Containers and serverless as alternate cloud deployment options

This analysis combines qualitative and quantitative methods. For quantitative analysis, the application’s run cost is calculated for the four scenarios across different deployment models using the AWS pricing calculator. For the qualitative analysis, costs for the application’s initial development and maintenance costs have been arrived at in close discussions with Deloitte’s SMSs and through secondary research, since these may vary based on business priorities. Further, costs associated with physical infrastructure, facilities, storage, databases, networks, and data transfer have not been considered, with the assumption that they would be similar across all scenarios.

Results

Using qualitative approximation, relative costs associated with the application’s development and maintenance were compared and found to be the highest for traditional compute and the least for serverless. These observations find merit since applications developed using serverless technology do not require developers to manage servers. It is important to note that these comparisons are relative and not based on a thorough cost analysis. The findings are summarized in table 1.

Here, it was observed that serverless deployment using AWS Lambda was the most cost-effective option for low traffic volumes (attributed to a lower number of requests and/or a lower average duration of request execution), since it does not require provisioning and management of servers and users are billed only for the resources used in real time. Hence, this solution can be cost effective for unpredictable workloads. This can additionally help enterprises focus on activities that add to business differentiation.

Containerization using AWS Fargate is a good deployment option for low traffic volumes, with costs closely mirroring those across serverless deployment for low traffic. However, with increasing traffic (attributed to a higher number of requests and/or a higher average duration of request execution), running applications on containers can turn expensive. Containers are an excellent choice for businesses looking to modernize their applications with minimal effort in very little time.

With increasing traffic, traditional compute using Amazon EC2 instances becomes the most cost-effective deployment option. For more predictable workloads and steady traffic, EC2 instances can even be reserved for longer periods of time to leverage long-term discounts. A comparative summary of the different costs associated with the application can be seen in table 3 and figure 3.

Conclusion

Containers and serverless are different technologies, and both can help businesses derive more value compared to traditional modes of cloud deployment. These technologies utilize computing resources more efficiently, help applications scale quickly, and increase developer productivity. 

Choosing between these options might lead to an “analysis paralysis” within an enterprise, since selecting the best deployment option depends on the business’s use cases, investments of time and money, developer skills, and other related factors such as frequency of use and predictability of workloads. 

While some workloads might be suitable for deployment using services like traditional compute, it is evident that businesses need to look beyond traditional modes of cloud deployment to maintain competitiveness and increase cloud value by being user-centric while focusing on the bottom line. So, why not use a combination of containers and serverless to improve efficiency and optimize costs?

To leverage the best of both worlds, businesses should consider combining containers and serverless technologies to build powerful applications that are cloud neutral and agile and incur costs only when invoked. For instance, a modern business seeking to derive more business value can deploy a serverless application on containers to reduce the time to market, increase resource efficiency, and reduce maintenance and run-the-business costs. The world of cloud is changing at a rapid pace and brings with it new ways of doing business, and laggards on cloud adoption might be left behind.

1 Amazon Web Services, “Kaplan containers web study,” accessed August 8, 2023. 

2 Akash Tayal et al., Determining the total cost of ownership of serverless technologies when compared to traditional cloud, Deloitte, September 2019.

3 Chithrai Mani, “Is serverless architecture right for your organization?,” Forbes, November 14, 2018; Mark Stier and Igor Okulist, “Netflix images enhanced with AWS Lambda,” Netflix Technology Blog, March 23, 2020.