AWS Compute: Which Service Should You Choose for Your Applications? A Cost Guide

1. EC2: Traditional Servers

EC2 = Classic virtual servers

Approximate costs:

• t3.micro: ~$8/month
• t3.small: ~$16/month
• t3.medium: ~$32/month
• Prices vary by region and instance type

Who is it for?

• Traditional applications
• Websites with steady traffic
• Databases
• Applications that require full control

Budget advantages:

• Predictable pricing
• Option to use Reserved Instances (-60%)
• Spot Instances for flexible workloads (-90%)

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2. Lambda: On-Demand Serverless

Lambda = Run code without servers

Approximate costs:

• 1 million invocations: ~$0.20
• 400,000 GB-seconds: ~$0.0000166667/GB-second
• No minimum cost

Who is it for?

• APIs and microservices
• Event processing
• Automation
• Applications with variable traffic

Budget advantages:

• You only pay for execution
• No cost when idle
• Automatic scaling at no extra charge

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3. Fargate: Containers Without the Management

Fargate = Containers without managing servers

Approximate costs:

• vCPU: ~$0.04048/hour
• Memory: ~$0.004445/GB-hour
• Prices vary by region

Who is it for?

• Containerized applications
• Microservices
• Applications that require isolation
• DevOps teams

Budget advantages:

• No minimum cost
• Automatic scaling
• Predictable pricing per task

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Cost Comparison Table

Service	Use Case	Typical Cost	Main Advantage
EC2	Traditional applications	~$8-32/month	Full control, predictable pricing
Lambda	APIs, events	~$0.20/million requests	Pay-per-use, free scaling
Fargate	Containers	~$0.04/vCPU-hour	No server management, isolation

Tips for Saving Money:

1. For EC2:

   • Use Reserved Instances for steady workloads
   • Use Spot Instances for flexible workloads
   • Shut down unused instances
   • Choose the right instance size

2. For Lambda:

   • Optimize execution time
   • Use the right amount of memory
   • Combine similar functions
   • Enable Provisioned Concurrency if needed

3. For Fargate:

   • Optimize container size
   • Use Auto Scaling
   • Choose the right CPU/memory combination
   • Share resources across services

Key Takeaways:

The right choice depends on your use case:

• EC2 for full control and predictable costs
• Lambda for pay-per-use and automatic scaling
• Fargate for containers without server management