Choosing the Right AWS Compute Service: Lambda vs Fargate vs EC2 vs App Runner vs ECS vs EKS

When building cloud-native applications on AWS, one of the first architectural decisions is choosing how you want to run your code.

Do you need fine-grained control over infrastructure? Prefer abstracting everything away? Want something in the middle?

AWS has a compute service for each need — but with so many options (Lambda, Fargate, EC2, ECS, EKS, App Runner), it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Let’s compare them through a pragmatic lens.

🧠 TL;DR

☁️ AWS Lambda

Lambda is the go-to serverless compute service. You write functions, and AWS handles the rest.

✅ Pros

• No infrastructure to manage
• Pay only for usage
• Integrated with many AWS services
• Great for event-driven systems

❌ Cons

• Cold starts for certain runtimes
• Stateless by design
• Timeout limits (max 15 min)
• Not great for high-throughput APIs

Best for: Webhooks, automation, scheduled jobs, lightweight APIs

🐳 AWS Fargate

Fargate is the serverless containers service. It lets you run containers without managing EC2 instances.

✅ Pros

• Runs any container
• No server management
• Scales automatically
• Works with ECS and EKS

❌ Cons

• Limited customization
• Slightly higher costs than EC2
• Less visibility into the underlying infra

Best for: Containerized apps that need fast deployments and moderate complexity

⚙️ AWS App Runner

App Runner is a higher-level abstraction than Fargate — great for web apps or APIs with minimal configuration.

✅ Pros

• Simplest path to running a web app
• Scales to zero
• Supports GitHub and container registries

❌ Cons

• Limited control
• Not ideal for background jobs or batch tasks

Best for: Quickly deploying web frontends, internal tools, APIs

🧩 Amazon ECS

ECS is AWS’s own container orchestrator — simpler than Kubernetes, but still powerful.

✅ Pros

• Deep AWS integration
• Flexible (runs on EC2 or Fargate)
• Good for both small and large teams

❌ Cons

• AWS-specific (vendor lock-in)
• Not portable across cloud providers

Best for: Teams already committed to AWS, looking for full control over container lifecycles

☸️ Amazon EKS

If you're already using Kubernetes, EKS is the managed way to run it on AWS.

✅ Pros

• Full Kubernetes API
• Large ecosystem of tools
• Ideal for complex, microservice-heavy apps

❌ Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Requires DevOps maturity
• Expensive at low scale

Best for: Enterprise-grade, multi-service, cloud-native applications

🖥️ EC2

Good old EC2 — virtual machines in the cloud. Perfect for legacy apps or custom deployments.

✅ Pros

• Full control over OS, network, and storage
• Ideal for stateful apps, long-running services
• Huge instance variety

❌ Cons

• Manual scaling, patching, monitoring
• Higher operational burden

Best for: Legacy migrations, monoliths, stateful services, or when you need control

🔚 Conclusion

Picking the right AWS compute service is all about context:

• Want simplicity and scale? Try Lambda or App Runner
• Need containers without ops? Use Fargate
• Running microservices with orchestration? Look at ECS or EKS
• Have legacy workloads? Stick with EC2

👉 Don’t fall into the trap of picking the most powerful service “just in case.” Start simple, evolve when necessary.

📚 Related Reading

• Best Backend Language for AWS Lambda
• API Gateway Comparison: Spring Cloud vs Apache Camel vs AWS

📦 Recommended Resources

If you're diving deeper into AWS compute services, here are some top-rated books to consider — and yes, these are affiliate links that support the blog at no extra cost to you 🙏

📘 AWS Lambda

• Serverless Architectures on AWS – Practical guide to serverless patterns
• Mastering AWS Lambda – Guide to build and deploy serverless applications

📘 Amazon ECS & Fargate

• Deploy Containers on AWS – Official guide to deploying with ECS
• Docker Deep Dive – Foundational knowledge useful for both ECS and Fargate

📘 Amazon EKS & Kubernetes

• Kubernetes Up & Running – Ideal for learning EKS fundamentals
• The Kubernetes Book – A well-structured, quick read

📘 AWS EC2 & General AWS Architecture

• Amazon Web Services in Action – Great all-around AWS book
• The Definitive Guide to AWS Infrastructure – Deeper dive into networking, compute, and storage

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases — thanks for your support!