AWS Lambda vs Serverless vs Twilio Functions

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AWS Lambda

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Serverless

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Twilio Functions

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AWS Lambda vs Serverless vs Twilio Functions: What are the differences?

Introduction:

AWS Lambda, Serverless, and Twilio Functions are all serverless computing services that allow developers to run code without provisioning or managing servers. However, there are key differences between them that can influence which service is best for your specific use case.

  1. Programming Language Support: AWS Lambda supports multiple programming languages such as Node.js, Python, Java, and C#, while Serverless framework supports Node.js and Python. Twilio Functions only support Node.js, limiting the choice of developers who prefer other languages. This difference in language support can impact the flexibility and ease of development for different teams.

  2. Integrations: AWS Lambda has extensive integrations with various AWS services such as S3, DynamoDB, and API Gateway, providing a wide range of options for building serverless applications within the AWS ecosystem. Serverless also supports integrations with other cloud providers and services like Azure and Google Cloud. Twilio Functions are specifically designed for building communications apps and offer integrations with the Twilio platform, making it a specialized choice for those use cases.

  3. Pricing Model: AWS Lambda pricing is based on the number of requests and the duration of code execution, with a free tier available. Serverless framework, on the other hand, is open source but may incur costs for managed services and resources used in deployments. Twilio Functions are priced based on the number of function invocations, with a free tier available, but additional costs may apply for usage of Twilio services. Understanding the pricing model of each service is essential for determining the cost-effectiveness of using them for your project.

  4. Resource Limits: AWS Lambda has default resource limits such as memory allocation and execution time, which can be adjusted based on requirements. Serverless has similar resource limits but may vary depending on the cloud provider used. Twilio Functions also have resource limits for memory and execution time but are optimized for communications use cases, allowing for faster response times in messaging and voice applications.

  5. Developer Tooling: AWS Lambda provides a rich set of developer tools, including AWS SDKs, CloudWatch monitoring, and X-Ray tracing, for building, testing, and monitoring serverless applications. Serverless framework offers a command-line interface (CLI) and plugins for deployment automation and management of serverless resources. Twilio Functions come with built-in tools for testing and debugging communication functions, with a focus on facilitating the development of messaging and voice applications.

  6. Community and Support: AWS Lambda benefits from being part of the broader AWS ecosystem, with extensive documentation, forums, and community support available for developers. Serverless community also offers active support through forums, GitHub repositories, and online resources. Twilio has a dedicated developer community and support team specifically for communication use cases, providing specialized assistance for building voice and messaging applications.

In Summary, AWS Lambda, Serverless, and Twilio Functions offer different strengths in terms of programming language support, integrations, pricing model, resource limits, developer tooling, and community support, catering to diverse needs in serverless application development.

Advice on AWS Lambda, Serverless, and Twilio Functions

Need advice on what platform, systems and tools to use.

Evaluating whether to start a new digital business for which we will need to build a website that handles all traffic. Website only right now. May add smartphone apps later. No desktop app will ever be added. Website to serve various countries and languages. B2B and B2C type customers. Need to handle heavy traffic, be low cost, and scale well.

We are open to either build it on AWS or on Microsoft Azure.

Apologies if I'm leaving out some info. My first post. :) Thanks in advance!

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Replies (2)
Anis Zehani

I recommend this : -Spring reactive for back end : the fact it's reactive (async) it consumes half of the resources that a sync platform needs (so less CPU -> less money). -Angular : Web Front end ; it's gives you the possibility to use PWA which is a cheap replacement for a mobile app (but more less popular). -Docker images. -Kubernetes to orchestrate all the containers. -I Use Jenkins / blueocean, ansible for my CI/CD (with Github of course) -AWS of course : u can run a K8S cluster there, make it multi AZ (availability zones) to be highly available, use a load balancer and an auto scaler and ur good to go. -You can store data by taking any managed DB or u can deploy ur own (cheap but risky).

You pay less money, but u need some technical 2 - 3 guys to make that done.

Good luck

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My advice will be Front end: React Backend: Language: Java, Kotlin. Database: SQL: Postgres, MySQL, Aurora NOSQL: Mongo db. Caching: Redis. Public : Spring Webflux for async public facing operation. Admin api: Spring boot, Hibrernate, Rest API. Build Container image. Kuberenetes: AWS EKS, AWS ECS, Google GKE. Use Jenkins for CI/CD pipeline. Buddy works is good for AWS. Static content: Host on AWS S3 bucket, Use Cloudfront or Cloudflare as CDN.

Serverless Solution: Api gateway Lambda, Serveless Aurora (SQL). AWS S3 bucket.

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Decisions about AWS Lambda, Serverless, and Twilio Functions

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.
The setup

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

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Pros of AWS Lambda
Pros of Serverless
Pros of Twilio Functions
  • 129
    No infrastructure
  • 83
    Cheap
  • 70
    Quick
  • 59
    Stateless
  • 47
    No deploy, no server, great sleep
  • 12
    AWS Lambda went down taking many sites with it
  • 6
    Event Driven Governance
  • 6
    Extensive API
  • 6
    Auto scale and cost effective
  • 6
    Easy to deploy
  • 5
    VPC Support
  • 3
    Integrated with various AWS services
  • 14
    API integration
  • 7
    Supports cloud functions for Google, Azure, and IBM
  • 3
    Lower cost
  • 1
    Auto scale
  • 1
    Openwhisk
    Be the first to leave a pro

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    Cons of AWS Lambda
    Cons of Serverless
    Cons of Twilio Functions
    • 7
      Cant execute ruby or go
    • 3
      Compute time limited
    • 1
      Can't execute PHP w/o significant effort
      Be the first to leave a con
        Be the first to leave a con

        Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

        - No public GitHub repository available -
        - No public GitHub repository available -

        What is AWS Lambda?

        AWS Lambda is a compute service that runs your code in response to events and automatically manages the underlying compute resources for you. You can use AWS Lambda to extend other AWS services with custom logic, or create your own back-end services that operate at AWS scale, performance, and security.

        What is Serverless?

        Build applications comprised of microservices that run in response to events, auto-scale for you, and only charge you when they run. This lowers the total cost of maintaining your apps, enabling you to build more logic, faster. The Framework uses new event-driven compute services, like AWS Lambda, Google CloudFunctions, and more.

        What is Twilio Functions?

        Developers provide Twilio with Node.js code for handling their communication events, such as an incoming phone call, and Twilio executes this code on their behalf, ensuring a seamless communications experience.

        Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

        What companies use AWS Lambda?
        What companies use Serverless?
        What companies use Twilio Functions?

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        What tools integrate with AWS Lambda?
        What tools integrate with Serverless?
        What tools integrate with Twilio Functions?

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        Blog Posts

        GitHubPythonNode.js+47
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        GitHubDockerAmazon EC2+23
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        JavaScriptGitHubPython+42
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        What are some alternatives to AWS Lambda, Serverless, and Twilio Functions?
        Azure Functions
        Azure Functions is an event driven, compute-on-demand experience that extends the existing Azure application platform with capabilities to implement code triggered by events occurring in virtually any Azure or 3rd party service as well as on-premises systems.
        AWS Elastic Beanstalk
        Once you upload your application, Elastic Beanstalk automatically handles the deployment details of capacity provisioning, load balancing, auto-scaling, and application health monitoring.
        AWS Step Functions
        AWS Step Functions makes it easy to coordinate the components of distributed applications and microservices using visual workflows. Building applications from individual components that each perform a discrete function lets you scale and change applications quickly.
        Google App Engine
        Google has a reputation for highly reliable, high performance infrastructure. With App Engine you can take advantage of the 10 years of knowledge Google has in running massively scalable, performance driven systems. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow.
        AWS Batch
        It enables developers, scientists, and engineers to easily and efficiently run hundreds of thousands of batch computing jobs on AWS. It dynamically provisions the optimal quantity and type of compute resources (e.g., CPU or memory optimized instances) based on the volume and specific resource requirements of the batch jobs submitted.
        See all alternatives