Top 10 IBM Cloud Functions Alternatives

This article will explore ten of the best IBM Cloud Functions Alternatives. The list includes AWS Lambda, Cloudflare Workers, App Engine, Heroku, etc.

The event-driven execution model of function-as-a-service implementations like IBM Cloud Functions is gaining immense popularity in the current day and age.

FaaS is a type of cloud computing service that allows developers to implement serverless computing where developers can build, compute, run, and manage app packages without engaging in managing their own infrastructure. 

FaaS implementations provide several benefits in a production environment. Apps developed are easier to scale and the FaaS provider manages horizontal scaling, meaning organisations only need to pay for the resources consumed.

Software developers can write functions in almost any programming language, which directly results in increased developer productivity and a quicker time to market.

In the following post, we take a deeper dive into one of the top FaaS implementations, i.e., IBM Cloud Functions followed by some of the top alternatives to the service available in the market.

If you are a new developer looking to adopt this tool for your next project, the following list should help you compare the various options available to you so that you can make an informed decision.

IBM Cloud Functions Overview

IBM Cloud Functions is a serverless/ Function as a Service implementation based on Apache OpenWhisk, which provides developers with all the tools and resources required to build modern applications.

IBM Cloud Functions provides several benefits to its users, which has contributed directly to its current market position as one of the top FaaS implementations available to developers.

Cloud Functions enables developers to build apps with action sequences that execute in response to events and offers access to the OpenWhisk ecosystem to accomplish a common set of tasks. The platform performs cognitive analysis of native app data and scales automatically to support larger workloads.

One of the most popular benefits of IBM Cloud Functions is that it is suitable for enterprise use, providing several compute options and services that can be selected as per requirements. Organizations can choose from a variety of data centres available in multiple countries and continents to meet the requirements for low latency, local access, etc.

Top 10 Alternatives to IBM Cloud Functions

Here are ten of the best alternatives to IBM Cloud Functions.

  1. Google Cloud Functions

One of the top alternatives to IBM is Google Cloud Functions, a serverless runtime system that enables developers with the tools and resources required to develop and connect Google and other third-party cloud services.

With GCF, developers can write a single-purpose function that can be attached to trigger events emitted from native infrastructure and services. 

Knative is a platform-agnostic, enterprise-level, open-source solution for building serverless containers and event-driven apps in Kubernetes environments. In Knative, serving and eventing work together to automate and manage apps and handle events from multiple sources.

Apps on Knative can be run either on-premises, on the cloud, or in Kubernetes containers, whichever is feasible.

Similar to other FaaS implementations, Oracle Cloud Functions lets developers create, run, and scale apps without managing the infrastructure. Functions on OCF are based on the open-source Apache 2.0 licensed Fn Project, Docker, and CloudEvents, which allows developers to create apps that can be ported to other cloud and on-premises environments. 

AWS Lambda is an event-driven serverless computing platform offered by Amazon, which runs codes in response to events and automatically manages and scales the computing resources required by the codebase.

With Lambda, you can essentially run the backend code for any kind of software solution or service without having to provision or manage the infrastructure.

Microsoft’s Azure Functions is a comprehensive serverless app development experience that allows software solutions to be created more efficiently using an event-driven compute platform that solves complex orchestration problems.

Software developers can build and debug apps locally without additional setup, integrate various services using event triggers, and operate at scale as required.

Unlike GCF discussed above, Google App Engine is a platform as a service implementation; it is a cloud computing platform that is used to build and host web and mobile apps on a large-scale using Google-managed data centres. Apps on GAE are sandboxed and run across multiple servers, allowing developers to deploy Google-grade security and compliance.

Cloudflare Workers is essentially a serverless app platform running on Cloudflare’s Global Cloud Open Network external link that runs directly on the edge. Using Workers, developers can modify HTTP requests and responses, generate responses from the edge, and make parallel requests to improve the speed and reliability of the mobile and web apps. 

Runtime is a serverless environment for static files and Node.js code that provisions and manages scaling, hosting, and maintenance, allowing developers to improve and deploy their code instead of working on server uptime. Developers can use Twilio CLI and Serverless Toolkit to deploy pre-made apps from templates or bootstrap an app from scratch.

Heroku is one of the earliest cloud platform-as-a-service implementations based on a managed container system for deploying and running modern apps. It supports multiple programming languages like Node.js, PHP, Java, Scala, Go, etc., allowing developers to build, run, and operate apps of all sizes in their preferred environment entirely on the cloud. 

  1. Alibaba Cloud Function Compute

Function Compute is a fully managed, event-driven, elastically scaled serverless compute service that allows developers to write and upload code to their preferred environments without managing the infrastructure. It works on a flexible pay as you go billing method, allowing developers to save costs. 

Conclusion

IBM Cloud Functions is one of the most popular FaaS implementations available in the market, used by reputable customers.

It offers a superior total cost of ownership even for high-load scenarios and maximum availability at the cost of running in one region, which is far greater than some of the alternatives available in the market.

If you are looking at IBM Cloud Functions and its alternatives for your next project, consider getting in touch with one of the experts at a leading app hosting company for better insights into the topic.

FAQ

What is IBM Cloud Functions?

FaaS service from IBM.

What the features of IBM Cloud Functions?

– Auto scaling
– Easy integrations
– Cost-effective computing

What are the alternatives to IBM Cloud Functions?

– AWS Lambda
– Google Cloud Functions
– Knative
– Oracle Cloud Functions
– Azure Functions
– Google App Engine
– Cloudflare Workers
– Twilio Runtime
– Heroku
– Alibaba Functions


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