Claude Platform on AWS for Native AI Access with Governance

Overview

With the Claude Platform on AWS, organizations gain direct access to the native experience provided by the Claude Platform, offered by Anthropic, using their current AWS account, with AWS handling identity management, invoicing, and audit capabilities while Anthropic provides the underlying platform. AWS claims that it is the first cloud vendor to offer such a native experience for the Claude Platform. Using the same APIs and console provided natively by Anthropic, teams can access the services they need without separate accounts or agreements. The service is available to all users and provides access to features including the Messages API, Agent Skills, code execution, prompt caching, citations, batching, the files API, the MCP connector, web search, web fetch, and Claude Managed Agents.

Introduction

However, organizations are frequently forced to choose between accessing the most advanced capabilities of the AI platform and maintaining control over identity, costs, and auditing. Claude Platform on AWS helps close this divide by enabling the use of Anthropic’s official platform with native AWS controls via AWS IAM access, centralized AWS billing, and Amazon CloudTrail audits. The reason this is important is that many users want to use the latest functionalities available on Anthropic’s platform, including same-day model and feature updates, but don’t wish to go through the effort of setting up vendor-specific authentication or managing costs separately.

What the platform includes?

The Claude Platform running on AWS delivers the complete Anthropic platform experience, rather than being limited to just integration layer services. The AWS documentation describes features such as the Messages API, Agent Skills, code execution, beta services, prompt caching, citations, batching, the Files API, the MCP connector, web search, web fetch, and Claude Managed Agents. Meanwhile, Anthropic also notes that users will be able to build their agents at scale and use all the features of the Claude Platform while leveraging AWS’s authentication, billing, and commitment retirement.

How does it work in practice?

Onboarding begins by getting the Claude Platform running on AWS via AWS Marketplace, after which the service can be used via an organization’s AWS account without needing a standalone commercial arrangement with Anthropic. Authentication can use either AWS IAM or Signature Version 4, whereas some development workloads might employ API key-driven processes. Payments will be made consistently from AWS Marketplace and can offset costs against AWS commitments. Amazon CloudTrail auditing ensures that platform activities are logged in line with the audit standards currently applied within AWS environments.

Security and governance considerations

One of the most important advantages of the Claude Platform on AWS includes consistent operations. The use of AWS IAM credentials and access controls can continue; Amazon CloudTrail logging can also be used to investigate and govern activity. It should be noted, however, that AWS explicitly states that Anthropic manages the Claude Platform on AWS, and AWS does not operate customer data within the security boundary of AWS. This is a critical distinction from the AWS-hosted inference stack. According to AWS, this platform was designed for organizations that wish to retain the Claude developer experience while having no regional requirements regarding data residency.

Claude Platform on AWS versus Amazon Bedrock

Claude Platform on AWS and Claude on Amazon Bedrock address issues that are related but different in their own ways. On the one hand, the Claude Platform on AWS provides access to the Anthropic console, APIs, beta products, and first-party platform updates available on the day of launch via AWS identity and billing services. On the other hand, Amazon Bedrock is described by AWS as the platform on which the inference stack runs. Therefore, depending on their needs, organizations can choose either option.

Conclusion

Claude Platform on AWS is a crucial milestone in the adoption of enterprise AI for several reasons. First, it allows Anthropic’s native platform experience to be paired with an operational approach familiar to many enterprises using AWS services.

For organizations looking to create agentic applications, internal copilots, and AI tools, this could streamline the development process and make production easier. In the end, whether to opt for this solution will depend on a trade-off related to governance, as some may prioritize their own native experience.

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