Fargate vs. Non-Fargate: Choosing the Right Container Orchestration Strategy for Your Needs

In the age of cloud computing, containers have become the go-to solution for deploying and scaling applications. And when it comes to container orchestration on AWS, the two main options are Fargate and non-Fargate (which typically involves Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon ECS). But which one is right for you?

What is Fargate?

Fargate is a serverless compute engine for Amazon ECS that allows you to run containers without having to provision or manage underlying EC2 instances. This eliminates the need for tasks like cluster packing, scaling, and patching, making it a more hands-off and simpler approach to container orchestration.

AWS Lambda and Google Cloud Run are both serverless computing platforms that allow you to run code without provisioning or managing servers. However, there are some key differences between the two platforms:

• Supported languages: AWS Lambda supports a wide range of programming languages including Node.js, Java, Python, Go, Ruby, and C#. Cloud Run supports Docker images, which can be written in any language.
• Cold start: When a Lambda function is first invoked, it takes a few milliseconds to start up. This is known as a cold start. Cloud Run also has a cold start, but it is typically shorter than Lambda’s.
• Concurrency: Lambda functions are limited to a maximum of 100 concurrent executions. Cloud Run has no such limit, so you can scale your applications more easily.
• Pricing: AWS Lambda charges you based on the amount of memory your function uses and the number of times it is invoked. Cloud Run charges you based on the amount of CPU and memory your container uses.

I recommend trying both and seeing which one works better for you.