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AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) vs Codespaces comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 14, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Cloud Development Kit (...
Ranking in Development Platforms
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Codespaces
Ranking in Development Platforms
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
IDE (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Development Platforms category, the mindshare of AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) is 7.8%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Codespaces is 11.8%, up from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Jigneshkumar Gadhavi - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy and quick to deploy but plugins could be improved
The most valuable features of the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) are its speed and ease of deployment. We can quickly deploy infrastructure by writing code At the beginning, there were some issues regarding different plugins. We have been using AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) for 6-8 months.…
Zishan Sayyed Yunus - PeerSpot reviewer
Smooth workflow with deployment and validation efficiency
I think there should be a scheduler option if you want to run it, similar to Google Cloud, where you can specify how long you want to keep your scheduling active. If you want to use it as a server or for a temporary time duration, you should be able to schedule it so the server will be activated between specific durations and auto-deactivate to save costs. Sometimes, at the initial stages, there is a lack of instances. It takes more time to create the instance, but now it's much faster to activate your Codespaces and delete it. The earlier Git Codespaces billing setup on GitHub was much simpler. You could easily see how much credit you have, how much you have used, and your balance. Now they have changed it, and it's confusing to understand how much Codespaces time you have, how much you have used, and how much they are charging.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"One of the most valuable aspects of CDK is its ability to integrate various components seamlessly, such as Lambda functions, API Gateway, DynamoDB, and EventBridge."
"AWS CDK offers seamless integration, which was a significant factor in choosing it for cloud computing."
"The most valuable features of the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) are its speed and ease of deployment."
"You can use AWS CDK to write code to provision infrastructure."
"The setup process is very straightforward."
"AWS CDK has notably streamlined the deployment process compared to other methods, primarily by defining cloud infrastructure as code."
"The most valuable features of the solution are Copilot and Advanced Security."
"The product allows us to implement feature-related changes or improvements on time. Whenever I write a section of the code or create a new code, it automatically integrates with the former code."
"The integration with Visual Studio Code offers a good and fast user experience that feels like a local experience."
"The developer experience is consistent, and its pricing makes sense since it optimizes the resources."
"Codespaces' most valuable feature is the repository, which helps the developers to work together. Its data commands are also useful."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the use of EventBridge and the initial setup of CDK, which can be a bit challenging."
"There is room for improvement in the use of EventBridge and the initial setup of CDK, which can be a bit challenging."
"They could allow combining multiple languages, such as JavaScript and Python for the platform. At present, we can use only one language."
"Using AWS CDK requires some knowledge of popular programming languages."
"The primary issue we've encountered is pricing. Some customers find the pricing to be somewhat high. Additionally, there's a discrepancy between the promised resource utilization and the actual utilization. The resource utilization calculations don't align with the provided guidelines. So, the pricing and resource utilization calculations could be refined."
"There are some issues with different plugins."
"The main issue is related to state preservation on a disconnection. When I close the laptop and open it in a different place, the state of the environment disappears, and I need to rerun several commands."
"When I close the laptop and open it in a different place, the state of the environment disappears, and I need to rerun several commands. This context switch affects productivity."
"The earlier Git Codespaces billing setup on GitHub was much simpler. You could easily see how much credit you have, how much you have used, and your balance. Now they have changed it, and it's confusing to understand how much Codespaces time you have, how much you have used, and how much they are charging."
"We get merge conflict errors and need to resolve them."
"The technical support could respond faster."
"The product indicates incorrect statistics."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Since AWS CDK is an open-source solution, it's free to use."
"I am using the product’s free version."
"From what I've seen, the solution doesn't seem like it's overly expensive for what you get."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
13%
Educational Organization
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS CDK?
The most valuable features of the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) are its speed and ease of deployment.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS CDK?
Over time, I expect AWS to become more cost-efficient and resilient. Although the pricing is currently high, I hope they continue to improve their system, which will lead to cost reductions.
What needs improvement with AWS CDK?
There is room for improvement in the use of EventBridge and the initial setup of CDK, which can be a bit challenging. The IAM policies could be simplified to make the setup process more straightfor...
What do you like most about Codespaces?
The most valuable features of the solution are Copilot and Advanced Security.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Codespaces?
It's not expensive. It's very cheap compared to others such as Google. Google's same service is much more expensive because it will install the pre-dependencies and takes a longer time to activate....
What needs improvement with Codespaces?
I think there should be a scheduler option if you want to run it, similar to Google Cloud, where you can specify how long you want to keep your scheduling active. If you want to use it as a server ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) vs. Codespaces and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.