You have built an amazing application and now you are all set for its deployment. But wait, there’s a moment of realization where you think about the technology you have chosen for deployment. Does it really fuel your trajectory, and impact your speed, agility, and ultimate success?
Serverless or containers- the question remains still.
While both have their strengths and weaknesses, understanding them is the key to taking your startup to the next level.
Let us help you to understand these two so that you can make a decision that ignites your startup’s deployment process.
Understanding Serverless and Containers

Serverless- Freedom from Infrastructure:
Imagine launching your app without managing servers – that’s the whole idea of serverless. You write your code, and the cloud provider handles the underlying infrastructure, scaling resources up or down automatically.
This simplicity benefits during event-driven workloads, like processing user actions or analyzing data. Serverless is cost-effective, as you only pay for the compute time used, and fast to deploy, allowing rapid iteration and development.
However, the lack of direct control over servers can pose challenges. Debugging issues might be trickier, and vendor lock-in is a concern. Remember, serverless excels when your focus is on pure logic, not fine-tuning system configurations.
Containers- Control in a Box:
Containers are like portable packages containing your code and its dependencies. These “boxes” run on servers you manage and offer flexibility and customization. You have full control over the environment, making them ideal for applications needing specific libraries or frameworks. They also handle stateful workloads well, where data persists beyond individual function calls.
But remember, with great control comes great responsibility. Managing container orchestration can be complex, requiring more technical expertise and resources compared to serverless. Scaling might also require manual intervention, and costs can be higher due to always-running server instances.
Now that we know the core of Serverless and Containers, let us understand when to go for which approach.
When to Choose Serverless
Event-Driven: If your app reacts to user actions, sensor data, or other external events, serverless deployment is the fit for you. You do not need to constantly run expensive servers waiting for something to happen. Serverless automatically scales up resources only when events occur, then scales back down, saving you costs. This makes it ideal for Microservices deployment using Docker and Kubernetes, mobile backends, and serverless APIs.
Unpredictable Traffic Patterns: Your app might experience bursts of activity, followed by calmer periods. Traditional servers require constant provisioning to handle peak loads, even when unused. Serverless, however, scales effortlessly with incoming traffic, eliminating this waste. For IoT based apps and data processing, serverless approach suits the best.
Rapid Development and Iteration: Time is precious for a startup. Serverless streamlines your development process by eliminating server setup and management, enabling fast deployments, and promoting experimentation.
When to Choose Containers
Precise Control and Customization: If your app thrives on specific technologies or frameworks, or requires fine-tuning beyond what serverless offers, containers excel here for you. They provide isolated environments where you have complete control over the operating system, libraries, and dependencies. For applications that manage persistent data, like shopping carts or user profiles, flourish in containers, or when app demands intricate network configurations, containers turn out to be beneficial.
Performance at Full Scale: For latency-sensitive apps, predictable performance is crucial. Containers, running directly on your chosen server infrastructure, offer low overhead and consistent response times. This makes containers deployment approach ideal for gaming servers, chat platforms, intensive calculations, and applications requiring high processing power.
The Best of Both Worlds
The ideal solution for your startup can also lie in a hybrid approach. Combining serverless and container deployment allows you to leverage the event-driven tasks of serverless and containers for stateful, performance-critical components.
As your app matures, utilize serverless for new microservices while keeping existing containerized components stable. You can also combine the cost-effectiveness of serverless for infrequent tasks with the predictable costs of containers for core functionality.

Conclusion
Choosing the right deployment strategy for your startup launch is crucial. It is important to understand the strengths and limitations of Serverless and Containers. As a startup, you need to consider what your specific needs are, what expertise your team provides, and the practical feasibility of your application. Based on this, you can go for what matches your requirements the best.
From planning your startup infrastructure to streamlining your deployment strategy, our DevOps team can tailor solutions for continuous integration and continuous delivery. Book a free call with IAMOPS now!