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AWS Lambda vs Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
Ranking in Compute Service
3rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
AWS Lambda
Ranking in Compute Service
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is 10.3%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Lambda is 20.7%, up from 19.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Compute Service
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad Awais Zahid - PeerSpot reviewer
Pay-as-you-go and efficient with automated workload handling
I have been working with customers who use Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling for handling their workload on servers and scaling up the infrastructure as required.  As an instructor and cloud consultant, I help clients maintain and scale their infrastructure using this service to achieve zero downtime…
Andrew-Wong - PeerSpot reviewer
Convenience in deployment process with room for code preview improvement
Having a better preview would be helpful. Sometimes, if my Lambda code is too big, it can be inconvenient as I'm unable to see my code when it exceeds a certain size. AWS has a limit, like a three-megabyte limit, beyond which I cannot view or edit the code easily.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is its scalability."
"The most valuable features are that it is stable, flexible, and reliable."
"The documentation is good."
"I like the fact that you don't need to pay for it when you aren't using it, especially in a disaster recovery scenario. The pricing is transparent, so you know what you're going to pay for it."
"It's good performance-wise."
"One of the most important benefits is that a company can optimize resources because Auto Scaling deploys resources when needed. For example, for Black Friday, a company can deploy 100 servers for a couple of days. When Black Friday is over, the company can delete those servers."
"It has the best auto-scaling features."
"The integration capabilities are good."
"What I like most about AWS Lambda is that it's very easy to deploy."
"The solution is designed very well. You don't need to keep a server up. You just need some router to route your API request and Lambda provides a very well-designed feature to process the request."
"The main features of this solution are the ability to integrate multiple AWS applications or external applications very quickly and organize all of them. Additionally, it is easy to use and you can run various programming languages, such as Python, Go, and Java."
"The stability is good."
"The ability to scale up and down very quickly helps because we can maintain our system performance and business at a low cost."
"I think the most valuable feature is the agility of the solution."
"Because AWS Lambda is serverless, server configuration is not required, and we can run it directly anywhere."
"It is serverless and scalable. It can scale infinitely. You don't have to worry about the size of the servers that you're pre-allocating. You don't have to build server scale-out models. Auto scale and other similar features are just inherent in Lambda. So, for atomic and fairly non-persistent transactional units of work, Lambda works very well."
 

Cons

"The solution's configuration process could be better."
"Its stability and scalability need improvement."
"For future improvements, I suggest focusing on cost reduction."
"There should be an AWS instance in South Africa, where the latency would be even lower. It might happen soon since AWS has recently opened more data centres in Nigeria. AWS may extend its reach to South Africa, and offer hosted CLI servers there. Most of the problems with AWS are not to do with the solution itself but with configuration. It is something on design, more or less."
"There is a need for improvement in understanding the pricing structure, as it is complex and depends on several factors such as the location of data centers."
"The product should improve vertical scaling features."
"As we are transitioning to managing containerized applications, the solution could improve by adding more managed container services as a feature in the solution."
"Could integrate more with other platforms."
"The way Lambda works with HTTP headers is a bit odd."
"AWS Lambda has a limitation where the execution time is capped at 15 minutes per task. Increasing this time would allow for handling heavier tasks more efficiently."
"AWS Lambda has a maximum execution timeout of 15 minutes, which is unsuitable for long-running tasks."
"I want to see support for longer applications. I need the 15-minute time-out window to improve."
"The 60 seconds limitation with the consumption of the service is really restrictive for a service and the solution can be improved by eliminating that."
"They should work on the solution's stability and pricing."
"We face some problems with the event-driven execution model."
"The solution should continue to streamline integrations with AWS services."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is affordable for enterprise customers."
"Pricing could be a little bit more competitive."
"The solution pricing varies by service region is mid-range."
"The tool's pricing is good and not expensive."
"I have not explored the price of the solution extensively, but from what I have seen the price is alright."
"The solution is less expensive than a few competitors."
"The licences for this solution are based on the number of instances. This determines the EC2 type that is used and this is then priced accordingly."
"The solution is not expensive."
"I would rate the tool’s pricing a nine out of ten. The solution’s pricing works on a pay-as-you-go basis."
"AWS Lambda's cloud version isn't expensive, and I'd rate its pricing as five out of five."
"I think the price is okay. However, if they add more functionality, they can have better prices. In fact, they should have better and more flexible packages for clients who have greater consumption of Lambda."
"Price-wise, AWS Lambda is very cheap. It's not free, but it's not that expensive."
"We only need to pay for the compute time our code consumes."
"It computes by the cycle, and it's very cheap."
"AWS is slightly more expensive than Azure."
"The price is expensive and is based on usage. The more users you have the higher the cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
7%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling?
The solution removes the need for hardware. We can easily create servers or machines. Just by clicking or specifying our requirements, like memory size or disk space, it's set up for us. The tool e...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling?
The pricing of Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is moderate. It's not too expensive because we only pay for what we use. While there are cheaper options, the services provided are worth the cost. Previously...
What needs improvement with Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling?
While Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is continually updated and has improved over time, the dashboard has become more complex and tricky for new users. The interface was easier to navigate in earlier vers...
Which is better, AWS Lambda or Batch?
AWS Lambda is a serverless solution. It doesn’t require any infrastructure, which allows for cost savings. There is no setup process to deal with, as the entire solution is in the cloud. If you use...
What do you like most about AWS Lambda?
The tool scales automatically based on the number of incoming requests.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Lambda?
The pricing of AWS Lambda is reasonable. It's beneficial and cost-effective for users regardless of the number of instances used.
 

Also Known As

AWS RAM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Lambda vs. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.