Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

AWS Fargate vs AWS Lambda comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

AWS Fargate
Ranking in Compute Service
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
AWS Lambda
Ranking in Compute Service
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of AWS Fargate is 15.3%, down from 16.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Lambda is 20.8%, down from 26.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Compute Service
 

Featured Reviews

Subrata Mukherjee - PeerSpot reviewer
Boost demand response with cost-efficient serverless architecture
We are a venture builder company, and if we select AWS for our product. Our design is based on a serverless architecture model. ECS Fargate is the most convenient way in terms of scalability, integration, and cost control Thanks to the serverless model and easy integration features, a few…
Wai L Lin O - PeerSpot reviewer
A serverless solution with easy integration features
We use AWS Lambda because it provides a solution for our needs without requiring us to manage our infrastructure. With the tool, we only pay for the resources we use. Additionally, it is straightforward to implement and integrates with other services like API Gateway. The tool's serverless nature has had the most significant impact on our workflow. I find it particularly attractive because it eliminates the need for managing servers. In my previous experience, managing upgrades and updates was quite challenging. The solution's integration process with other AWS services was relatively easy. We primarily use AWS services such as EventBridge for scheduling processes and log management.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If you create your deployment with a good set of rules for how to scale in, you can just set it and forget it."
"AWS Fargate is an easy-to-use tool to simplify setup. You only pay for the resources you use. If you need to quickly create, delete, or scale applications without managing resources like EC2 instances, Fargate is the best service to use."
"By using a server's compute resources, one can observe the resource metrics. With AWS, one can determine when servers will be used based on CloudWatch results. For example, CloudWatch informs the application and service platform when the hit ratio has reached the threshold value."
"It allows for focusing on applications instead of managing infrastructure."
"The most valuable feature of Fargate is that it's self-managed. You don't have to configure your own clusters or deploy any Kubernetes clusters. This simplifies the initial deployment and scaling process."
"Fargate itself is a stable product. We are quite satisfied with its performance."
"The most valuable feature of AWS Fargate is its ease of use."
"AWS Fargate has many valuable services. It does the job with minimal trouble. It's very observable. You can see what's going on and you have logs. You have everything. You can troubleshoot it. It's affordable and it's flexible."
"It's also suitable for companies of any size. For example, we're a large enterprise, and we've used Lambda without any problems in the last 10 months."
"The support from AWS Lambda is very good, they are responsive."
"The automation feature is valuable."
"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."
"AWS Lambda is serverless."
"Lambda being serverless is a great feature that is appropriate for our use cases."
"The programming language and the integration with other AWS services are the most valuable features."
"Amazon takes care of the scalability. That's the right way. It's automatic and it's fully managed. That's one benefit of Lambda."
 

Cons

"Sometimes, Fargate can be really hard to configure."
"AWS Fargate could improve the privileged mode containers. We had some problems and they were not able to run."
"There is a tool named Compose that helps in converting the Docker Compose file into a Kubernetes file. For ECS and Fargate, AWS reads a Dockerfile and helps with conversion. However, I am uncertain if it's ready for deployment after conversion."
"We would like to see some improvement in the process documents that are provided with this product, particularly for auto-scaling and other configuration tools that are a bit complicated."
"I would like to see the older dashboard instead of the newer version. I don't like the new dashboard."
"We faced challenges in vertically scaling our workload."
"If there are any options to manage containers, that would be good. That relates more to the cost point. For example, over the next three months, I'll be making a comparison between solutions like CAST AI and other software-as-a-service platforms that offer Kubernetes management with an emphasis on cost reduction."
"There are features that could be added or enhanced."
"I think that perhaps Lambda could explore its functionality more."
"What could be improved in AWS Lambda is a tricky question because I base the area for improvement on a specific matrix, for example, latency, so I'm still determining if I can be the judge on that. However, room for improvement could be when you're using AWS Lambda as a backend, it can be challenging to use it for monitoring. Monitoring is critical in development, and I don't have much expertise in the area, but you can use other services such as Xray. I found that monitoring on AWS Lambda is a challenge. The tool needs better monitoring. Another area for improvement in AWS Lambda is the cold start, where it takes some time to invoke a function the first time, but after that, invoking it becomes swift. Still, there's room for improvement in that AWS Lambda process. In the next release of AWS Lambda, I'd like AWS to improve monitoring so that I can monitor codes better."
"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."
"Lambda has limitations on the amount of memory you can use and is not a good solution for long running processes."
"I wish to see better execution time in the next release."
"There is room for improvement in user-friendliness. When comparing this solution to others it is not as user-friendly."
"There are other similar solutions, such as Google Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure. They might be better for small tasks."
"AWS Lambda should support additional languages."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the price of AWS Fargate a four out of five."
"We would advise that this solution has a slightly-higher price point than others on the market. There is a free plan available for start-ups, but the free and lower range licensing models do not provide the full functionality."
"Lambda is a good and cheap solution and I would recommend it to those without a huge payload."
"The solution is part of the AWS subscription model that is paid annually."
"AWS Lambda license is paid on a monthly basis."
"We only need to pay for the compute time our code consumes."
"The solution's price is average."
"Price-wise, AWS Lambda is very cheap. It's not free, but it's not that expensive."
"The solution follows a pay-as-you-go licensing model, which results in cost savings."
"AWS is slightly more expensive than Azure."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Compute Service solutions are best for your needs.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Educational Organization
67%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
4%
Manufacturing Company
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Fargate?
The most valuable feature of Fargate is that it's self-managed. You don't have to configure your own clusters or deploy any Kubernetes clusters. This simplifies the initial deployment and scaling p...
What needs improvement with AWS Fargate?
There is a tool named Compose that helps in converting the Docker Compose file into a Kubernetes file. For ECS and Fargate, AWS reads a Dockerfile and helps with conversion. However, I am uncertain...
What advice do you have for others considering AWS Fargate?
I rate Fargate ten out of ten. The most significant advantage is the unified configuration for all containers deployed by ECS, allowing seamless integration with services like OpenAI or Google Gemi...
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?
AWS Lambda is cheaper compared to running an instance continuously. You only pay for what you use, making it cost-effective.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Fargate vs. AWS Lambda and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.