AWS Containers & Kubernetes

Amazon ECS

Fully managed container orchestration for running Docker containers on EC2 or Fargate.

What is Amazon ECS?

Elastic Container Service runs and scales Docker containers. You describe your containers in a task definition and ECS keeps the right number of copies running, either on EC2 instances you manage or on Fargate where AWS manages the servers.

Key features

  • Runs on EC2 or serverless Fargate
  • Integrates with load balancers, IAM and CloudWatch
  • Service auto scaling
  • Rolling and blue/green deployments
  • No control-plane charge

What it is used for

  • Microservices
  • Batch and background workers
  • Moving existing Docker apps to the cloud

When to use it

  • Containerised apps on AWS without Kubernetes complexity
  • Microservices
  • Batch workers

When something else fits better

  • You need Kubernetes compatibility across clouds (use EKS)
  • Very simple single services (App Runner is easier)

How pricing works

No charge for ECS itself; you pay for the EC2 instances or the Fargate vCPU and memory your containers use. Prices change and differ by region; we confirm current costs for your setup before you commit.

Equivalent on Google Cloud

The closest Google Cloud service is Cloud Run: runs containers as serverless services or jobs, scaling to zero when idle.

How DomainHostly helps with Amazon ECS

  • Plan: choose the right setup, size and region for your workload and budget.
  • Set up securely: configure Amazon ECS with least-privilege access, encryption and backups where they apply.
  • Migrate: move from shared hosting, your own servers or the other cloud with minimal downtime.
  • Run and optimise: monitoring, updates and regular cost reviews so you only pay for what you use.

Containers & Kubernetes: Run applications packaged as containers, with managed Kubernetes and container registries.

What to consider: Containers & Kubernetes

  • Keep images small and scanned; store them in a private registry close to where they run.
  • Choose serverless containers for a few services and Kubernetes when you run many services or need its ecosystem.
  • Set CPU and memory requests and autoscaling rules so you pay for what containers actually use.

Related services: Containers & Kubernetes