Get Advice Icon

Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

AWS Lambda

24.2K
18.7K
+ 1
432
PostGIS

374
375
+ 1
30
Add tool

AWS Lambda vs PostGIS: What are the differences?

Introduction: In this comparison, we will look at the key differences between AWS Lambda and PostGIS.

  1. Architecture: AWS Lambda is a serverless computing service that runs code in response to events and automatically manages the computing resources. On the other hand, PostGIS is a spatial database extender for PostgreSQL that adds support for geographic objects, allowing location queries in SQL. The architecture of these two systems is fundamentally different, with Lambda focusing on event-driven functions and PostGIS on spatial data management.

  2. Use Cases: AWS Lambda is ideal for running small, event-driven functions in the cloud without the need to provision or manage servers. It is commonly used for tasks like data processing, real-time file processing, and IoT applications. In contrast, PostGIS is designed specifically for handling geospatial data, making it suitable for applications that require spatial analysis, mapping, and geographical queries.

  3. Pricing Model: AWS Lambda operates on a pay-as-you-go model, where you only pay for the compute time used when your code is running. This can be cost-effective for sporadic workloads with variable usage patterns. PostGIS, on the other hand, is open-source software that can be used for free without incurring licensing fees, but you will need to manage the infrastructure it runs on, which could result in higher operational costs for certain use cases.

  4. Scalability: AWS Lambda is designed to scale automatically in response to the number of incoming requests, allowing you to handle high traffic without manual intervention. PostGIS scalability, on the other hand, is dependent on the underlying PostgreSQL database's scalability capabilities and the hardware it is running on. Managing scalability in PostGIS requires additional configuration and resources compared to the more automated scaling of AWS Lambda.

  5. Community Support: AWS Lambda is a fully managed service provided by Amazon Web Services, with extensive documentation, support, and a large community of users. PostGIS, being an open-source project, also has a dedicated community but may have fewer resources and support options compared to a commercial offering like AWS Lambda. Depending on your needs, the level of community support can play a significant role in the decision-making process.

  6. Security: In terms of security, both AWS Lambda and PostGIS offer various levels of protection, but the mechanisms differ. AWS Lambda inherits security benefits from the AWS infrastructure, including data encryption, access controls, and compliance certifications. PostGIS, being a database extension, relies on PostgreSQL's security features for data protection, such as role-based access control and SSL encryption. Understanding the security features of each platform is crucial for ensuring the protection of sensitive data and compliance with security standards.

In Summary, AWS Lambda and PostGIS differ in architecture, use cases, pricing models, scalability, community support, and security features.

Advice on AWS Lambda and PostGIS

Need advice on what platform, systems and tools to use.

Evaluating whether to start a new digital business for which we will need to build a website that handles all traffic. Website only right now. May add smartphone apps later. No desktop app will ever be added. Website to serve various countries and languages. B2B and B2C type customers. Need to handle heavy traffic, be low cost, and scale well.

We are open to either build it on AWS or on Microsoft Azure.

Apologies if I'm leaving out some info. My first post. :) Thanks in advance!

See more
Replies (2)
Anis Zehani

I recommend this : -Spring reactive for back end : the fact it's reactive (async) it consumes half of the resources that a sync platform needs (so less CPU -> less money). -Angular : Web Front end ; it's gives you the possibility to use PWA which is a cheap replacement for a mobile app (but more less popular). -Docker images. -Kubernetes to orchestrate all the containers. -I Use Jenkins / blueocean, ansible for my CI/CD (with Github of course) -AWS of course : u can run a K8S cluster there, make it multi AZ (availability zones) to be highly available, use a load balancer and an auto scaler and ur good to go. -You can store data by taking any managed DB or u can deploy ur own (cheap but risky).

You pay less money, but u need some technical 2 - 3 guys to make that done.

Good luck

See more

My advice will be Front end: React Backend: Language: Java, Kotlin. Database: SQL: Postgres, MySQL, Aurora NOSQL: Mongo db. Caching: Redis. Public : Spring Webflux for async public facing operation. Admin api: Spring boot, Hibrernate, Rest API. Build Container image. Kuberenetes: AWS EKS, AWS ECS, Google GKE. Use Jenkins for CI/CD pipeline. Buddy works is good for AWS. Static content: Host on AWS S3 bucket, Use Cloudfront or Cloudflare as CDN.

Serverless Solution: Api gateway Lambda, Serveless Aurora (SQL). AWS S3 bucket.

See more
Decisions about AWS Lambda and PostGIS
Tim Nolet

When adding a new feature to Checkly rearchitecting some older piece, I tend to pick Heroku for rolling it out. But not always, because sometimes I pick AWS Lambda . The short story:

  • Developer Experience trumps everything.
  • AWS Lambda is cheap. Up to a limit though. This impact not only your wallet.
  • If you need geographic spread, AWS is lonely at the top.
The setup

Recently, I was doing a brainstorm at a startup here in Berlin on the future of their infrastructure. They were ready to move on from their initial, almost 100% Ec2 + Chef based setup. Everything was on the table. But we crossed out a lot quite quickly:

  • Pure, uncut, self hosted Kubernetes — way too much complexity
  • Managed Kubernetes in various flavors — still too much complexity
  • Zeit — Maybe, but no Docker support
  • Elastic Beanstalk — Maybe, bit old but does the job
  • Heroku
  • Lambda

It became clear a mix of PaaS and FaaS was the way to go. What a surprise! That is exactly what I use for Checkly! But when do you pick which model?

I chopped that question up into the following categories:

  • Developer Experience / DX 🤓
  • Ops Experience / OX 🐂 (?)
  • Cost 💵
  • Lock in 🔐

Read the full post linked below for all details

See more
Manage your open source components, licenses, and vulnerabilities
Learn More
Pros of AWS Lambda
Pros of PostGIS
  • 129
    No infrastructure
  • 83
    Cheap
  • 70
    Quick
  • 59
    Stateless
  • 47
    No deploy, no server, great sleep
  • 12
    AWS Lambda went down taking many sites with it
  • 6
    Event Driven Governance
  • 6
    Extensive API
  • 6
    Auto scale and cost effective
  • 6
    Easy to deploy
  • 5
    VPC Support
  • 3
    Integrated with various AWS services
  • 25
    De facto GIS in SQL
  • 5
    Good Documentation

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of AWS Lambda
Cons of PostGIS
  • 7
    Cant execute ruby or go
  • 3
    Compute time limited
  • 1
    Can't execute PHP w/o significant effort
    Be the first to leave a con

    Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

    16
    31.7K
    164
    4.7K
    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is AWS Lambda?

    AWS Lambda is a compute service that runs your code in response to events and automatically manages the underlying compute resources for you. You can use AWS Lambda to extend other AWS services with custom logic, or create your own back-end services that operate at AWS scale, performance, and security.

    What is PostGIS?

    PostGIS is a spatial database extender for PostgreSQL object-relational database. It adds support for geographic objects allowing location queries to be run in SQL.

    Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

    What companies use AWS Lambda?
    What companies use PostGIS?
    Manage your open source components, licenses, and vulnerabilities
    Learn More

    Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

    What tools integrate with AWS Lambda?
    What tools integrate with PostGIS?

    Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

    Blog Posts

    GitHubPythonNode.js+47
    55
    73004
    JavaScriptGitHubNode.js+26
    20
    5079
    GitHubDockerAmazon EC2+23
    12
    6684
    JavaScriptGitHubPython+42
    53
    22322
    What are some alternatives to AWS Lambda and PostGIS?
    Serverless
    Build applications comprised of microservices that run in response to events, auto-scale for you, and only charge you when they run. This lowers the total cost of maintaining your apps, enabling you to build more logic, faster. The Framework uses new event-driven compute services, like AWS Lambda, Google CloudFunctions, and more.
    Azure Functions
    Azure Functions is an event driven, compute-on-demand experience that extends the existing Azure application platform with capabilities to implement code triggered by events occurring in virtually any Azure or 3rd party service as well as on-premises systems.
    AWS Elastic Beanstalk
    Once you upload your application, Elastic Beanstalk automatically handles the deployment details of capacity provisioning, load balancing, auto-scaling, and application health monitoring.
    AWS Step Functions
    AWS Step Functions makes it easy to coordinate the components of distributed applications and microservices using visual workflows. Building applications from individual components that each perform a discrete function lets you scale and change applications quickly.
    Google App Engine
    Google has a reputation for highly reliable, high performance infrastructure. With App Engine you can take advantage of the 10 years of knowledge Google has in running massively scalable, performance driven systems. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow.
    See all alternatives