Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head
Vagrant vs Lambda (AWS Serverless)
Lambda (AWS Serverless)
Cloud & Infrastructure
Run code without thinking about servers
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Vagrant vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence; Lambda (AWS Serverless) billed on two axes at once, $0.20 per million requests plus $0.0000166667 per GB-second of duration, so memory settings change the bill as much as traffic does
- They diverge on capability: Vagrant covers Box management, Lambda (AWS Serverless) covers Function-as-a-Service.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Vagrant and Lambda (AWS Serverless) actually diverge.
| Attribute | Vagrant | Lambda (AWS Serverless) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Mac | Web, Api |
| Founded | 2010 | 2014 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud & Infrastructure).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Vagrant
- Box management
- Provider support
- Multi-machine setups
- Provisioners
- Networking
- Synced folders
- Snapshots
- Plugins
Only in Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Function-as-a-Service
- Event-driven execution
- Auto-scaling
- Pay-per-use
- Multiple languages
- Concurrency limits
- Dead Letter Queues
- Environment variables
Both cover
- Cloud deployment
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Vagrant
- Reproducible local development environments defined in a Vagrantfilenot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Provisioning identical VMs across VirtualBox, VMware and Hyper-V for a teamnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptopnot Lambda (AWS Serverless)
Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Event-driven functions without managing serversnot Vagrant
- API backends behind API Gatewaynot Vagrant
- Processing S3, DynamoDB, SQS and Kinesis eventsnot Vagrant
- Scheduled jobs without a always-on instancenot Vagrant
- Edge compute through Lambda@Edgenot Vagrant
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Vagrant
- Vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
- The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Vagrant to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Vagrant
- Each version converts to the MPL 2.0 Change License only four years after that version is first published
- Uses that fall outside the Additional Use Grant require a separately negotiated licence from the licensor
Lambda (AWS Serverless)
- Billed on two axes at once, $0.20 per million requests plus $0.0000166667 per GB-second of duration, so memory settings change the bill as much as traffic does
- Provisioned concurrency, used to avoid cold starts, is charged separately at $0.0000041667 per GB-second whether or not the function runs
- Ephemeral storage beyond the included 512 MB is metered
- Lambda@Edge costs $0.60 per million requests, three times the standard request rate
- VPC use and cross-region data transfer carry EC2 charges on top
Pricing, plan by plan
Vagrant
Free- Open SourceFree
- Development environment provisioning
- Multiple providers
- Provisioner support
Lambda (AWS Serverless)
Free- Free TierFree
- 1M free requests/month
- 400,000 GB-seconds/month
- Always free
Which should you pick?
Choose Vagrant if
- You need box management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
- You also want provider support.
Choose Lambda (AWS Serverless) if
- You need function-as-a-service.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want event-driven execution.
Questions people ask
- Is Vagrant or Lambda (AWS Serverless) better?
- Neither clearly leads. Vagrant starts at Free and Lambda (AWS Serverless) at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Vagrant or Lambda (AWS Serverless)?
- Vagrant starts at Free and Lambda (AWS Serverless) at Free.
- Does Vagrant or Lambda (AWS Serverless) run on more platforms?
- Vagrant runs on Linux, Windows, Mac. Lambda (AWS Serverless) runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use Vagrant for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Vagrant best used for?
- Vagrant is most often used for reproducible local development environments defined in a vagrantfile, provisioning identical vms across virtualbox, vmware and hyper-v for a team, sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptop. Of those, reproducible local development environments defined in a vagrantfile and provisioning identical vms across virtualbox, vmware and hyper-v for a team are not what Lambda (AWS Serverless) is typically brought in for.
- What can Vagrant do that Lambda (AWS Serverless) cannot?
- Vagrant covers Box management, Provider support, Multi-machine setups, Provisioners. Lambda (AWS Serverless) covers Function-as-a-Service, Event-driven execution, Auto-scaling, Pay-per-use. Both handle Cloud deployment.