artifact.guru

Amazon S3, CloudFront and Cognito alternative · Do-it-yourself private hosting on AWS

Private links without wiring up S3, CloudFront and Cognito

S3, CloudFront and Cognito give you full control: your account, a global CDN, your sign-in rules, and you pay for what you use. artifact.guru gives what your AI makes a private link with email invites, view tracking and versions, with nothing to build.

Start freeTalk to us

Checked on October 8, 2026 against Amazon S3, CloudFront and Cognito’s own pages. See the sources

Pick Amazon S3, CloudFront and Cognito if

  • Files must stay in your own AWS account, under your own IAM policies.
  • Viewers have to sign in through your SAML or OIDC identity provider.
  • You have engineers to build and run S3, CloudFront, Cognito and Lambda@Edge.

Pick artifact.guru if

  • You want a private link today, with no bucket, distribution or sign-in to wire up.
  • Your agent should publish from Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Gemini CLI or Grok with no stack to set up first.
  • You want to see by name who opened an email link, and who hasn’t.

Amazon S3, CloudFront and Cognito and artifact.guru, row by row.

QuestionAmazon S3, CloudFront and Cognitoartifact.guru
Publish from AI agentsAWS MCP Server lets agents call any AWS API, S3 uploads included; also CLI and SDKsClaude, ChatGPT, Codex, Gemini CLI, Grok and any MCP app, over OAuth; no API keys
Upload it yourselfDrag files and folders into the S3 console, up to 160 GB per fileDrag in files, or a whole folder for a built site or React app
What opens in the browserAny file, served as stored with the Content-Type you setHTML, React, Markdown, PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, images, diagrams, zipped sites
Who can open a linkPrivate S3 origin; expiring signed URLs or cookies; Cognito sign-in via Lambda@EdgePrivate, public or secret code on every plan; email invites (up to 50) on paid plans
Who opened itCloudFront reports: popular files, top referrers, devices, browsers, locationsPaid plans: names on email links; counts, sources and devices on the rest
Updates and versionsS3 Versioning keeps every overwrite so you can restore it; off by defaultEvery change is a new version at the same link; roll back any time (Free keeps 3)
Your own domainYour domain on CloudFront with a free ACM certificate; you add the DNS recordsYour subdomain for public and secret-code links, from $12 a month
Team workspaceIAM users, roles and policies; IAM Identity Center for team sign-inTeam: one workspace, admins and members, a project per client, comments you can assign
PriceUsage-based: S3 $0.023/GB-month (US East); CloudFront 1 TB/month free; Cognito 10k MAU free (50 via SAML/OIDC)Free $0; Individual $12/month; Team $30/month for 3 editors, then $8 each

Where Amazon S3, CloudFront and Cognito is good

  • Files stay in your own AWS account under your IAM policies, and S3 is audited under SOC, PCI DSS, FedRAMP and HIPAA programs.
  • Cognito can put email, Google, Apple or any SAML or OIDC sign-in, with MFA, in front of CloudFront through Lambda@Edge.
  • Agents can drive it: the AWS MCP Server, generally available since May 2026, lets Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI call any AWS API at no extra charge.

Where artifact.guru is different

  • Nothing to build or keep running. Agents publish over MCP from Claude, ChatGPT (Business, Enterprise or Edu), Codex, Gemini CLI and Grok after a one-time browser approval, or you drag in files or a whole folder.
  • Access is a setting, not a project: private, email invites for up to 50 addresses, an 8-character secret code that can expire, or public. Switch any time and the link stays the same.
  • Email links show each person who opened, when and how often, and who hasn’t opened yet. Public and code links show counts, where visitors came from and devices.
  • PDF, Word and PowerPoint open in the browser next to HTML, React, Markdown, Mermaid and Excalidraw. Every edit is a new version at the same link, with rollback.

Moving over from Amazon S3, CloudFront and Cognito

  1. 1Pull the files or the built site folder you share down from your bucket.
  2. 2Drag them into artifact.guru, or have your agent publish them over MCP. Each one starts private.
  3. 3Pick who can open each link. On a paid plan, serve public and code links from a subdomain like docs.yourcompany.com.

Questions about Amazon S3, CloudFront and Cognito and artifact.guru

Is artifact.guru cheaper than S3, CloudFront and Cognito?

Not always. AWS bills for usage and its free tiers cover a lot: CloudFront includes 1 TB and 10 million requests a month, and Cognito 10,000 monthly active users, or 50 who sign in through SAML or OIDC. artifact.guru is $0, $12 or $30 a month (Team includes 3 editors) with nothing to build.

Can viewers sign in with our company identity provider?

On AWS, yes: Cognito accepts SAML and OIDC providers. artifact.guru has no viewer SSO. You invite up to 50 email addresses per artifact and each person signs in with that address, or you share a secret code.

Can my AI agent publish to AWS directly?

Yes. The AWS MCP Server lets agents call AWS APIs, including uploads to S3, but someone, or the agent, still has to set up the bucket, distribution and sign-in. With artifact.guru you approve once in the browser and the agent publishes. Publishing from ChatGPT needs a Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace.

Can artifact.guru run inside our AWS account?

No, there is no self-hosting. HTML, React and sites run in a sandbox on a separate address, usercontent.artifact.guru, with no access to the viewer’s account.

More comparisons

All 32 comparisons

Sources

What this page says about Amazon S3, CloudFront and Cognito comes from its own pages, checked on October 8, 2026. Plans and prices change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it.

Try it with one real file.

Free to start. Two minutes to your first link.

Start freeTalk to us