AWS Service Catalog
Catalog of approved IT products
Lets admins package approved infrastructure templates (CloudFormation, Terraform) as "products"; users deploy them from the catalog themselves without needing broad permissions.
- Cost$ Low
- Difficulty●●●●●
- Costs money when idle?No
- Serverless
- In examsSAA · SOA
Think of it asLike a company cafeteria: it only sells approved dishes, and employees pick for themselves without going into the kitchen.
When to use it
✓ Use it when
Large organizations that want teams to self-serve while still following shared standards.
✗ Avoid it when
A single small team managing its own infrastructure → CloudFormation directly.
Common uses
- Let devs create standard, security-configured environments themselves
- Share product portfolios across many accounts
- Control Tower's Account Factory uses Service Catalog
What does it cost?
- Pricing model: Charged by the number of API calls to Service Catalog (with a monthly free tier); deployed resources are billed separately.
