AWS Fargate vs Non-Fargate: Choose Your Container Strategy
AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS. You define task CPU/memory, IAM roles, and networking; AWS provisions and secures the underlying instances. Billing is per vCPU-second and GB-second while tasks run.
EC2 Launch Type (Non-Fargate)
With the EC2 launch type you manage the worker nodes (Auto Scaling groups, AMIs, patching). This unlocks advanced configurations—GPU/Inferentia instances, custom AMIs, daemon agents, or local NVMe storage—but adds operational overhead.
Decision Matrix
| Requirement | Prefer Fargate | Prefer EC2 Launch Type |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure Ops | Minimal cluster management | Full control over AMIs, capacity, agents |
| Workload Type | Stateless services, event-driven tasks | Stateful services, daemon workloads, privileged containers |
| Cost Profile | Pay only while tasks run; higher per-unit cost | Lower per-unit cost when hosts are well-utilised |
| Networking | Simplified VPC integration, AWS-managed security | Direct access to host networking, custom CNI plugins |
| Hardware | x86/ARM general-purpose | Access to GPU, Inferentia, Graviton, larger memory nodes |
Operational Tips
- Scaling: Fargate tasks scale with ECS/EKS Service Auto Scaling policies. EC2 clusters need capacity planning and cluster autoscaler tuning.
- Storage: Fargate supports ephemeral storage (up to 200 GiB) and EFS persistent volumes. EC2 launch type can attach EBS, instance store, or EFS.
- Security: Fargate isolates each task at the hypervisor level. On EC2, ensure host hardening, patching, and container isolation (SELinux/AppArmor) yourself.
- Cost Controls: Use Savings Plans or Compute Savings Plans to offset Fargate costs; for EC2, leverage Reserved Instances or Spot capacity.
When to Mix Both
Many teams run long-lived, predictable services on EC2 (optimised for cost) and bursty, spiky, or cron-style workloads on Fargate. ECS capacity providers allow weighted distribution across both launch types.