Why Does AWS Offer So Many Different Deployment Tools?

Historically, AWS has a culture where launching new tools gets you recognized and promoted faster than just improving existing ones. This means they might not deprecate old tools quickly, especially when customers have come to depend on them.

All these AWS tools essentially wrap around CloudFormation. While CDK and SAM simplify cloud configurations, they still rely on CloudFormation's structure. They're not outdated; they just serve different workflows. SAM, for instance, makes deploying Lambda functions a lot easier by avoiding some of the complexities of plain CloudFormation.

It seems like AWS retains older tools to support their user base effectively. Some users might have been using older tools for years, and eliminating them could create disruptions. Plus, customers often request specific features, prompting AWS to develop additional tools instead of refining existing ones.

There's a lot of overlap with these tools because of how AWS builds them. Each tool targets different developer preferences—some like the freedom of coding in a programming language (CDK), while others prefer the declarative style of CloudFormation. It's all about providing options to suit diverse user bases.

AWS has different tools for various audiences and use cases. While CloudFormation is the core service for infrastructure as code, CDK is aimed at developers who prefer coding their infrastructure, and SAM is tailored for serverless applications. They provide flexibility to users based on their needs, even if it leads to some overlap.