TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

AWS Lambda vs. Azure Machine Learning vs. IBM Cloud Functions

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    AWS Lambda

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AAWS Lambda is a serverless computing platform that lets users run code without provisioning or managing servers. With Lambda, users can run code for virtually any type of app or backend service—all with zero administration. It takes of requirements to run and scale code with high availability.

    $NaN

    Per 1 ms

    Azure Machine Learning

    Score8.2 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft's Azure Machine Learning is and end-to-end data science and analytics solution that helps professional data scientists to prepare data, develop experiments, and deploy models in the cloud. It replaces the Azure Machine Learning Workbench.

    $0

    per month

    IBM Cloud Functions

    Score6.5 out of 10
    N/AIBM Cloud Functions is a PaaS platform based on Apache OpenWhisk. With it, developers write code (“actions”) that respond to external events. Actions are hosted, executed, and scaled on demand based on the number of events coming in. No servers or infrastructure to provision and manage.

    $0

    per second of execution

    Pricing
    AWS LambdaAzure Machine LearningIBM Cloud Functions
    Editions & Modules
    128 MB
    $0.0000000021
    Per 1 ms
    1024 MB
    $0.0000000167
    Per 1 ms
    10240 MB
    $0.0000001667
    Per 1 ms
    Studio Pricing - Free
    $0.00
    per month
    Production Web API - Dev/Test
    $0.00
    per month
    Studio Pricing - Standard
    $9.99
    per ML studio workspace/per month
    Production Web API - Standard S1
    $100.13
    per month
    Production Web API - Standard S2
    $1000.06
    per month
    Production Web API - Standard S3
    $9999.98
    per month
    Basic Cloud Functions Rate
    $0.00017
    per second of execution
    API Gateway Rate
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    AWS LambdaAzure Machine LearningIBM Cloud Functions
    Free Trial
    NoNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details———
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    AWS LambdaAzure Machine LearningIBM Cloud Functions
    Considered Multiple Products
    Amazon AWS
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    IBM
    Chose IBM Cloud Functions
    AWS Lambda is 100 times more robust than IBM cloud functions. They essentially do the same thing, but AWS works. AWS is stable. we have had epic failures with cloud functions. Support was horrible. We literally had an open ticket with them for 2 months and it literally went …
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Functions
    AWS Lambda might be more suited for larger scaled companies looking to consistently access similar features at a higher volume/frequency, but for smaller teams with a limited budget, IBM's Cloud Functions are a competitive choice
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Functions
    IBM Cloud Functions are native to IBM Cloud and are easy to integrate into other IBM Cloud applications.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    24 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    22 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    24 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    18 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    AWS LambdaAzure Machine LearningIBM Cloud Functions
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of AWS Lambda and Azure Machine Learning and IBM Cloud Functions
    Feature
    AWS Lambda
    8.8
    7 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Azure Machine Learning
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cloud Functions
    -
    Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.57 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)9.03 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of AWS Lambda and Azure Machine Learning and IBM Cloud Functions
    Feature
    AWS Lambda
    4.9
    6 Ratings
    29% below category average
    Azure Machine Learning
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cloud Functions
    -
    Ratings
    Dashboards5.46 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standard reports5.05 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom reports4.35 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Function as a Service (FaaS)
    Comparison of Function as a Service (FaaS) features of AWS Lambda and Azure Machine Learning and IBM Cloud Functions
    Feature
    AWS Lambda
    8.8
    7 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Azure Machine Learning
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cloud Functions
    -
    Ratings
    Programming Language Diversity9.07 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Runtime API Authoring8.07 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Function/Database Integration9.07 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    DevOps Stack Integration9.17 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    AWS LambdaAzure Machine LearningIBM Cloud Functions
    Small Businesses
    IBM Cloud Functions
    Score6.5 out of 10
    TensorFlow
    Score7.6 out of 10
    AWS Lambda
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Functions
    Score6.5 out of 10
    Google Cloud AI
    Score8.7 out of 10
    AWS Lambda
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM Cloud Functions
    Score6.5 out of 10
    Google Cloud AI
    Score8.7 out of 10
    AWS Lambda
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    AWS LambdaAzure Machine LearningIBM Cloud Functions
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.5
    (52 ratings)
    6.0
    (5 ratings)
    3.0
    (7 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.3
    (17 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.7
    (20 ratings)
    7.9
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    AWS LambdaAzure Machine LearningIBM Cloud Functions
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Amazon AWS
    Lambda excels at event-driven, short-lived tasks, such as processing files or building simple APIs. However, it's less ideal for long-running, computationally intensive, or applications that rely on carrying the state between jobs. Cold starts and constant load can easily balloon the costs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    I would highly recommend Azure machine learning design for those with less access to high-end computing infrastructure, as using Azure saves a lot of time, money, and effort by providing a hustle-free platform that is easy to use and train your employees on. On the other hand, if you are looking for complete control of the machine learning model you create and would like to add detailed functionalities and try different algorithms, then Azure is less suitable here as it’s very high level.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    IBM Cloud Functions [is] not the worse product on the IBM cloud. I decided to write this review as I thought it would be balanced. I would still use functions to set up a serverless architecture where execution time is pretty quick and the code is relatively simple. I wouldn't use IBM Cloud Functions for async calls obviously, as costs could be higher. The functions documentation is lacking in terms of CI/CD, and there are unexplainable errors occurring - like the network connection that I mentioned. So I wouldn't just rely on IBM Cloud Functions too much for the entire system, but make sure it's diversified.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Amazon AWS
    • No provisioning required - we don't have to pay anything upfront
    • Serverless deployment - it gets executed only when request comes and we pay only for the time the request is getting executed
    • Integrates well with AWS CloudWatch triggers so it is easy to setup scheduled tasks like cron jobs
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Easy to create the experiment.
    • Easy to adopt the best algorithm.
    • Efficient way to deploy the model as a web service.
    • Centralized platform for the life cycle of machine learning goal.
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Great substitute for a simple API calls to run non-complicated code.
    • Easy way to run Python/Java/Javascript to get something done.
    • File validation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Amazon AWS
    • Developing test cases for Lambda functions can be difficult. For functions that require some sort of input it can be tough to develop the proper payload and event for a test.
    • For the uninitiated, deploying functions with Infrastructure as Code tools can be a challenging undertaking.
    • Logging the output of a function feels disjointed from running the function in the console. A tighter integration with operational logging would be appreciated, perhaps being able to view function logs from the Lambda console instead of having to navigate over to CloudWatch.
    • Sometimes its difficult to determine the correct permissions needed for Lambda execution from other AWS services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Few models: Even though it has a lot of Machine Learning models, it is quite limited when compared to R. Most Data Scientists still use and prefer R, so the newest models tend to release as R libraries. With Azure ML, we need to wait for Microsoft to evaluate and decide if including a new model is a good idea or not
    • Tableau interface: last time I checked there was no easy way to connect with Tableau.
    • Cloud based: You always need a good internet connection to use it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Billing can be a hassle, not the most responsive customer service/support team
    • Handles & executes most functionalities, but other platforms offer more scalability if you're seeking consistent and stable growth
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Amazon AWS
    I give it a seven is usability because it's AWS. Their UI's are always clunkier than the competition and their documentation is rather cumbersome. There's SO MUCH to dig through and it's a gamble if you actually end up finding the corresponding info if it will actually help. Like I said before, going to google with a specific problem is likely a better route because AWS is quite ubiquitous and chances are you're not the first to encounter the problem. That being said, using SAM (Serverless application model) and it's SAM Local environment makes running local instances of your Lambdas in dev environments painless and quite fun. Using Nodejs + Lambda + SAM Local + VS Code debugger = AWESOME.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Good UX/UI and overall good usability, but it takes a while to get used to the product & platform. The whole design seems fragmented with little in terms of integration with project management tools such as JIRA, or wireframing. Overall it feels like an unfinished product that's meant for teaching more than for production.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Amazon AWS
    Amazon consistently provides comprehensive and easy-to-parse documentation of all AWS features and services. Most development team members find what they need with a quick internet search of the AWS documentation available online. If you need advanced support, though, you might need to engage an AWS engineer, and that could be an unexpected (or unwelcome) expense.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    I'm satisfied with the Azure Machine Learning Studio- it fulfilled my goal in a single channel. Even haven't worr[ied] about the maintenance or any fault tolerance. This provide[s] the user interactive UI to grab the features easily. [Their] support teams also very help[ful], they stand with us at any time.
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Amazon AWS
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Not sure
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Amazon AWS
    AWS Lambda is good for short running functions, and ideally in response to events within AWS. Google App Engine is a more robust environment which can have complex code running for long periods of time, and across more than one instance of hardware. Google App Engine allows for both front-end and back-end infrastructure, while AWS Lambda is only for small back-end functions
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    It is easier to learn, it has a very cost effective license for use, it has native build and created for Azure cloud services, and that makes it perfect when compared against the alternatives. As a Microsoft tool, it has been built to contain many visual features and improved usability even for non-specialist users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • ICF is a lightweight service and does not require runtime configurations
    • Scalable on demand and hence there is no need to pay for runtime costs
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Amazon AWS
    • Positive - Only paying for when code is run, unlike virtual machines where you pay always regardless of processing power usage.
    • Positive - Scalability and accommodating larger amounts of demand is much cheaper. Instead of scaling up virtual machines and increasing the prices you pay for that, you are just increasing the number of times your lambda function is run.
    • Negative - Debugging/troubleshooting, and developing for lambda functions take a bit more time to get used to, and migrating code from virtual machines and normal processes to Lambda functions can take a bit of time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Reduce energy consumption caused by GPUs.
    • Saves on recycling and transporting costs and maintenance caused by buying high-end equipment.
    • Improve productivity as building products using Azure is easier than building everything up from scratch (e.g., machine learning and AI applications).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • It directly affected our expenses since we do not need to deploy and maintain a set of separate applications.
    • It allowed us to pay for only the amount of time cloud functions run.
    • It saved on maintenance and monitoring of the applications it replaced.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots