ec2

A technical guide to hybrid compute architectures that combine EC2, Lambda, Fargate, and Step Functions — with worked cost calculations, SQS buffering patterns, and decision frameworks based on invocation pattern rather than unit cost.

Atlas vs EC2 vs DocumentDB on AWS — TCO flips with DBA time, not $/vCPU. July 2026: index/cache pressure, hot shards, DocumentDB API-compat caveat.

Most auto-scaling configs end up reactive — scaling after load hits, not before. The patterns that anticipate demand instead of chasing it across EC2, ECS, and Lambda, with the cost trade-offs of target tracking, step scaling, and predictive scaling.