AWS Lambda is a function-as-a-service (FaaS) platform from AWS.

It runs code in response to events without requiring you to manage servers directly.

Common triggers

  • SQS
  • S3 events
  • API Gateway requests
  • EventBridge rules
  • Scheduled events

Why people use it

Lambda is useful when you want:

  • Small event-driven functions
  • Automatic scaling
  • Low operational overhead
  • Integration with other AWS services

Tradeoffs

Lambda is a good fit for short-lived event handlers and glue code, but it is not ideal for long-running processes or workloads that need tight control over the runtime environment.

Compare

Lambda is a common building block of Serverless systems.

It is often paired with SQS when you want messages to trigger work asynchronously.