Amazon EKS vs Amazon ECS

Last updated on August 27, 2024

	Elastic Container Service (ECS)	Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)
Overview	AWS’s fully managed container orchestration service for Docker containers. Designed for simplicity and ease of use. Seamless integration with AWS services and minimal management overhead. Tightly coupled with AWS, making it a cloud-native service.	AWS’s managed Kubernetes service. Offers Kubernetes flexibility with AWS’s management and scaling. Ideal for teams needing Kubernetes features and ecosystem. Kubernetes is cloud-agnostic and has a loosely coupled architecture, allowing it to run across various cloud providers like Google Cloud, Azure, and others.
Features	Simplifies container management without the need for control plane management. Deeply integrates with AWS services such as EC2, ECR, and IAM. Extends capabilities to on-premises environments. Offers serverless container management, eliminating the need to manage servers or clusters.	Provides a fully managed Kubernetes control plane, handling upgrades and patching. Works seamlessly with AWS services like IAM, VPC, and Load Balancer. Supports on-premises Kubernetes clusters using VMware or AWS Outposts. Offers serverless Kubernetes pods, combining Kubernetes flexibility with serverless management.
Complexity & Control	Ideal for straightforward applications with minimal management overhead. Lower learning curve, best for teams familiar with AWS.	Suited for complex, microservices-oriented applications requiring detailed control and customization. Requires Kubernetes expertise, with a steeper learning curve but offers more granular control.
Cost	Generally lower cost, especially with Fargate and EC2 Spot Instances. No separate control plane charge.	Includes charges for the managed Kubernetes control plane in addition to compute and storage resources. Costs can be mitigated with Fargate and effective use of autoscaling features.
Portability	Less portable; best suited for environments primarily within AWS.	Ideal for multi-cloud or hybrid environments due to Kubernetes’ open standards.
Use Cases	Simple, AWS-integrated applications. Quick deployments with minimal setup. Applications using AWS services extensively.	Complex, microservices-based architectures. Multi-cloud or hybrid deployments. Environments requiring Kubernetes-native tools and integrations.
Security	Provides robust security with IAM roles, VPC integration, and security groups.	Offers detailed access control with Kubernetes Role-Based Access Control, enhanced by AWS IAM integration.

References:

Amazon ECS vs Amazon EKS: making sense of AWS container services | Amazon Web Services

AWS EKS Vs. ECS: The Ultimate Guide | nOps

Written by: Ace Kenneth Batacandulo

Ace is AWS Certified and a Junior Cloud Consultant at Tutorials Dojo Pte. Ltd. He is also the Co-Lead Organizer of K8SUG Philippines and a member of the Content Committee for Google Developer Groups Cloud Manila. Ace actively contributes to the tech community through his volunteer work with AWS User Group PH, GDG Cloud Manila, K8SUG Philippines, and Devcon PH. He is deeply passionate about technology and is dedicated to exploring and advancing his expertise in the field.