Back in the early days of the internet, building a website or web app meant owning physical infrastructure to host your own server. This process required significant investments of both time and money. Thankfully, as technology advanced, cloud computing emerged, offering a more convenient solution. Instead of owning servers, you could rent them, resulting in lower costs and increased flexibility. This shift led many businesses to embrace cloud computing, but even this model isn’t without its drawbacks. You often end up paying for more server space than you need, just to accommodate traffic spikes, which can drive up costs and reduce efficiency.
Enter serverless computing—an alternative that’s gaining traction as a future standard for many companies. Serverless computing allows you to pay only for the computing power you use, rather than reserving a fixed amount of server space. This approach adapts to your needs in real-time, reducing waste and improving efficiency.
What Is Serverless Computing?
Serverless computing is a cloud service where vendors provide flexible backend infrastructure. Instead of paying for a predetermined amount of servers or bandwidth, you’re charged based on your actual usage. Essentially, serverless computing operates on a “pay-as-you-go” model, which means you’re only billed for the resources you consume.
Though it’s called “serverless,” servers are still involved—just managed by the cloud provider. The term reflects the nature of the service: you don’t have to worry about configuring or maintaining the servers yourself, nor are you required to rent entire servers.
Benefits of Serverless Computing
Compared to traditional cloud computing, serverless computing offers several key advantages:
- Scalability: Serverless computing scales automatically with your traffic and activity, eliminating the need to reserve extra space or servers.
- Faster Deployment: Updates, patches, and upgrades can be rolled out more quickly, as you only need to modify specific parts of the code, speeding up time-to-market.
- Cost Efficiency: Since you only pay for the resources you use, there’s no need to worry about over-purchasing server space or wasting money on idle CPU time.
Differences Between Cloud-Based Backend Models
Serverless computing shares some similarities with other cloud-based models, which can cause confusion. Here’s how it differs from some of the popular alternatives:
- Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS): Unlike serverless computing, BaaS applications aren’t necessarily event-driven or operating at the network’s edge.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): While PaaS solutions may be scalable, they don’t inherently operate at the edge of the network, making serverless computing more flexible.
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): IaaS encompasses a broad range of services, and while serverless functionality can be part of IaaS, they are not the same thing.
Should You Use Serverless Computing?
Despite its many benefits, serverless computing has its limitations. It may not be ideal for high-performance computing or high-volume workloads. Additionally, vendor lock-in is a concern since your serverless environment is tied to a specific provider, potentially complicating future migrations.
Another challenge is the performance lag with infrequently used functions. When a function isn’t called often, the provider shuts it down to avoid unnecessary resource consumption. This means the next time it’s needed, there may be a delay as the function is restarted, which can impact user experience.
If these concerns aren’t dealbreakers for your business, serverless computing could be a good fit—especially for mid-sized companies or startups that don’t require complex backend infrastructure. As the technology continues to evolve and edge computing gains popularity, serverless computing is poised to become a more common choice in the cloud landscape.
If you’re considering this model, it’s a good idea to consult with cloud experts to better understand how serverless computing could support your next web development project.
