entra-id/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (868 reviews) - [JumpCloud](https://www.g2.com/products/jumpcloud/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (3,820 reviews) - [Okta](https://www.g2.com/products/okta/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (1,196 reviews)