Serverless computing: is it the future of scalable applications?
Michał Andrzejewski - Content Director
2025-04-07

Serverless computing: is it the future of scalable applications?

Serverless computing is one of the hottest trends in the world of cloud technology. Despite the misleading name, it doesn’t mean there are no servers – it means that developers and companies don’t have to manage servers themselves, as that is handled by the cloud provider. In the serverless model, we create and run application code without worrying about infrastructure, scaling, or server maintenance. This solution is tempting with its promise of unlimited scalability, lower costs, and faster time-to-market, but it also has its limitations.

Let’s take a business perspective to explore what serverless is, how it works, what benefits it brings, and what challenges it entails, as well as which platforms offer such services. Finally, we’ll consider whether serverless is truly the future of scalable applications and when it makes (or doesn’t make) sense to use it.

What is serverless computing?

Serverless computing is a cloud processing model in which the entire server infrastructure is managed by the service provider, and the user pays only for the actual use of computing resources. This means that a company using serverless doesn’t reserve servers or computing power in advance – resources are allocated dynamically when the code is executed and released when no longer needed (the “scale to zero” mechanism).

In practice, the most common variant of serverless is Function as a Service (FaaS), where the application is divided into small functions triggered by various events (e.g. API calls, file uploads, database events, time-based schedules, etc.). The developer writes the function code and defines the triggers, while everything else – from server provisioning, through automatic scaling, to OS updates – is handled by the cloud provider.

A key feature of serverless is the pay-as-you-go billing model. Unlike traditional hosting (even in the cloud), where we pay for rented virtual machines regardless of their usage, in serverless the fee is charged only for the execution time of the code and the resources used (e.g. RAM) during that time. When functions aren’t running, they incur no costs – it’s like switching from a subscription plan to paying only for used minutes or megabytes.

It’s worth emphasizing that “serverless” does not mean the absence of servers, but rather the absence of responsibility for them on the user’s side. The provider (e.g. AWS, Azure) maintains physical servers in its infrastructure and automatically assigns them to functions as needed. For the developer, servers are “invisible” – they focus on writing application code and business logic, while the scaling “magic” happens behind the scenes.

How does the serverless model work?

Serverless models, such as FaaS, operate on event-driven architecture and containers. When a trigger (event) is detected – e.g. an HTTP request to an API, a new record in a database, or a scheduled task at a specific time – the serverless platform executes the appropriate function.

In the background, the provider creates an isolated execution environment (a container or lightweight virtualization) for the function, loads the code and its dependencies, and then runs the function. Once the function finishes, the environment may be frozen or destroyed to free up resources. If the same function is triggered again shortly after, the platform can reuse the already warmed-up environment (warm start), reducing response latency.

Serverless is inherently scalable and flexible. The platform spins up as many parallel instances of a function as needed to handle incoming events. During peak loads, hundreds or thousands of function instances may run simultaneously, while in idle times, none are running (resulting in no cost).

In practice, using serverless means deploying function code to a platform (e.g. via CLI or web panel) and defining triggers for them. All traditional administration – server purchasing or configuration, OS installation, cluster scaling, machine monitoring – is outsourced to the service provider. This allows teams to deliver new functionality faster, skipping the infrastructure setup phase.

Benefits of serverless: scalability, costs, and time-to-market

The serverless model offers many benefits important from a business perspective. The key ones include:

In summary, serverless offers “unlimited” scalability, pay-for-usage only, and fast feature delivery, making it attractive for companies seeking rapid growth and cost optimization. No wonder this architecture has gained popularity – the global serverless market was valued at around $8B in 2022 and is projected to exceed $50B by 2031.

Limitations and challenges of the serverless model

Despite many advantages, serverless also comes with limitations and potential downsides. The most important include:

To sum up: serverless isn’t a silver bullet. While solving many problems (scaling, admin), it also introduces new challenges – from cold starts to limited control and potential lock-in. Choosing this architecture should be based on app requirements and a conscious evaluation of trade-offs.

Top serverless platforms

Here’s an overview of the most popular solutions on the market:

Other solutions include:

Each of these platforms has a slightly different profile. Big clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP) offer broad flexibility and integrations, Vercel/Netlify aim for frontend simplicity, and Cloudflare focuses on edge computing.

Practical use cases

Summary and the future of serverless

Serverless computing is a powerful approach to building scalable applications. Its popularity is growing, and providers are continually removing limitations like cold starts or lock-in. It’s especially attractive to startups, innovation teams, and companies looking to experiment quickly with low entry costs.

But not everything can (or should) be serverless. For apps requiring low latency, continuous processing, or custom environments, traditional containers or dedicated infrastructure may be better.

Serverless is the perfect choice when the load is variable and deployment speed is critical. In practice, many companies use hybrid approaches – part of the system runs as functions, part in containers or VMs.

This is no passing trend. Serverless is already a key part of modern cloud architectures and its importance will only grow in the coming years.

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