Amazon EC2 Container Service
Amazon EC2 Container Service
Amazon ECS is the AWS container orchestrator — run Docker containers on EC2 or Fargate without managing Kubernetes yourself.
Fargate makes containers fully serverless — no node ops
AWS-only — moving to another cloud requires rewriting
Create a Cluster, define a Task Definition (container image, CPU, memory, ports), and use a Service so ECS maintains the desired number of running tasks. Pick the Fargate launch type to skip EC2 management.
Uptime · 30-day window
GitHub activity
About this API
ECS launched in 2014 — AWS's container orchestrator, simpler than Kubernetes with a much lower learning curve but a much smaller ecosystem. Two launch modes: EC2 (you run a cluster of EC2 nodes and pay for them) or Fargate (AWS fully manages the underlying compute, billed per vCPU and memory by the second). Fargate decouples 'running containers' from 'managing Kubernetes' completely — you only think about task definitions; nodes are invisible.
Core concepts: Task Definition (how a group of containers run), Task (an instance of a definition), Service (a controller maintaining a desired count of tasks), Cluster (a logical group of nodes). ALB integration makes blue/green deployments straightforward; CloudWatch Logs collects container output automatically; IAM Roles for Tasks let containers act under specific AWS permissions.
The real decision: stay in AWS and prefer simplicity → ECS. Want the Kubernetes ecosystem, multi-cloud portability, CRDs and advanced features → EKS.
What you can build
- 1Containerize long-running services (APIs, workers)
- 2Run serverless containers with Fargate — no EC2 ops
- 3Blue/green deployments via ALB integration
- 4Orchestrate batch jobs (paired with Step Functions)
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Fargate makes containers fully serverless — no node ops
- Seamless integration with AWS (ALB, IAM, CloudWatch)
- Simpler than EKS, with a lower learning curve
Limitations
- AWS-only — moving to another cloud requires rewriting
- Ecosystem is far smaller than Kubernetes
Example request
curl https://github.com/mermade/aws2openapi/<endpoint> \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY"
# Some providers use X-Api-Key instead — verify in the docs.Getting started
Create a Cluster, define a Task Definition (container image, CPU, memory, ports), and use a Service so ECS maintains the desired number of running tasks. Pick the Fargate launch type to skip EC2 management.
FAQ
Is it free?+
The ECS control plane is free — you pay for underlying compute (EC2 prices for EC2 launch type, or per-second vCPU/memory pricing for Fargate).
Fargate or EC2 launch type?+
Fargate when you want zero ops, smaller scale, or unpredictable traffic. EC2 launch type is cheaper at large stable scale.
ECS vs EKS?+
ECS is simpler and AWS-native; EKS is managed Kubernetes with the full K8s ecosystem at a steeper learning cost. New projects often start on ECS.
Technical details
- Auth type
- api_key
- Pricing
- paid
- Protocols
- REST
- SDKs
- python, javascript, java, go, ruby, csharp
- Response time
- 14 ms
- Last health check
- 5/12/2026, 7:36:33 AM
Endpoints
Parsed from the OpenAPI spec. Showing 12 of 56 non-deprecated endpoints.
/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.CreateCapacityProvider/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.CreateCluster/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.CreateService/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.CreateTaskSet/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.DeleteAccountSetting/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.DeleteAttributes/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.DeleteCapacityProvider/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.DeleteCluster/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.DeleteService/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.DeleteTaskDefinitions/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.DeleteTaskSet/#X-Amz-Target=AmazonEC2ContainerServiceV20141113.DeregisterContainerInstance44 more endpoints not shown. See the OpenAPI spec for the full list.
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