Difference between SAM template and Cloudformation template

Question

I'm finding it hard to understand the difference between SAM template and Cloudformation template. I know that SAM template can be used to define Serverless Applications like Lambda, but how does that make it different from Cloudformation template? Is the syntax different? I can still specify the Lambda definitions in cloudformation template. So, my question is why should I care about SAM? Won't knowing about just cloud formation template be sufficient?

Answer 1

From CloudFormation's perspective, SAM is a transform. Meaning: SAM templates are syntactically equivalent, but they allow you to define your serverless app with more brevity. The SAM template eventually gets expanded into full CFN behind the scenes. If you already know CFN, but want to write less YAML code, SAM may be beneficial to you. The idea is to reduce your effort.

Answer 2

Like @Luis Colon said, SAM is a transform. What that means, is that at the top of a SAM Template there is a Transform statement that lets CloudFormation know to run an intrinsic function, Transform, on this SAM template to turn it into a CloudFormation template. So, all SAM Templates will eventually be converted into CF templates, but for the end-user in most cases it is easier to just use the SAM template. For instance, for a simple application with Lambdas triggered by a new API you're creating, the SAM template will let you accomplish this in fewer lines than CloudFormation.

To extend this, the Serverless Framework behaves similarly. Serverless is designed to work across platforms (AWS, Azure, etc.). It's syntax looks very similar to SAM, and it too converts the template into the target platform's (ie. AWS) fuller version of the template (ie. CloudFormation template).