Which managed service would you use for serverless compute?

AWS Lambda is the managed service specifically designed for serverless compute, allowing users to run code without provisioning or managing servers. With AWS Lambda, developers can execute their functions in response to events, such as changes in data within an S3 bucket, updates to a DynamoDB table, or HTTP requests via API Gateway. This functionality enables a highly scalable and cost-effective approach to application deployment, as you only pay for the compute time consumed while the code is running, rather than maintaining dedicated server resources constantly.

AWS EC2, while a popular compute service, operates on a server-based model where users must manage the infrastructure and scaling of virtual machines, which does not fit the serverless paradigm. AWS CloudFormation is primarily a service for infrastructure as code, used to provision and manage AWS resources, but it does not provide compute capabilities directly. Amazon EBS is a storage service that attaches to EC2 instances, used for block storage, and also does not relate to serverless computing. Therefore, AWS Lambda stands out as the ideal choice for implementing serverless applications effectively.