AWS ‐ EC2 | Fargate

EC2 vs Fargate: Key Differences 🚀

Feature	EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) 🖥️	Fargate (Serverless Containers) 🐳
Infrastructure Management	You manage EC2 instances (OS, scaling, patching)	Fully managed by AWS (no servers to manage)
Scaling	Manual or Auto Scaling (requires configuration)	Auto-scales seamlessly (AWS handles scaling)
Cost Model	Pay for provisioned instances (even when idle)	Pay per vCPU & memory usage (only when running)
Startup Time	Slower (depends on AMI boot time)	Faster (containers start in seconds)
Security & Isolation	Full control over security settings (IAM roles, SGs, etc.)	More isolated (each task runs in its own environment)
Flexibility	Supports all workloads (Windows, Linux, custom AMIs)	Optimized for container workloads
Networking	You manage VPC & security groups	AWS manages networking (needs awsvpc mode)
Use Case	Best for long-running workloads or when custom infra control is needed	Best for short-lived tasks, microservices, and auto-scaling apps

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🚀 When to Use EC2?

✅ Need full control over instances (e.g., install custom software).
✅ Running persistent workloads (e.g., databases, batch jobs).
✅ Need custom networking or specific OS requirements.

🐳 When to Use Fargate?

✅ Want a fully managed container service (no infrastructure management).
✅ Need automatic scaling without managing EC2 instances.
✅ Running microservices or event-driven tasks (e.g., serverless applications).

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💡 TL;DR

• EC2 → More control, good for custom setups but requires more management.
• Fargate → Serverless, fully managed, ideal for containers & auto-scaling workloads.

• If you need cost efficiency & scalability → Fargate is usually better.
• If you need custom configurations, persistent workloads, or more control → EC2 is the way to go.