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OpenFaaS vs Serverless: What are the differences?
Key Differences between OpenFaaS and Serverless
Deployment Flexibility: OpenFaaS provides greater deployment flexibility as it can be run on any cloud or on-premises environment, offering more control over where functions are hosted. On the other hand, Serverless platforms are typically tied to specific cloud providers, limiting deployment options and vendor lock-in.
Community and Ecosystem: OpenFaaS has a thriving community and ecosystem with active contributors and a wide range of plugins and integrations available. In contrast, while Serverless platforms have a strong community as well, the ecosystem might be limited to the specific cloud provider's offerings.
Programming Language Support: OpenFaaS supports a wider range of programming languages, allowing developers to write functions in languages such as Java, Python, Node.js, Go, etc. Serverless platforms may have restrictions on the supported languages, potentially limiting developers' choice and flexibility.
Customization and Control: OpenFaaS allows for more customization and control over the environment in which functions run, enabling developers to fine-tune performance and security settings according to their specific needs. With Serverless platforms, developers have less control over the underlying infrastructure, which can be a limiting factor in certain use cases.
Cost Management: OpenFaaS can potentially offer more cost-effective options for running functions, especially in scenarios where there is a need to optimize resource utilization or leverage on-premises infrastructure. Serverless platforms may have more standardized pricing structures, which could lead to higher costs in certain situations.
Performance and Scalability: OpenFaaS provides greater control over performance and scalability aspects, allowing developers to optimize resource usage and scale functions based on specific requirements. Serverless platforms, while offering auto-scaling capabilities, may have limitations in terms of customization and fine-tuning for performance-critical applications.
In Summary, OpenFaaS offers more deployment flexibility, programming language support, customization, and cost management options compared to Serverless, while Serverless platforms provide easier scalability and standardization in deployment.
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 OpenFaaS
- Open source5
- Ease4
- Autoscaling3
- Community2
- Documentation2
- Async1
Pros of Serverless
- API integration14
- Supports cloud functions for Google, Azure, and IBM7
- Lower cost3
- 3. Simplified Management for developers to focus on cod1
- Auto scale1
- 5. Built-in Redundancy and Availability:1
- Openwhisk1
