Serverless computing is a cloud computing model where the cloud provider manages the infrastructure and automatically provisions and scales the computing resources as needed to support applications. In serverless computing, the cloud provider is responsible for managing servers, storage, and network infrastructure, and users only pay for the actual computing resources they use. This eliminates the need for users to manage and maintain their own infrastructure and allows them to focus on developing and deploying applications.
Advantages of using serverless computing:
- Cost-effective: Serverless computing only charges for the actual compute time and resources used, which makes it a more cost-effective option compared to traditional computing models.
- Scalability: Serverless computing automatically scales the computing resources to match the application demands. This means that users do not need to worry about overprovisioning or underprovisioning resources.
- Reduced operational burden: The cloud provider takes care of the infrastructure management and maintenance, which reduces the operational burden for users.
- Increased productivity: Serverless computing allows developers to focus on developing and deploying applications rather than managing infrastructure.
Importance of serverless frameworks:
Serverless frameworks provide a layer of abstraction on top of serverless computing platforms that enable developers to deploy and manage serverless applications more easily. Serverless frameworks can provide a variety of features, including application configuration, deployment management, and event triggering.
These frameworks allow developers to build and deploy applications faster and with less complexity. Choosing the right serverless framework can be crucial to the success of a serverless application, as it can impact the ease of development and deployment, performance, and cost.
7 Best Serverless Frameworks to Learn in 2022
This technology saves us not only money but also resources by sizing resources based on traffic demand. It also allows us to publish applications to the market in less time and increase value by optimizing your application. Let us have a look –
1. Zappa
It is a very popular framework that served as a forerunner for many of these serverless frameworks and served as inspiration for many others. Furthermore, It is in use for a variety of things. Also, it is well-liked for web-based apps or even REST API-type solutions, and focusing on options like Python is one of its primary advantages. Zappa was the place to go if you had a WSGI (web server gateway interface) based project, such as if you were using Flask or Deploy Django, and you needed to migrate it to serverless capabilities like Amazon lambda and AWS API gateway.
- It will be a great abstraction for re-platforming solutions that rely on Flask applications. For example, if you have an existing Flask application and use Zappa, it builds through abstraction, allowing you to use AWS Lambda and API gateway without changing much code.
- You won’t be concerned about the deployment in Zappa because it only takes a single command to deploy, update, and control an application.
- Zappa provides higher security by default enabling the identity and access management (IAM) strategy for authentication.
- Zappa accepts asynchronous task responses using DynamoDB as the backend.
2. Serverless
It is the most popular framework available, and one of the major benefits is that it is platform neutral or cloud neutral in a sense, so it works with AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and many others. As a result, it is not a vendor lock-in or overly dependent on AWS. Serverless is a general-purpose serverless framework, so it should allow you to walk seamlessly whether you’re building web applications, REST APIs, or IoT applications with serverless technologies.
- Node.js, Python, Java, Go, C#, Ruby, Swift, Kotlin, PHP, and Scala are among the languages supported by Serverless.
- It is a command line tool that manages both code and cloud infrastructure that requires a significant amount of serverless use-case.
- These are the existing frameworks, and because it is similar to a domain-specific language (DSL), it must become acquainted with the framework’s configuration management tools.
- It is highly automated, with built-in support at various stages and optimizations. It also quickly uploads the code to AWS Lambda using functions and services.
3. AWS Chalice
Chalice is a newcomer to the market. It is primarily concerned with delivering web and REST APIs. At this point, it is primarily focused on Python, and because we do not have solutions for other languages, it is primarily focused on Python. It tends to adhere to the conventions of popular Python micro-frameworks such as Flask; it heavily focuses on specifying URL routes. Furthermore, It connects to lambda and AWS gateway.
- Firstly, It provides command-line tools for creating and managing Flask applications with business logic in a structured manner.
- Moreover, It, like Zappa, uses the identity and access management (IAM) strategy by default for authentication.
- Integrating with Amazon API Gateway, Amazon S3, Amazon SNS, Amazon SQS, and other AWS services helps to decorate the API.
4.Claudia.js
Application Claudia.js is small and efficient. It does a great job of setting up, managing, and updating your API and serverless backend. It will deploy and manage the AWS API Gateway service as well as lambda functions that connect to those APIs. It will handle setting them up so that the API triggers the lambda and the lambda can receive all of the data properly. Then, you can connect to all of these other AWS Services through the code you write in the lambda. Claudia is also excellent for plugging into Infrastructure, which you may have created by clicking through the console.
- Claudia provides flexibility in AWS lambda and API gateway if properly configured.
- You can deploy and update your applications with a single command.
- Claudia easily manages multiple versions at the same time.
- Claudia assists Javascript developers in focusing on finding solutions to business problems rather than deploying infrastructure.
5. Architect (AWS, Node)
With the addition of node.js and NPM, this framework is a very advanced serverless framework that can be used to deploy, manage, and maintain AWS cloud infrastructure (node package manager).
- To facilitate deployment, the architect employs well-known tools such as G Init conditions and Google Cloud Build.
- The architect uses an app.arc file to compile code that is automatically configured and provisioned based on user permissions settings without requiring any manual intervention.
- By simply running their codes, architects assist Javascript developers in writing, debugging, and testing their business logic.
6. Lambda Framework
AWS Lambda is a compute service that runs your backend code in response to events such as objects uploaded to Amazon S3 buckets, updates to Amazon DynamoDB tables, data, dreams, or application activity. When you upload your code to Lambda, the service handles all of the capacity, scaling, patching, and administration of the infrastructure required to run your code, as well as providing visibility into performance by publishing real-time metrics and logs to Amazon Cloud Watch. You only need to write the code.
- Lambda is an open-source tool for deploying serverless applications to API gateways.
- AWS Lambda is extremely inexpensive and requires no prior investment. You must pay a fee for each use.
- In the AWS lambda framework, you can use any third-party library, including native libraries.
- It supports GET, POST, DELETE, HEAD, PUT, and other commonly used JSRs as well as various JAX-RS annotations.
- Lambda functions support XML-based configuration in conjunction with VPC (virtual private cloud) and custom execution roles.
7. Flogo( GO, AWS)
Flogo is a framework for easily creating, deploying, and managing applications on Lambda using only Docker. Furthermore, Flogo supports a feathery, small-footprint design that saves time during deployment and also speeds up your code live.
- Firstly, Flogo is an open source and customized framework for Docker-based application deployment.
- It provides solutions for many organizations that require instant responses and the creation of apps in action to save time.
- Flogo supports the Golang programming language and visual web UI for designing and developing apps.
- Flogo allows for flexibility by charging only per request. You do not have to overpay for the time your app is inactive.
Cost
Per-use fees apply to serverless frameworks. Changes are based on how services are computed and managed. An organization can use all of its resources without paying for idle time. It never pays to have resources that you don’t use. It saves 90 percent of the cost of cloud infrastructure.
Many organizations use serverless frameworks because it is a very simple way to deploy AWS Lambda applications. So, here is a list of companies that are currently using serverless frameworks.
- Netflix
- Codepen
- Zalora
- Coca-Cola
- Nordstrom
Importance of choosing the right serverless framework
Choosing the right serverless framework is important to ensure the success of a serverless application. A serverless framework can impact the ease of development and deployment, performance, and cost. Here are some factors to consider when choosing a serverless framework:
- Language support: Serverless frameworks support a variety of programming languages. It is important to choose a framework that supports the language you are most comfortable working with.
- Deployment options: Some serverless frameworks offer more deployment options than others. For example, some frameworks can deploy to multiple cloud providers, while others only support a single provider.
- Integration with other services: Serverless applications often require integration with other services, such as databases, message queues, and APIs. It is important to choose a framework that supports integration with the services you need.
- Performance and scalability: Different serverless frameworks have different performance and scalability characteristics. It is important to choose a framework that can handle the expected workload of your application.
Future of serverless computing
Serverless computing is expected to grow in popularity in the coming years. Here are some trends that are shaping the future of serverless computing:
- Increased adoption: More and more organizations are adopting serverless computing as a way to reduce costs and increase agility.
- Advancements in container technology: Container technology is becoming more mature, which is enabling new serverless architectures that use containers to run serverless applications.
- Expansion of serverless use cases: Serverless computing is expanding beyond simple functions and is being used for more complex applications, such as web applications and microservices.
- Increased focus on security: As serverless applications become more complex, security is becoming an increasingly important concern. Serverless frameworks and cloud providers are implementing new security features to address these concerns.