Serverless Battle: Azure Functions compared to AWS lambda

Since the last 4 years or so the cloud computing has been a game changer in a number ways and the emergence of serverless computing/architectures has just solved many of the core computing problems.

Serverless is about abstracting users away from servers, infrastructure, and having to deal with low-level configuration or the core operating system. 

The top two Serverless comput cloud services today are AWS Lambda and Azure Functions.

Let us compare both of them on various factors:

Short Description

Launched first in 2014, AWS Lambda is a compute service that lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers.

Launched in 2016, Azure Functions is a serverless compute service that enables you to run code on-demand without having to explicitly provision or manage infrastructure.

Platforms and Scripting languages

AWS Lambda

• Node.js, Java, C#, Go and Python
• Lambda runs on a Linux platform.

Azure Functions

• JavaScript, Node.js, F#, C#, Java (PHP and Powershell scripting may be not supported in version 2.x)
• Azure functions runs in Windows

Deployment and Code support

AWS Lambda

• Code uploaded as a .zip file. So if you need to make any quick changes, you’ll have to re-upload the entire package.

Azure Functions

• Code services such as GitHub, BitBucket and VS Team Services are offered, allowing for easy code setup and continuous deployment.
• Microsoft also offers Logic Apps, which can assist with integration without writing code.

Function organization

AWS Lambda

• Functions are created as standalone elements.
• Each program acts as separate program.
• This separation also extends to resource allocation.
• Memory provision is on a per-function basis rather than per application group.

Azure Functions

• Functions are grouped on a per-application basis–and this extends to resource provisioning as well.
• This allows multiple Azure Functions to share a single set of environment variables, instead of specifying their environment variables independently.

Pricing

AWS Lambda

• You only pay for the compute time you consume.
• The first million requests per month are free, and it costs two cents (literally) for every 100,000 requests after. Charges are apportioned between request and compute.

Azure Functions

• Azure Function usage is billed in the same way as AWS, where the total cost is calculated from the number of triggers and execution time.
• They also offer the first million requests for free, and you also pay two cents for every 100,000 executions afterwards.

Next Post will be on how we work on both of the services.