That’s not really unique to Node. The majority of languages and web app platforms have concurrency mechanisms that will process multiple requests simultaneously. That is certainly a drawback of Lambda if you’re looking at raw CPU cycle efficiency and your application spends a lot of time waiting on synchronous downstream calls, but in most cases that doesn’t really matter. In practice, there are a lot of apps that can either use really fast data stores like Dynamo or use asynchronous processing models that minimize the amount of idle CPU time for a given request. Also, even with some inefficiencies when looking at high concurrency time periods, sometimes the ability for Lambda to immediately scale down during troughs in your load pattern makes up for it when looking at the global efficiency of the system (especially when you consider other operational overhead like patching servers.) Bottom line, people use Node with Lambda because they like the language and are familiar with it. Using the same language for the front end browser code and the backend is nice for teams that build full stack web apps. Answer from VegaWinnfield on reddit.com
Amazon Web Services
docs.aws.amazon.com › aws lambda › developer guide › building lambda functions with node.js
Building Lambda functions with Node.js - AWS Lambda
You can run JavaScript code with Node.js in AWS Lambda. Lambda provides runtimes for Node.js that run your code to process events. Your code runs in an environment that includes the AWS SDK for JavaScript, with credentials from an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) role that you manage.
Medium
medium.com › @tombray › getting-started-with-aws-lambda-node-js-904bc0bfb83
Getting Started with AWS Lambda (Node JS) | by Tom Bray | Medium
January 10, 2016 - Getting Started with AWS Lambda (Node JS) In this article I’ll walk you through creating a Lambda the easy way, using the AWS Console. At the end I provide links to gulp projects that will help you …
Videos
03:14
How To Deploy a Node JS Lambda Function Using the AWS CDK - YouTube
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Complete Guide to AWS Lambda Function with Node Js, AWS Api Gateway ...
15:36
Build a REST API using AWS Lambda, API Gateway and NodeJS - YouTube
A Node.js Lambda Function
29:36
How to test and develop AWS lambda functions locally with nodejs?
Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › why would i use node.js in lambda? node main feature is handling concurrent many requests. if each request to lambda will spawn a new node instance, whats the point?
r/aws on Reddit: Why would I use Node.js in Lambda? Node main feature is handling concurrent many requests. If each request to lambda will spawn a new Node instance, whats the point?
February 8, 2020 -
Maybe I'm missing something here, from an architectural point of view, I can't wrap my head on using node inside a lambda. Let's say I receive 3 requests, a single node instance would be able to handle this with ease, but if I use lambda, 3 lambdas with Node inside would be spawned, each would be idle while waiting for the callback.
Edit: Many very good answers. I will for sure discuss this with the team next week. Very happy with this community. Thanks and please keep them coming!
Top answer 1 of 27
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That’s not really unique to Node. The majority of languages and web app platforms have concurrency mechanisms that will process multiple requests simultaneously. That is certainly a drawback of Lambda if you’re looking at raw CPU cycle efficiency and your application spends a lot of time waiting on synchronous downstream calls, but in most cases that doesn’t really matter. In practice, there are a lot of apps that can either use really fast data stores like Dynamo or use asynchronous processing models that minimize the amount of idle CPU time for a given request. Also, even with some inefficiencies when looking at high concurrency time periods, sometimes the ability for Lambda to immediately scale down during troughs in your load pattern makes up for it when looking at the global efficiency of the system (especially when you consider other operational overhead like patching servers.) Bottom line, people use Node with Lambda because they like the language and are familiar with it. Using the same language for the front end browser code and the backend is nice for teams that build full stack web apps.
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> if I use lambda, 3 lambdas with Node inside would be spawned, each would be idle while waiting for the callback This is true of any other language, though. You could have three instances of a program written in Assembly waiting for data to return. > I can't wrap my head on using node inside a lambda The reasons to adopt Node over other platforms are varied, and not necessarily technical arguments. Node has fast startup times compared with .Net or Java. AWS themselves recommend Node in use-cases where cold-start latency matters; eg. web handlers. Most business applications are IO-bound. It doesn't matter which language you pick if you're sat waiting for data to return over the network. Javascript is easy to hire for - it's a lingua franca that most engineers have some skill with Modern front-end frameworks often support server-side rendering, which makes a single language attractive across the entire stack. As a result of the above, JS is the default option for Lambda, which means the best tooling and libraries are written for JS, compounding the advantages and mind-share. Architecture isn't really about making the best technical choice, it's about making the right _business_ decision in a technical context so that your choices support one another.
MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › JavaScript › Reference › Global_Objects › Array › filter
Array.prototype.filter() - JavaScript | MDN
The filter() method of Array instances creates a shallow copy of a portion of a given array, filtered down to just the elements from the given array that pass the test implemented by the provided function.
Medium
medium.com › intrinsic-blog › advanced-node-js-lambda-function-concepts-ec8ad6c0b9aa
Advanced Node.js Lambda Function Concepts | by Thomas Hunter II | intrinsic | Medium
May 29, 2018 - In this three-part-series we’ll look at getting a Node.js application which performs image resizing running on AWS Lambda. We’ll look at how Node.js applications work, then we’ll configure our AWS account and get the AWS CLI utility working. We’ll Create a Lambda Function within AWS and configure an Application Gateway which is required to route HTTP requests to our Lambda Function.
Amazon Web Services
docs.aws.amazon.com › aws lambda › developer guide › building lambda functions with node.js › deploy node.js lambda functions with container images
Deploy Node.js Lambda functions with container images - AWS Lambda
March 9, 2023 - Deploy your Node.js Lambda function code as a container image using an AWS provided base image or the runtime interface client.
LocalStack
localstack.cloud › pricing
LocalStack Pricing
AWS Lambda · AWS Batch · AWS Elastic Beanstalk · AWS Serverless Application Repository · Containers · Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR) Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) Customer Enablement · AWS Support API ·
AWS re:Post
repost.aws › questions › QUcqwbyHSyTBCONbWAb7hMfA › node-js-14-engine-on-lambda
Node.js 14 engine on Lambda | AWS re:Post
October 23, 2023 - you can find more information about the runtime deprecation policy here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/lambda-runtimes.html
Better Programming
betterprogramming.pub › analysing-cold-starts-on-a-nodejs-lambda-360dfb52a08f
Analyzing Cold Starts on a NodeJS Lambda | by Kyle Higginson | Better Programming
March 3, 2022 - Again, there wasn’t much difference in cold start times when adding a layer onto the Lambda. The cold start time was only 2.5ms quicker without a Lambda layer. When using the NodeJS 14 runtime, you are going to experience cold start times of around 170ms, under the default configuration.
Pegasus One
pegasusone.com › home › how to use aws lambda function in node.js
How to Use AWS Lambda Function in Node.js - Pegasus One
February 6, 2026 - You use an AWS Lambda function in Node.js by writing your function handler in JavaScript or TypeScript, configuring the runtime environment in AWS, and deploying your code using the AWS Console, CLI, or CI/CD tools, allowing you to run serverless backend logic that automatically scales without provisioning infrastructure.
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › devops › aws-lambda-function-handler-in-nodejs
AWS Lambda Function Handler in Node.js - GeeksforGeeks
July 23, 2025 - Runtime: nodejs14.x · CodeUri: . Description: A simple Lambda function · Now, run the command. sam local invoke MyLambdaFunction --event event.json · The handler is the entry point for your AWS Lambda function. In simple terms, it's the function that will be invoked when the AWS Lambda service calls a function you've written.
GitHub
github.com › aws-samples › aws-lambda-demo-with-node-express
GitHub - aws-samples/aws-lambda-demo-with-node-express · GitHub
The purpose of this repository is to demonstrate how to deploy a simple web application built by Express - Node.js web application framework on AWS Lambda.
Starred by 21 users
Forked by 20 users
Languages JavaScript 52.7% | HTML 47.3%
Medium
medium.com › intrinsic-blog › basic-node-js-lambda-function-concepts-c0d1e00d4528
Basic Node.js Lambda Function Concepts | by Thomas Hunter II | intrinsic | Medium
May 29, 2018 - In this second part of our series we’re going to go over a bunch of basic concepts, such as how Node.js itself normally runs, how Node.js runs inside of Lambda, and finally we’ll look at the different methods for invoking Lambda functions and the pros and cons of each.
Amazon Web Services
docs.aws.amazon.com › aws lambda › developer guide › lambda runtimes
Lambda runtimes - AWS Lambda
For functions with more complex computation, compiled languages like Java are often slower to initialize but run quickly in the Lambda handler. Choice of runtime is also influenced by developer preference and language familiarity. Each major programming language release has a separate runtime, with a unique runtime identifier, such as nodejs24.x or python3.14.
Remotion
remotion.dev › api overview
API overview | Remotion | Make videos programmatically
4 days ago - Render videos and stills on AWS Lambda · estimatePrice() Estimate the price of a render · deployFunction() Create a new function in AWS Lambda · deleteFunction() Delete a function in AWS Lambda · getFunctionInfo() Gets information about a function · getFunctions() Lists available Remotion Lambda functions ·
GitHub
github.com › ZenitechSoftware › lambda-node
Lambda Node Runtime
Allows you to run your JavaScript code on any Node.js version in AWS Lambda. - ZenitechSoftware/lambda-node
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Hono
hono.dev
Hono - Web framework built on Web Standards
Hono is a small, simple, and ultrafast web framework built on Web Standards. It works on Cloudflare Workers, Fastly Compute, Deno, Bun, Vercel, Netlify, AWS Lambda, Lambda@Edge, and Node.js. Fast, but not only fast.
Openai
developers.openai.com › api › docs › guides › embeddings
Vector embeddings | OpenAI API
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 from openai import OpenAI client = OpenAI() def get_embedding(text, model="text-embedding-3-small"): text = text.replace("\n", " ") return client.embeddings.create(input = [text], model=model).data[0].embedding df['ada_embedding'] = df.combined.apply(lambda x: get_embedding(x, model='text-embedding-3-small')) df.to_csv('output/embedded_1k_reviews.csv', index=False)
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 79922777 › how-to-track-email-status-delivered-opened-bounced-using-node-js-nodemailer
How to track email status (Delivered, Opened, Bounced) ...
2 weeks ago - Stack Overflow | The World’s Largest Online Community for Developers