AWS Lambda vs Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Oct 30, 2022

We performed a comparison between Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling and AWS Lambda based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: For the most part, users of both solutions feel their installation and deployment are simple and straightforward.
  • Features: Users find Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling to be stable, flexible, and reliable. They say the solution is simple to use, deploys resources as needed, and can easily be adjusted down (or up again) as business needs change. Many users feel documentation could be improved and sizing options should be adjusted to match business needs better and be more cost-effective.

    AWS Lambda is serverless and scalable. Auto scale and other similar features are just inherent in Lambda. The event-based triggers are really good for a reactive style so users are able to effectively manage events as they happen. Some users feel the GUI could be improved to give it a more modern feel and that metrics and reporting need to be improved.
  • Pricing: Users feel pricing for both solutions is reasonable.
  • Service and Support: Overall, users of both solutions are satisfied with their service and support.

Comparison Results: Both products are very effective in providing compute service (IaaS) solutions. AWS Lambda slightly nudges ahead of Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling as many users feel it is easier to code using the solution. AWS Lambda is serverless, server configuration is not required, and can easily run it directly anywhere.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Lambda vs. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Sometimes, Auto Scaling is more beneficial, and sometimes, Reserved Instances are preferred, especially for longer-term usage.""It has the best auto-scaling features.""The most useful feature is elasticity. You can scale up or down based on traffic.""The support from Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is very good.""We use the solution to increase CPU and memory size.""Auto-scaling is a good feature.""The initial setup is straightforward.""The solution is scalable."

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"It is my preferred product, as it provides me with source code within the solution.""The most valuable feature of AWS Lambda, from a conceptual point, is its functions. For example, it's mathematical templates into which you can write, and create your solution. You write small pieces of a solution under given parameters.""I think the most valuable feature is the agility of the solution.""One of the most valuable features of AWS Lambda is the performance. Lambda is very technical and has very high performance, as well as good real-time performance.""The support from AWS Lambda is very good, they are responsive.""We are building a Twitter-like application in the boot camp. I have used Lamda for the integration of the post-confirmation page in the application. This will help you get your one-time password via mail. You can log in with the help of a post-confirmation page. We didn’t want to setup an instance specifically for confirmation. We used the Lambda function so that it goes back to sleep after pushing up.""Thanks to this solution, we do not need to worry about hardware or resource utilization. It saves us time.""The tool scales automatically based on the number of incoming requests."

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Cons
"Could integrate more with other platforms.""Automation is very hard.""Its stability and scalability need improvement.""The product should improve vertical scaling features.""The launch configuration feature doesn't work properly. It needs to improve the load configuration feature along with launch templates. The tool needs to tag feature as well.""Scalability can be improved.""The primary area for improvement is the pricing model.""The spinning up in the solution can be much faster...The product should have a faster scalability option."

More Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling Cons →

"The solution should continue to streamline integrations with AWS services.""AWS Lambda can improve its file system-based sharing capabilities and restrictions.""If it is a specific ETL process or a long-term one, then AWS Lambda is not a good option.""Lambda could be improved in the sense that some of the things done with Lambda function take some time. So the performance could be better and faster.""The product could make the process of integration easier.""Memory limitation is one of the weaknesses of AWS Lambda and as a result, we have to use several Lambda, instead of just one. Recently, I met with an Amazon employee, who is responsible for Lambda as a product. It appears Amazon has some plans with Lambda, so I don’t have to add something to the additional features.""AWS Lambda could be improved by increasing the size of the payload. Also, sometimes Lambda doesn't implement well for bigger solutions.""There are other similar solutions, such as Google Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure. They might be better for small tasks."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Pricing could be a little bit more competitive."
  • "The pricing is not fixed and it is based on usage."
  • "The price of this product could be a little bit lower."
  • "Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
  • "I have not explored the price of the solution extensively, but from what I have seen the price is alright."
  • "When we want to use more services, we need to pay more. It's a monthly subscription, rather than licensed-based. Pricing or fees for Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling could be improved."
  • "The solution pricing varies by service region is mid-range."
  • "Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model."
  • More Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "AWS is slightly more expensive than Azure."
  • "Its pricing is on the higher side."
  • "The price of the solution is reasonable and it is a pay-per-use model. It is very good for cost optimization."
  • "The cost is based on runtime."
  • "The fees are volume-based."
  • "AWS Lambda is inexpensive."
  • "Lambda is a good and cheap solution and I would recommend it to those without a huge payload."
  • "For licensing, we pay a yearly subscription."
  • More AWS Lambda Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The tool must provide proper guidelines to troubleshoot connectivity issues. It must also improve AMI creation.
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:The tool scales automatically based on the number of incoming requests.
    Top Answer:We only need to pay for the compute time our code consumes. The solution does not cost much.
    Ranking
    2nd
    out of 16 in Compute Service
    Views
    3,252
    Comparisons
    2,834
    Reviews
    31
    Average Words per Review
    324
    Rating
    9.0
    1st
    out of 16 in Compute Service
    Views
    12,808
    Comparisons
    9,061
    Reviews
    35
    Average Words per Review
    401
    Rating
    8.6
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    AWS RAM
    Learn More
    Overview

    Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling helps you maintain application availability and allows you to automatically add or remove EC2 instances according to conditions you define. ... Dynamic scaling responds to changing demand and predictive scaling automatically schedules the right number of EC2 instances based on predicted demand.

    AWS Lambda is a compute service that lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. AWS Lambda executes your code only when needed and scales automatically, from a few requests per day to thousands per second. You pay only for the compute time you consume - there is no charge when your code is not running. With AWS Lambda, you can run code for virtually any type of application or backend service - all with zero administration. AWS Lambda runs your code on a high-availability compute infrastructure and performs all of the administration of the compute resources, including server and operating system maintenance, capacity provisioning and automatic scaling, code monitoring and logging. All you need to do is supply your code in one of the languages that AWS Lambda supports (currently Node.js, Java, C# and Python).

    You can use AWS Lambda to run your code in response to events, such as changes to data in an Amazon S3 bucket or an Amazon DynamoDB table; to run your code in response to HTTP requests using Amazon API Gateway; or invoke your code using API calls made using AWS SDKs. With these capabilities, you can use Lambda to easily build data processing triggers for AWS services like Amazon S3 and Amazon DynamoDB process streaming data stored in Amazon Kinesis, or create your own back end that operates at AWS scale, performance, and security.

    Sample Customers
    Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
    Netflix
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company45%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Media Company5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm22%
    Computer Software Company13%
    University8%
    Government6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Financial Services Firm21%
    Non Profit5%
    Educational Organization5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization46%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Computer Software Company8%
    Manufacturing Company4%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise56%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise65%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise45%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business10%
    Midsize Enterprise50%
    Large Enterprise40%
    Buyer's Guide
    AWS Lambda vs. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Lambda vs. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is ranked 2nd in Compute Service with 36 reviews while AWS Lambda is ranked 1st in Compute Service with 70 reviews. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is rated 8.8, while AWS Lambda is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling writes "Well-documented setup process and highly stable solution". On the other hand, the top reviewer of AWS Lambda writes "An easily scalable solution with a variety of use cases and valuable event-based triggers". Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is most compared with AWS Fargate, AWS Batch, Amazon Elastic Inference, Oracle Compute Cloud Service and Apache NiFi, whereas AWS Lambda is most compared with AWS Batch, Apache NiFi, Apache Spark, AWS Fargate and Google Cloud Dataflow. See our AWS Lambda vs. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling report.

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    We monitor all Compute Service reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.