AWS Lambda

It executes code in response to events and automatically manages the computing resources required by that code. It was introduced on November 13, 2014. Each AWS Lambda instance runs within a lightweight, isolated environment powered by Firecracker microVMs. These microVMs are initialized with a runtime environment based on Amazon Linux (Amazon Linux AMI or Amazon Linux 2). Firecracker provides hardware-virtualization-based isolation, aiming to achieve near-bare-metal performance with minimal overhead. AWS claims that, unlike traditional virtual machines, these microVMs launch in milliseconds, enabling rapid and secure function execution with a minimal memory footprint. The Amazon Linux AMI is specifically optimized for cloud-native and serverless workloads, aiming to provide a lightweight, secure, and performant runtime environment. As of 2025, AWS Lambda supports Node.js, Python, Java, Go, .NET, Ruby and custom runtimes.