Discover Azure Functions
Azure Functions is a serverless solution that allows you to write less code, maintain less infrastructure, and save on costs. Instead of worrying about deploying and maintaining servers, the cloud infrastructure provides all the up-to-date resources needed to keep your applications running.
We often build systems to react to a series of critical events. Whether you're building a web API, responding to database changes, processing IoT data streams, or even managing message queues - every application needs a way to run some code as these events occur.
Azure Functions supports triggers, which are ways to start execution of your code, and bindings, which are ways to simplify coding for input and output data. There are other integration and automation services in Azure and they all can solve integration problems and automate business processes. They can all define input, actions, conditions, and output.
Compare Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps
Both Functions and Logic Apps are Azure Services that enable serverless workloads. Azure Functions is a serverless compute service, whereas Azure Logic Apps is a serverless workflow integration platform. Both can create complex orchestrations. An orchestration is a collection of functions or steps, called actions in Logic Apps, that are executed to accomplish a complex task.
For Azure Functions, you develop orchestrations by writing code and using the Durable Functions extension. For Logic Apps, you create orchestrations by using a GUI or editing configuration files.
The following table lists some of the key differences between Functions and Logic Apps:
| Topic | Azure Functions | Logic Apps |
|---|---|---|
| Development | Code-first (imperative) | Designer-first (declarative) |
| Connectivity | About a dozen built-in binding types, write code for custom bindings | Large collection of connectors, Enterprise Integration Pack for B2B scenarios, build custom connectors |
| Actions | Each activity is an Azure function; write code for activity functions | Large collection of ready-made actions |
| Monitoring | Azure Application Insights | Azure portal, Azure Monitor logs |
| Management | REST API, Visual Studio | Azure portal, REST API, PowerShell, Visual Studio |
| Execution context | Runs in Azure, or locally | Runs in Azure, locally, or on premises |
Compare Functions and WebJobs
Like Azure Functions, Azure App Service WebJobs with the WebJobs SDK is a code-first integration service that is designed for developers. Both are built on Azure App Service and support features such as source control integration, authentication, and monitoring with Application Insights integration.
Azure Functions is built on the WebJobs SDK, so it shares many of the same event triggers and connections to other Azure services. Here are some factors to consider when you're choosing between Azure Functions and WebJobs with the WebJobs SDK:
| Factor | Functions | WebJobs with WebJobs SDK |
|---|---|---|
| Serverless app model with automatic scaling | Yes | No |
| Develop and test in browser | Yes | No |
| Pay-per-use pricing | Yes | No |
| Integration with Logic Apps | Yes | No |
| Trigger events | Timer Azure Storage queues and blobs Azure Service Bus queues and topics Azure Cosmos DB Azure Event Hubs HTTP/WebHook (GitHub Slack) Azure Event Grid |
Timer Azure Storage queues and blobs Azure Service Bus queues and topics Azure Cosmos DB Azure Event Hubs File system |
Azure Functions offers more developer productivity than Azure App Service WebJobs does. It also offers more options for programming languages, development environments, Azure service integration, and pricing. For most scenarios, it's the best choice.