How to choose between AWS Elastic Beanstalk and App Runner services?

Question

Similarities that I see are:

1. They are PaaS offerings.
2. They make AWS more similar to Heroku.
3. They abstract away load balancing and auto scaling stuff.

The only difference that I see is that App Runner uses docker but Elastic beanstalk may not use it. Correct me if I am wrong, but seems like it is not a requirement to containerize your app first to be able to use it on App Runner as you can just supply the Github Url and App Runner will containerize it for you.

So what is the difference between the two and how do I make a decision to choose one over the other?

Answer 1

It depends. AWS App Runner (AR) is container based only. Not every application nor developer want to use containers, nor their application is suited for container deployments. AR also gives you very little control over your resources and operating system. Many application may require such control (e.g. gpu) Also AWS EB gives you much more control over your resources, including operating system.