AWS Lambda vs Netlify Functions
AWS Lambda and Netlify Functions cannot be scored on the same axes — one of them does not publish a rate for everything serverless functions bills on.
List prices checked
Rate cards side by side
Only the axes at least one of them bills on. A dash means that provider does not charge for it.
| Billing axis | AWS Lambda | Netlify Functions | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | — | $19.00/mo | — |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | — |
Source: Amazon Web Services pricing (May 2026) · Netlify pricing (May 2026). Published list prices only — committed-use discounts, regional variation, and per-request charges are not included. Not yet independently re-checked against the vendor’s page.
Monthly cost for three real workloads
The rate cards applied to identical usage. This is where the winner changes.
| Workload | AWS Lambda | Netlify Functions | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side projectA personal site or small app with modest traffic, a few gigabytes of assets, and one small always-on process. | — | $19 | Not comparable |
| Growing SaaSA funded product serving a few thousand daily users, with an image-heavy frontend and two application servers. | — | $19 | Not comparable |
| Media-heavy siteA publisher or video product where delivery dominates the bill and compute is almost an afterthought. | — | $19 | Not comparable |
Workload definitions are identical on every comparison page, so figures here can be read against any other pair in the same category.
What each one is for
AWS Lambda
by Amazon Web Services
The service that created the category, billed on requests plus memory-time. The permanent free tier absorbs a surprising amount of production traffic before a bill appears.
Free tier: 1M requests and 400,000 GB-seconds per month, always free
Netlify Functions
by Netlify
AWS Lambda under the hood, packaged into Netlify's plan allowances so the cost only surfaces once you exceed the bundled invocation count.
Free tier: 125,000 invocations and 100 hours of runtime per month
Common questions
- Is AWS Lambda or Netlify Functions cheaper in 2026?
- Neither can be scored across all three workloads, because at least one of them does not publish a rate for every axis this category bills on.
- Which has the better free tier, AWS Lambda or Netlify Functions?
- Both publish one. AWS Lambda: 1M requests and 400,000 GB-seconds per month, always free. Netlify Functions: 125,000 invocations and 100 hours of runtime per month.
- What do these estimates not include?
- Committed-use and reserved discounts, regional price variation, per-request API charges, support plans, and minimum retention periods. All of those move real invoices, sometimes by a lot. These figures compare published list prices for the same workload, which is the comparison the rate cards alone cannot give you.