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AWS Lambda vs Google App Engine: What are the differences?
Introduction
In this article, we will explore the key differences between AWS Lambda and Google App Engine. Both AWS Lambda and Google App Engine are popular cloud computing platforms that allow developers to build and deploy applications without having to worry about managing the underlying infrastructure. However, there are several differences between the two platforms that are important to consider when choosing the right platform for your application.
Pricing Model: AWS Lambda pricing is based on the number of requests and the amount of compute time consumed by those requests, while Google App Engine pricing is based on the number of instances and the amount of network traffic used by the application. This means that the pricing structure of these two platforms can vary significantly depending on the nature of the application and its usage patterns.
Programming Languages: AWS Lambda supports a wide range of programming languages including JavaScript (Node.js), Python, Java, C#, and more. On the other hand, Google App Engine primarily supports programming languages like Python, Java, PHP, and Go.
Scaling: AWS Lambda automatically scales your application based on the incoming request volume, without requiring any configuration from the developer. Google App Engine also provides automatic scaling, but it allows developers to configure the scaling behavior based on parameters such as CPU usage, network traffic, and request latency.
Integration with Other Services: AWS Lambda can easily integrate with other AWS services such as Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon API Gateway. Google App Engine provides seamless integration with other Google Cloud Platform services like Google Cloud Storage, Google Cloud Datastore, and Google Cloud Pub/Sub.
Deployment Options: AWS Lambda allows developers to deploy their functions independently without worrying about the underlying platform. Google App Engine also offers similar flexibility in deploying applications, but it provides additional options for managing versions, traffic splitting, and rollbacks.
Community Support: AWS Lambda has a larger community of developers and a more extensive ecosystem of third-party tools and libraries. Google App Engine also has a strong community, but it may not be as vast as the AWS Lambda community. The availability of community support and resources can greatly impact development speed and troubleshooting capabilities.
In Summary, AWS Lambda and Google App Engine differ in their pricing models, supported programming languages, scaling behavior, integration with other services, deployment options, and community support. These differences should be carefully considered when choosing the right platform for your application.
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.
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
Pros of AWS Lambda
- No infrastructure129
- Cheap83
- Quick70
- Stateless59
- No deploy, no server, great sleep47
- AWS Lambda went down taking many sites with it12
- Event Driven Governance6
- Extensive API6
- Auto scale and cost effective6
- Easy to deploy6
- VPC Support5
- Integrated with various AWS services3
Pros of Google App Engine
- Easy to deploy145
- Auto scaling106
- Good free plan80
- Easy management62
- Scalability56
- Low cost35
- Comprehensive set of features32
- All services in one place28
- Simple scaling22
- Quick and reliable cloud servers19
- Granular Billing6
- Easy to develop and unit test5
- Monitoring gives comprehensive set of key indicators4
- Really easy to quickly bring up a full stack3
- Create APIs quickly with cloud endpoints3
- Mostly up2
- No Ops2
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Cons of AWS Lambda
- Cant execute ruby or go7
- Compute time limited3
- Can't execute PHP w/o significant effort1
Cons of Google App Engine
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What is AWS Lambda?
What is Google App Engine?
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What companies use Google App Engine?
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What tools integrate with AWS Lambda?
What tools integrate with Google App Engine?
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