Compaire Cost optimization ECS and EKS

 When focusing on cost optimization for running containerized applications on AWS, choosing between ECS and EKS requires a detailed comparison based on pricing and usage. Below is a comprehensive breakdown of the cost considerations for each service:

Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service) Costs

ECS on EC2:

• EC2 Instance Costs: You pay for the EC2 instances you run. This includes the cost of the instance type, storage, and data transfer.
• Load Balancers: If you use Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), you incur additional costs.
• Networking: Data transfer between instances and out of AWS will have associated costs.

ECS on Fargate:

• Fargate Pricing: You pay for vCPU and memory resources consumed by your containerized applications.
  • vCPU: $0.04048 per vCPU per hour.
  • Memory: $0.004445 per GB per hour.
• Per-Second Billing: Charges are based on the resources your task uses per second, with a 1-minute minimum.

Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) Costs

EKS Control Plane:

• Control Plane: $0.10 per hour per cluster. This adds up to about $72 per month per cluster, regardless of the number of nodes.

EKS on EC2:

• EC2 Instance Costs: Similar to ECS, you pay for the EC2 instances you use.
• Load Balancers: Additional costs for ELB usage.
• Networking: Data transfer costs apply.

EKS on Fargate:

• Fargate Pricing: Same as ECS on Fargate, you pay for vCPU and memory resources consumed by your containerized applications.
  • vCPU: $0.04048 per vCPU per hour.
  • Memory: $0.004445 per GB per hour.

Cost Comparison and Recommendations

ECS Cost Example

Suppose you have an application requiring 4 vCPUs and 8 GB of memory, running continuously.

ECS on Fargate:

• vCPU: $4 \text{ vCPUs} \times 24 \text{ hours/day} \times 30 \text{ days} \times \$0.04048/\text{vCPU hour} = \$116.59$
• Memory: $8 \text{ GB} \times 24 \text{ hours/day} \times 30 \text{ days} \times \$0.004445/\text{GB hour} = \$25.63$
• Total Monthly Cost: $116.59 + $25.63 = $142.22

ECS on EC2:

• Assume an m5.large instance (2 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM) costs approximately $0.096 per hour.
• You would need 2 m5.large instances to match the requirement (4 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM).
• Instance Cost: $2 \text{ instances} \times 24 \text{ hours/day} \times 30 \text{ days} \times \$0.096/\text{hour} = \$138.24$
• Total Monthly Cost: $138.24 (plus any additional costs for storage, load balancing, and data transfer).

EKS Cost Example

Using the same resource requirements:

EKS on Fargate:

• vCPU: $4 \text{ vCPUs} \times 24 \text{ hours/day} \times 30 \text{ days} \times \$0.04048/\text{vCPU hour} = \$116.59$
• Memory: $8 \text{ GB} \times 24 \text{ hours/day} \times 30 \text{ days} \times \$0.004445/\text{GB hour} = \$25.63$
• Control Plane Cost: $24 \text{ hours/day} \times 30 \text{ days} \times \$0.10/\text{hour} = \$72$
• Total Monthly Cost: $116.59 + $25.63 + $72 = $214.22

EKS on EC2:

• Instance Cost: $2 \text{ m5.large instances} \times 24 \text{ hours/day} \times 30 \text{ days} \times \$0.096/\text{hour} = \$138.24$
• Control Plane Cost: $24 \text{ hours/day} \times 30 \text{ days} \times \$0.10/\text{hour} = \$72$
• Total Monthly Cost: $138.24 + $72 = $210.24 (plus additional costs for storage, load balancing, and data transfer).

Summary

• ECS: Tends to be more cost-effective and simpler to manage, especially with smaller, less complex workloads or if you prefer AWS-native solutions.

  • ECS on Fargate: Simplifies management by eliminating the need for instance management but can be more expensive for continuous high-load applications.
  • ECS on EC2: Offers flexibility and potential cost savings if you can manage the instances effectively.

• EKS: Offers more features and flexibility, better suited for complex, multi-cloud, or hybrid cloud environments but comes with additional control plane costs.

  • EKS on Fargate: Convenient for running Kubernetes workloads without managing instances, but adds control plane costs.
  • EKS on EC2: Provides full Kubernetes functionality with potentially lower costs if instance management is optimized.

For purely AWS-focused environments where cost optimization is the primary concern, ECS on EC2 is likely the most cost-effective option, followed by ECS on Fargate for ease of use without managing instances. If you require Kubernetes features or anticipate needing multi-cloud flexibility, EKS is the better choice, with a careful balance between Fargate and EC2 based on your workload requirements and management capabilities.