Top OpenFaas Alternatives for Serverless Deployments
OpenFaaS makes it incredibly easy for developers to deploy event-driven functions and microservices to Kubernetes, simplifying complex tasks and eliminating boilerplate coding. While OpenFaaS is a powerful tool, specific project requirements, existing infrastructure, or desired features might lead you to explore other solutions. This article delves into the best OpenFaas alternative options available, helping you find the perfect fit for your serverless and microservices needs.
Top OpenFaas Alternatives
Whether you're looking for a fully managed platform, a more hands-on orchestration system, or a simplified PaaS, these alternatives offer robust solutions for deploying and managing your applications.
Heroku
Heroku is a platform as a service (PaaS) that allows developers to build, run, and operate applications entirely in the cloud. It's a great OpenFaas alternative for those seeking a highly abstracted and managed environment, available across Freemium, Mac, Windows, Linux, and Web platforms. Heroku boasts features like Custom DNS, DNS management, automated deployment, and command-line support, making it ideal for rapid application development without deep infrastructure concerns.
Kubernetes
Kubernetes is an open-source orchestration system for Docker containers, offering unparalleled control and scalability. As a powerful OpenFaas alternative, it provides a free and open-source platform (Web, AppArmor) for container orchestration, virtual machines, and virtualization, suitable for complex, large-scale deployments where fine-grained control over infrastructure is paramount.
Rancher
Rancher is an open-source project that provides a complete platform for operating Docker in production, making it a strong OpenFaas alternative, especially for those leveraging Docker heavily. Available for free on Windows and Linux, Rancher offers features like cloud monitoring, comprehensive Docker support, and system information, simplifying container management and deployment.
Nanobox
Nanobox is a commercial and open-source platform that acts as a DevOps assistant, handling infrastructure creation and configuration. It's a compelling OpenFaas alternative for developers who prefer to focus on code rather than infrastructure, offering automated deployment, cloud coding, DEV/OPS setup, and an IDE. Nanobox is available across Mac, Windows, Linux, and Web platforms and even works offline.
Apache Mesos
Apache Mesos is a cluster manager that simplifies the complexity of running applications on a shared pool of servers. As a free and open-source OpenFaas alternative for Mac and Linux, Mesos provides hypervisor, operating system, virtual machines, and virtualization capabilities, making it suitable for distributed systems and large-scale resource management.
CapRover
CapRover is an extremely easy-to-use app/database deployment and web server manager (PaaS) for various technologies, including NodeJS, Python, PHP, and Ruby. This free, open-source, and self-hosted OpenFaas alternative (NGINX, Let's Encrypt, Docker) offers HTTPS support, remote deployment, and robust server management, ideal for developers seeking a simpler PaaS experience on their own infrastructure.
Dokku
Dokku is a Docker-powered mini-Heroku, often described as around 100 lines of Bash. As a free, open-source, and self-hosted OpenFaas alternative (Web), Dokku provides a lightweight private PaaS solution, perfect for small to medium-sized projects that benefit from the simplicity of a Heroku-like workflow without the cloud provider lock-in.
Deis
Deis is an open-source PaaS that leverages Docker, CoreOS, and Heroku Buildpacks to provide a lightweight and flexible private application platform. This free, open-source OpenFaas alternative for Linux offers strong support for Docker, hypervisor capabilities, operating system features, virtual machines, and virtualization, making it a comprehensive solution for self-hosted PaaS needs.
Docker Swarm
Docker Swarm is native clustering for Docker, allowing users to create and access a pool of Docker hosts using the full suite of Docker tools. As a free OpenFaas alternative available across Mac, Windows, Linux, and self-hosted Docker environments, it provides excellent support for Docker, hypervisor capabilities, operating system features, virtual machines, and virtualization, ideal for simple container orchestration needs within the Docker ecosystem.
Mesosphere DCOS
Mesosphere DCOS organizes your entire infrastructure as if it were a single computer, running all your apps and workloads, from PaaS-based microservices to big data. This freemium OpenFaas alternative for Linux and Web environments offers robust support for Docker, making it a powerful platform for unified infrastructure management and diverse application deployments.
Choosing the right OpenFaas alternative depends heavily on your specific project requirements, existing infrastructure, team's expertise, and desired level of control. We encourage you to explore these options further to find the best fit for your serverless and microservices deployment strategy.