What is Serverless vs Containers? — UK Software Development Guide
Direct Answer
The serverless vs containers comparison represents two modern cloud deployment approaches. Serverless (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions): code deployed as functions, cloud provider manages all infrastructure, pay per invocation, scales to zero. Containers (Docker, Kubernetes): applications packaged with dependencies, your team manages orchestration, pay for running containers, more operational control.
Serverless-vs-containers in the UK
The choice between serverless and containers has UK cost, compliance, and operational implications. Serverless: lower operational overhead, automatic scaling (excellent for variable UK FinTech transaction volumes), UK data residency via region selection (Lambda eu-west-2, Azure Functions UK South). Containers (Kubernetes): better for long-running workloads (NHS clinical systems with persistent connections), more control over security configuration (Cyber Essentials secure configuration is easier to evidence with Kubernetes than Lambda), and lower per-request cost at scale. ClickMasters uses serverless for event-driven processing and containers (EKS/AKS) for always-on API services and NHS-connected applications.
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