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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
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
AWS Lambda
Ranking in Compute Service
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of AWS Fargate is 14.4%, down from 18.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Lambda is 21.3%, up from 21.4% 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

"Fargate's integration with other AWS services is really good."
"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."
"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 automatically scales to meet demand, making it ideal for applications with variable workloads."
"We appreciate the simple use of containers within this solution, it makes managing the containers quick and easy."
"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."
"All AWS services allow me to manage a wide range of applications and services."
"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."
"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 solution works for small applications. It is a serverless tool that is quick to spin up. We needn’t consider anything in the bag."
"The automation feature is valuable."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the API Gateway."
"AWS Lambda's event-driven architecture is highly valuable."
"The solution runs on the latest cloud technology so it is easy to deploy cloud-native projects."
"The programming language and the integration with other AWS services are the most valuable features."
"What I like best about AWS Lambda is that it's feature-rich, and I appreciate that. I also like that it's stable and supports many languages."
 

Cons

"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."
"I heard from my team that it's not easy to predict the cost. That is the only issue we have with AWS Fargate, but I think that's acceptable. AWS Fargate isn't user-friendly. Anything related to Software as a Service or microservice architecture is not easy to implement. You're required to have DevOps from your side to implement the solution. AWS Fargate is just a temporary solution for us. When we grow to a certain level, we may use AKS for better control."
"Service computing is not as straightforward compared to other computing services. It requires more effort to use effectively."
"AWS Fargate needs improvement in terms of setup complexity."
"I would like to see enhanced faster application scaling and better integration with the elastic file system to unify storage volumes and improve the launch time of instances."
"I would like to see the older dashboard instead of the newer version. I don't like the new dashboard."
"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."
"Sometimes, Fargate can be really hard to configure."
"Its performance can be improved. There should also be more dynamic security permissions."
"I would like to see improvements in AWS Lambda's stability and setup processes, as there were some complexities encountered initially."
"I would like to see the five zero four AWS Lambda invocation fixed. This is basically a time-out error."
"The setup was pretty complex because there were many steps. For me, it was complex because I was somewhat new at it. It could be easier for someone who has done it a bunch of times. I just found that it was a very dense user experience. There's a lot going on during setup."
"Lambda can only be used in one account; there's no possibility to utilize it in another account."
"The runtime could be improved. There are certain use cases where I need a Lambda function to run longer."
"My opinion is that the integration could be improved in this solution. We have had some difficulties integrating the EC2 module, but we found a solution for that by ourselves."
"I want to see support for longer applications. I need the 15-minute time-out window to improve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I rate the price of AWS Fargate a four out of five."
"AWS Lambda's cloud version isn't expensive, and I'd rate its pricing as five out of five."
"AWS Lambda is inexpensive."
"The price of AWS Lambda is priced very low."
"The pricing is on-demand and based on runs or times that are billed out monthly."
"The fees are volume-based."
"Lambda is a good and cheap solution and I would recommend it to those without a huge payload."
"You're not paying for a server if you're not using it, which is another reason I like it. So, you're not paying if you're not using it. It scales, and you're charged based on usage. It all depends on the use case. Some can be extremely inexpensive if you have very low volume transaction rates. That way, you don't have to fire up and absorb the cost of the servers just sitting there waiting for a transaction to come through. You're only paying when you use it. So, depending upon the use model, Lambda could be highly efficient relative to an EC2 solution. You don't have to have things reallocated."
"Price-wise, AWS Lambda is very cheap. It's not free, but it's not that expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
68%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
5%
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?
The monitoring capabilities of AWS Fargate could be improved and made more robust. The error handling aspect sometimes causes issues and can get stuck during deployment, making the process not very...
What advice do you have for others considering AWS Fargate?
I would recommend AWS Fargate as an alternative to AWS Lambda for running loads or hosting a service. It is a good service for keeping instances running, which minimizes initial latency. Overall, I...
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

 

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: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.