Thunder
vs
SST
Thunder.so delivers the power of SST with better DX, broader deployment options (including containers & nixpacks), and true AWS-native infrastructure — built on CDK, not Pulumi's custom IaC syntax.
The Bottom Line
SST uses Pulumi under the hood with its own custom IaC syntax, while Thunder.so is built natively on AWS CDK — giving you standard, well-documented infrastructure constructs, better AWS service coverage, and no proprietary abstraction layer to learn.
Better choice for most teams in 2026
Head-to-Head Comparison: Thunder.so vs SST
| Feature | Thunder.so | SST |
|---|---|---|
| Core Philosophy | PaaS experience on your AWS, built on CDK | IaC using Pulumi with custom SST syntax |
| Open Source | Yes — fully open source & self-hostable | Yes (open source) |
| Ease of Use | Very High (Click-click-deploy) | Medium (requires learning SST/Pulumi IaC) |
| Infrastructure Layer | AWS CDK (standard, well-documented) | Pulumi (custom SST abstraction) |
| Deployment Options | Static, Lambda (zip + container), ECS/Fargate, EC2 + nixpacks | Primarily Lambda + CloudFront |
| Container Support | Native (Docker + Fargate/ECS) | Limited / manual |
| Nixpacks Support | Yes | No |
| Next.js Support | Excellent (ECS Fargate) | Good (via construct) |
| Framework Support | Next.js, Astro, Vite, Nuxt, Remix, SvelteKit, and more | Good, but mostly React-focused |
| Infrastructure Control | Full ownership via AWS CDK constructs | Full control via SST/Pulumi config |
| Cold Starts | Avoidable with containers/Fargate | Common with Lambda |
| Learning Curve | Low to Medium | Medium to High (SST syntax + Pulumi) |
| Platform Cost | Pay only for AWS resources | Pay only for AWS resources |
AWS CDK Native
Thunder is built on AWS CDK — the industry-standard IaC for AWS. No Pulumi, no custom syntax, just well-documented CDK constructs you already know.
Better Developer Experience
Automatic framework detection and a simple GitOps workflow — no custom IaC config files required for common deployments.
Native Container Support
First-class Docker and containerized workloads without extra complexity — a major advantage over SST.
Nixpacks & EC2 Support
Deploy any language or framework easily using nixpacks on EC2 — not natively available in SST.
When Should You Choose Thunder.so Over SST?
- → You want AWS CDK instead of Pulumi/custom IaC syntax
- → You need containerized or high-scale workloads
- → You prefer a PaaS experience over writing IaC config
- → You want native nixpacks support
- → You're deploying diverse frameworks beyond React/Next.js
- → You value simplicity and speed of deployment
Ready to experience a better way to deploy on AWS?
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