Amazon EC2 Container Service vs Azure Container Instances

Overview

Amazon EC2 Container Service

Stacks14.6K

Followers10.2K

Votes325

Azure Container Instances

Stacks37

Followers73

Votes0

Amazon EC2 Container Service vs Azure Container Instances: What are the differences?

Cost model: Amazon EC2 Container Service (ECS) and Azure Container Instances (ACI) have different pricing models. ECS supports on-demand and spot instances, where you pay based on the number of instances and their sizes. In contrast, ACI follows a per-second billing model, where you pay only for the actual container usage duration.
Container orchestration: ECS is tightly integrated with other Amazon Web Services (AWS) products, such as Elastic Load Balancer and Identity and Access Management, making it suitable for deploying large-scale containerized applications. On the other hand, ACI is a lightweight container solution that does not provide native support for container orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
Scaling capabilities: ECS allows scaling at various levels, from manual scaling to fully automated scaling using AWS Auto Scaling. It also provides integration with AWS CloudWatch for monitoring and scaling based on custom metrics. ACI, however, lacks automatic scaling and requires manual intervention for scaling container instances.
Networking capabilities: ECS offers flexible networking options, such as its own virtual private cloud (VPC), dynamic port mapping, and integration with AWS networking services. ACI, in comparison, offers limited networking capabilities, with support for only one public or private IP address per container instance.
Service discovery: ECS supports service discovery through its own built-in service discovery mechanism or integration with third-party service discovery systems like Consul. ACI, on the other hand, does not provide native service discovery capabilities, requiring external tools or custom solutions for service discovery.
Container instance management: ECS enables managing container instances through its EC2 Container Registry, allowing you to store, manage, and deploy Docker container images. ACI, though it supports container images, lacks a dedicated container registry and relies on external image repositories like Azure Container Registry or Docker Hub.

In Summary, Amazon EC2 Container Service (ECS) and Azure Container Instances (ACI) differ in their cost model, container orchestration capabilities, scaling capabilities, networking capabilities, service discovery options, and container instance management.

Share your Stack

Help developers discover the tools you use. Get visibility for your team's tech choices and contribute to the community's knowledge.

View Docs

CLI (Node.js)

Manual

Advice on Amazon EC2 Container Service, Azure Container Instances

Andres

Lead Senior Software Engineer at InTouch Technology

Jun 3, 2020

Decided

If you want to integrate your cluster and control end to end your pipeline with AWS tools like ECR and Code Pipeline your best option is ECS using a EC2 instance. There are pros and cons but it's easier to integrate using cloud formation templates and visual UI for approvals, etc. ECS is free, you need to pay only for the EC2 instance but unfortunately, it is not standard then you cannot use standard tools to see and manage your Kubernetes.
EKS in the other hand uses standard Kubernates definitions but you need to pay for the service and also for the EC2 instance(s) you have in your cluster.

91.7k views91.7k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Amazon EC2 Container Service	Azure Container Instances
Amazon EC2 Container Service lets you launch and stop container-enabled applications with simple API calls, allows you to query the state of your cluster from a centralized service, and gives you access to many familiar Amazon EC2 features like security groups, EBS volumes and IAM roles.	It is a solution for any scenario that can operate in isolated containers, without orchestration. Run event-driven applications, quickly deploy from your container development pipelines, and run data processing and build jobs.
Docker Compatibility;Managed Clusters;Programmatic Control;Task Definitions;Scheduler;Docker Repository	Run containers without managing servers; Increase agility with containers on demand; Secure applications with hypervisor isolation
Statistics
Stacks 14.6K	Stacks 37
Followers 10.2K	Followers 73
Votes 325	Votes 0
Pros & Cons
Pros 100 Backed by amazon 72 Familiar to ec2 53 Cluster based 42 Simple API 26 Iam roles	No community feedback yet
Integrations
Docker Amazon EC2	Docker

What are some alternatives to Amazon EC2 Container Service, Azure Container Instances?

Google Kubernetes Engine

Container Engine takes care of provisioning and maintaining the underlying virtual machine cluster, scaling your application, and operational logistics like logging, monitoring, and health management.

Containerum

Containerum is built to aid cluster management, teamwork and resource allocation. Containerum runs on top of any Kubernetes cluster and provides a friendly Web UI for cluster management.

Azure Container Service

Azure Container Service optimizes the configuration of popular open source tools and technologies specifically for Azure. You get an open solution that offers portability for both your containers and your application configuration. You select the size, the number of hosts, and choice of orchestrator tools, and Container Service handles everything else.

Docker Cloud

Docker Cloud is the best way to deploy and manage Dockerized applications. Docker Cloud makes it easy for new Docker users to manage and deploy the full spectrum of applications, from single container apps to distributed microservices stacks, to any cloud or on-premises infrastructure.

Amazon EKS

Amazon Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (Amazon EKS) is a managed service that makes it easy for you to run Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install and operate your own Kubernetes clusters.

instainer

InstaDocker is a Docker container hosting service which allows run any Docker container on the cloud instantly.

Docker Datacenter

Docker Datacenter is an integrated solution including open source and commercial software, the integrations between them, full Docker API support, validated configurations and commercial support for your Docker Datacenter environment.

DCHQ

DCHQ delivers enterprise discipline to Linux Containers application lifecycle management. Available in hosted and on-prem versions, DCHQ provides the most advanced application composition framework extending Docker Compose through environment variable bindings across images, BASH script plug-ins that can be invoked at request time and post-provision and support for clustering for high availability across multiple hosts and auto-scaling.

Supergiant

Supergiant is a container management platform built on top of Kubernetes. Supergiant makes it easy to deploy and manage faster, and it reduces hardware expenses. Packing algorithm efficiently matches your overall CPU and RAM needs.

AWS Fargate

AWS Fargate is a technology for Amazon ECS and EKS* that allows you to run containers without having to manage servers or clusters. With AWS Fargate, you no longer have to provision, configure, and scale clusters of virtual machines to run containers.

Related Comparisons

Amazon EC2 Container Service vs Azure Container Instances: What are the differences?

Cost model: Amazon EC2 Container Service (ECS) and Azure Container Instances (ACI) have different pricing models. ECS supports on-demand and spot instances, where you pay based on the number of instances and their sizes. In contrast, ACI follows a per-second billing model, where you pay only for the actual container usage duration.
Container orchestration: ECS is tightly integrated with other Amazon Web Services (AWS) products, such as Elastic Load Balancer and Identity and Access Management, making it suitable for deploying large-scale containerized applications. On the other hand, ACI is a lightweight container solution that does not provide native support for container orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
Scaling capabilities: ECS allows scaling at various levels, from manual scaling to fully automated scaling using AWS Auto Scaling. It also provides integration with AWS CloudWatch for monitoring and scaling based on custom metrics. ACI, however, lacks automatic scaling and requires manual intervention for scaling container instances.
Networking capabilities: ECS offers flexible networking options, such as its own virtual private cloud (VPC), dynamic port mapping, and integration with AWS networking services. ACI, in comparison, offers limited networking capabilities, with support for only one public or private IP address per container instance.
Service discovery: ECS supports service discovery through its own built-in service discovery mechanism or integration with third-party service discovery systems like Consul. ACI, on the other hand, does not provide native service discovery capabilities, requiring external tools or custom solutions for service discovery.
Container instance management: ECS enables managing container instances through its EC2 Container Registry, allowing you to store, manage, and deploy Docker container images. ACI, though it supports container images, lacks a dedicated container registry and relies on external image repositories like Azure Container Registry or Docker Hub.

Amazon EC2 Container Service vs Azure Container Instances

Overview