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AWS Lambda vs Amazon EC2 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 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
Ranking in Compute Service
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
67
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 is 5.1%, down from 7.5% 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

KatlegoMabila - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers customization and flexibility with great support
Scalability depends on whether the client wants to scale up or scale down. It decreases resources based on demand. The great aspect of scalability is the flexibility to allow business success to optimize resource solutions and cost efficiency. Another crucial aspect of scalability is auto-scaling. When you have the opportunity to auto-scale, it can't always be available for everything. If you have chosen to integrate with auto-scaling, it's marvellous and doesn't require additional effort. Auto-scaling gives you the edge by using the capacity you have efficiently, scaling up or down as needed. These flexibilities within the EC2 feature instances of AWS play a crucial role in helping me utilize AWS EC2 Intelligent efficiently.
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

"Amazon EC2 allows us to create different regions and availability zones based upon application needs."
"I like EC2 because of its simple workload and the ability to configure VPCs and security groups."
"Its ease of use is valuable."
"EC2 is secure and stable, and we have no complaints about it on AWS."
"Stable, scalable, and simple to implement."
"The ability to bring up servers and then do the computation and deposit means we don't have to maintain a data center. Everything is virtual and the security is also taken care of. It helps us to achieve compliance. Being a small startup with the security features that AWS provides helps us with compliance."
"Amazon EC2 is highly scalable."
"EC2 instances on AWS allow users to run virtual servers based on the CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity."
"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 utilization of containers is particularly beneficial in overcoming the size limitations imposed on Lambda functions which not only allows us to work around these constraints but also contributes to the improvement and maintenance of our code."
"The solution is scalable."
"The programming language and the integration with other AWS services are the most valuable features."
"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 most valuable feature is that there is no need to implement it in a server because it is a service."
"The solution is highly scalable."
"I have used AWS Lambda for simple messaging for SQS, creating a cron job, and delay messaging."
 

Cons

"It is a little too expensive."
"Amazon EC2 could improve its dashboards and UI, they need to be more user-friendly."
"I would like to see more variety in the operating system images used to create test environments in EC2. There should be more versions and releases. Sometimes, you want to test an update from an old release to a higher version, but you can’t do that with the new images available. You have to use your own."
"Regarding availability, a noticeable improvement would be the possibility of more load balancing configurations and the deployment of more datacenters, mainly in Latin America."
"Support doesn't share or give insights on OS-based issues. That needs to improve because if someone is buying an EC2 instance with the Windows server and SQL license, the client expects that there will be a minimum level of support."
"In terms of improvement, they could build some client-side desktop tools that provide easier connectivity to Amazon."
"The process of detaching EC2 instances to avoid billing could be less complex."
"The scalability could improve."
"AWS Lambda could be improved by increasing the size of the payload. Also, sometimes Lambda doesn't implement well for bigger solutions."
"It would be ideal if we could use the solution across different platforms."
"Having a better preview would be helpful."
"Lambda can only be used in one account; there's no possibility to utilize it in another account."
"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."
"There are other similar solutions, such as Google Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure. They might be better for small tasks."
"Lamba functions have cold-starts that can cause some delay."
"AWS Lambda's GUI could be improved with a twist or tweak in its look and feel to make it more impressive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"EC2 pricing is somewhat transparent, in that AWS provides pricing for all instance types. However, the number of pricing options can be confusing."
"Amazon EC2 is a very expensive solution."
"It's expensive, and it could be cheaper."
"There is a license required to use this solution and we pay on a monthly basis."
"The price of Amazon EC2 could improve. The Google Cloud Platform is more cost-effective."
"The clients have found the billing of Amazon EC2 good, but the price could be less high. There is a monthly subscription to use the solution."
"The price of Amazon EC2 could improve. The Google Cloud Platform is more cost-effective."
"It has helped to reduce costs with infrastructure."
"AWS Lambda is inexpensive."
"AWS Lambda is a very inexpensive solution. They charge for the number of times we run it. If you run AWS Lambda for one time, they charge around 50 cents or 25 cents for the use. I don't know the exact price, but it's less than a dollar."
"The solution is free of cost for the first year, and after that, it becomes expensive."
"Its pricing is on the higher side."
"For licensing, we pay a yearly subscription."
"AWS Lambda cost is pretty decent."
"We only need to pay for the compute time our code consumes."
"Price-wise, AWS Lambda is a five out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EC2?
The scalability and elasticity are helpful.
What needs improvement with Amazon EC2?
The main thing that needs improvement is the cost. Other than that, there is nothing that needs improvement.
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.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, EC2
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Netflix, Expedia, TimeInc., Novaris, airbnb, Lamborghini
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Lambda vs. Amazon EC2 and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
863,901 professionals have used our research since 2012.