What's the Difference Between AWS Control Tower and AWS Organizations?
Compare AWS Control Tower and AWS Organizations side by side — features, pricing, and ideal use cases to help you choose the right product.
Compare side-by-side
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Comparisons
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AWS Control Tower
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AWS Organizations
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Category
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Management & Governance, Multi-Account |
Management & Governance, Multi-account governance |
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Description
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Multi-account governance for secure, scalable setup |
Policy-based management for multiple AWS accounts |
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Best for
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Key features
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Pricing model
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No additional charge; pay for underlying services |
No additional charge |
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Free tier
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Yes |
Yes |
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Expert take
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“Control Tower sets up a multi-account landing zone with guardrails in under an hour. It enforces organizational policies via Service Control Policies and Config rules automatically.” |
“Organizations is the foundation for multi-account governance. Service Control Policies set permission guardrails that no one in child accounts can exceed, even administrators. Structure OUs by workload type or environment (prod/dev/sandbox) rather than by team.” |
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Product page
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When to use AWS Control Tower or AWS Organizations
Use AWS Control Tower when:
- Multi-account setup
- Landing zone
- Guardrails enforcement
- Account provisioning
Learn more about AWS Control Tower »
Use AWS Organizations when:
- Multi-account management
- Consolidated billing
- Service control policies
- Account automation
Next steps with AWS for Management & Governance
AWS product comparisons
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