Backend-as-a-Service
The biggest real distinction between AWS Amplify and Medplum is straightforward: AWS Amplify is aimed at Mobile, Teams, whereas Medplum targets Healthcare startups building EHR or patient-facing apps on FHIR with modern tooling. AWS Amplify sits at freemium with a paid tier from $15/month, enterprise plan available and carries low lock-in, while Medplum sits at freemium with paid upgrades and carries low lock-in. AWS Amplify is a fit when you need mobile, teams — typical scenarios include mvp/prototyping speed. Medplum is aimed at healthcare startups building ehr or patient-facing apps on fhir with modern tooling, with workloads like open-source fhir-native ehr backend for digital health teams as the common case. The honest trade-off: AWS Amplify is explicitly not for complex custom business logic; Medplum is not intended for non-healthcare projects or teams that can't invest in learning fhir. Neither tool is a drop-in replacement for the other in every scenario — the choice should track your constraints on budget, lock-in, and target workload rather than general popularity.
Quick take
AWS Amplify is for mobile, teams; Medplum is for healthcare startups building ehr or patient-facing; decide based on which workload you actually run.
 AWS Amplify | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backend-as-a-Service | Backend-as-a-Service |
| Pricing Model | freemium | freemium |
| Entry Price | $15/month | — |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing Complexity | — | — |
| Developer Experience | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| Pricing Transparency | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| Lock-in Level | low | low |
| Migration Complexity | — | — |
| Data Portability | — | — |
| Enterprise | Available | — |
| GitHub Stars | 9.6k | 2.3k |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
Choose AWS Amplify if your primary workload is mobile, teams and the free tier plus $15/month paid tier fits your budget.
Not for: Complex custom business logic
Choose Medplum if your primary workload is healthcare startups building ehr or patient-facing apps on fhir with modern tooling and low switching cost matters.
Not for: Non-healthcare projects or teams that can't invest in learning FHIR
Check each tool's dedicated page for deeper reviews, setup notes, and pros/cons.
AWS Amplify publishes an entry price of $15/month; Medplum's entry price is not in our data, so a definitive comparison is not possible without a quote from Medplum.
Migrating from AWS Amplify to Medplum is generally feasible because AWS Amplify has low lock-in, so data and configuration are usually portable. Since both tools sit in the same category (Backend-as-a-Service), the conceptual mapping is closer, but you still need to validate feature parity against your specific workload. Plan migration as a project, not a script: inventory integrations, test on non-production workloads, and keep AWS Amplify running in parallel until Medplum is verified.
Our data gives AWS Amplify and Medplum the same developer experience score (4/5), so neither has a clear edge on DX by that measure. The differentiator is usually how each tool fits your workflow — things like CLI quality, docs, local dev loop, and error messages. The safest call is to pilot both on a representative task and see which one gets out of your way.
Medplum is in the same category as AWS Amplify (Backend-as-a-Service), so it's a reasonable alternative to evaluate. Medplum is aimed at healthcare startups building ehr or patient-facing apps on fhir with modern tooling, while AWS Amplify targets mobile, teams — that difference should drive the switch decision. Note that Medplum is explicitly not for non-healthcare projects or teams that can't invest in learning fhir — if that describes your workload, it's not a viable replacement.
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