Serverless vs Server Calculator
Find the request volume where Lambda, Cloud Functions, or Azure Functions becomes more expensive than running an always-on EC2, Compute Engine, or Azure VM.
Quick start
Your workload
Lambda max: 15 min. Typical API: 50–500 ms.
Lambda: 128 MB–10 GB. Typical: 128–512 MB.
Serverless is cheaper at this volume
At 10.0K req/day, you haven't hit the break-even point yet on most providers.
Lambda (pay per request)
$0.000
per month
EC2 (t3.micro, always on)
$7.59
per month, fixed
Break-even point: 244.8K req/day(7.3M/month)
Serverless stays cheaper until you hit 244.8K req/day. You're at 10.0K.
Cloud Functions (pay per request)
$0.000
per month
Compute Engine (e2-micro, always on)
$6.11
per month, fixed
Break-even point: 387.9K req/day(11.6M/month)
Serverless stays cheaper until you hit 387.9K req/day. You're at 10.0K.
Functions (pay per request)
$0.000
per month
VMs (B1s, always on)
$7.59
per month, fixed
Break-even point: 253.0K req/day(7.6M/month)
Serverless stays cheaper until you hit 253.0K req/day. You're at 10.0K.
Use serverless when
- ✓Traffic is spiky or unpredictable
- ✓You want zero idle cost
- ✓Requests are under a few seconds
- ✓You're early-stage and want minimal ops
- ✓Cold start latency is acceptable
Use always-on server when
- ✓Traffic is steady and predictable
- ✓Cold starts would hurt user experience
- ✓Requests run longer than a few seconds
- ✓You need persistent connections (WebSockets)
- ✓You're past the break-even volume
Serverless costs exclude networking and storage. Server costs are on-demand, 24/7. Reserved instances reduce server costs by 30–60%. Prices as of April 2026.
How it works
Describe your function
Enter your daily request volume, average function duration in milliseconds, and memory allocation.
See costs side by side
InfraCompass calculates your serverless cost (request + compute charges) against an equivalent always-on server for AWS, GCP, and Azure.
Find the break-even
See the exact request volume where switching from serverless to a server starts saving money, with a visual indicator of where you stand.
Compare full cloud infrastructure costs
Serverless is one piece. See compute, database, storage, and bandwidth across AWS, GCP, and Azure.