Compare sign-up options
Warning
We're currently releasing our new experience to a limited number of customers. You might not be able to access this experience yet.
When you sign up for AWS, you unlock the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. We offer the greatest choice of innovative cloud and AI capabilities and expertise, on the most extensive global infrastructure, with industry-leading security, reliability, and performance.
There are two ways to sign up for AWS. If you want complete control over account configuration and where your content is stored, or if you have regulated workloads such as HIPAA, FedRAMP, use Sign up for AWS (advanced). If you are a new user and want to use a login you already own to sign in to AWS and create an AWS environment with preconfigured defaults in select AWS Regions, use Sign up for AWS (new).
Considerations for choosing how to sign up for AWS
Consider the following before choosing your sign-up method. You can activate all AWS features for your account if necessary.
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If you have specific product requirements such as regulated workloads that include HIPAA or FedRAMP, do not use our new AWS experience.
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Your content will be stored in a designated Region which is selected based on your contact information.
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The new AWS experience makes it easier for you to start building without creating AWS permissions. If you need fine-grained control over your users or role-based permissions, do not use Sign up for AWS (new).
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If you need account-specific payment configurations set up by AWS, also known as net terms billing, do not use Sign up for AWS (new).
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If you need access to the full set of AWS services, do not use Sign up for AWS (new). For more information, see Supported AWS services for Sign up for AWS (new).
Compare features for sign-up options
The following table compares AWS wide requirements that are either supported for Sign up for AWS (new) or Sign up for AWS (advanced). If a feature is not listed in this table or described in Compare access management, it is available. You can activate advanced features for your account if you need any of the unsupported features. For more information, see Activate advanced AWS features.
| Feature | Sign up for AWS (new) | Sign up for AWS (advanced) |
|---|---|---|
| Join AWS Partner Network | No | Yes |
| Create a Professional Services contract | No | Yes |
| Enroll in an Enterprise Agreement with AWS | No | Yes |
| Purchase an AWS Skill Builder Team subscription | No | Yes |
| Work with an AWS Training Partner | No | Yes |
| Earn extra credits from AWS Activate | No | Yes |
| Use AWS Marketplace | No | Yes |
| Designate your AWS account as HIPAA or SEC compliant | No | Yes |
| Select a specific AWS Region to create your Regional resources | No. For more information, see AWS Regions for your projects. | Yes |
| Access an opt-in Region | No | Yes |
| IAM Access Analyzer | No | Yes |
| Sign-in access policies | No | Yes |
| Set up script to connect your local agent to your AWS accounts | Yes | No |
| Create spend limits for your accounts | Yes | No |
| Savings plans | No | Yes |
| Automatic opt-in to Cost Optimization Hub | Yes | No |
| Automatic opt-in to AWS Organizations | Yes | No |
| Automatic opt-in to IAM Identity Center | Yes | No |
| Automatically opt in to IAM role manager | Yes | No |
| Console account colors | No | Yes |
| Disable multi-session console support | No | Yes. If you sign in again using a Builder ID, multi-session support will be enabled automatically. |
Compare access management
When you use our new AWS experience, AWS creates preconfigured defaults to help you get started building. Your AWS resources are organized in projects. A project contains an AWS account and settings for sharing with other collaborators. If you use the paid plan, your project can also have a set monthly pre-tax cost, called a spend limit. All of the projects you own make up your organization, which you control through your management account in AWS Settings. This organization is the same as an AWS Organization; however, AWS manages aspects of this organization on your behalf.
AWS manages the following elements of your AWS Organization:
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Organization management policies. When you use our new AWS experience, AWS manages the organization management policies including the resource control policies (RCPs) and the service control policies (SCPs). If you want to create your own, use Sign up for AWS (advanced).
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Human access roles. A human access role is any role that allows a human to have specific permissions. For example, a human access role could let the user tester have read only access to Amazon Bedrock. While you can create IAM roles and IAM users, we recommend only using them when necessary. AWS manages all human access to your project. You can add and remove team members to your project. When you add a team member, they have access to all the resources in your project. For more information, see Invite team members to collaborate in AWS Settings.
Every project has a managed security implementation that makes it easy to build with confidence. By default, any application or code in your project has access to all AWS resources in that same project. You do not need to perform additional access configuration.
AWS resources in different projects cannot access each other, unless you turn on cross-project access for certain resources. For instance, you can create a Lambda function in one project and then invoke it using an API in a different project. This is described as a cross-account integration. For more information, see Cross-account Lambda integrations. As long as both projects are owned by the same management account, this is supported.
By default, your project does not provide external access to any resources. You must configure AWS resources to allow for public access. You can do the following:
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Create a public S3 bucket to host a simple static website or files. For more information, see Getting started with Amazon S3.
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Create an API Gateway API to act as the front door of your application. For more information, see Build an HTTP API.
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Create an EC2 instance with a public IP address to allow for communication between your instances and the Internet. For more information, see Launch your first EC2 instance.
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Create a CloudFront distribution to deliver your static and dynamic web content, such as .html, .css, .js, and image files, to your users. For more information, see Getting started with CloudFront.
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Create a Lambda function URL to provide a simple, direct publicly accessible HTTP endpoint for a Lambda function. Make sure your Lambda function has the correct permissions. For more information, see Creating a function URL and Security and auth model for Lambda function URLs.
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Use a combination of these or other AWS mechanisms.
In addition, when you activate advanced features, you have access to even more mechanisms to provide external access to your resources.
Manage your AWS accounts
You manage your AWS accounts based on the type of AWS you're using. The following table shows where to find the documentation for each management task.
