About AWS App Runner
AWS App Runner is a fully managed service from Amazon Web Services for deploying web applications and APIs. Teams point it at source code or a container image, and it handles building, deployment, scaling and the secure web endpoint without requiring them to operate servers or orchestrators.
It sits in the container and application hosting part of AWS and is aimed at developers who want something simpler than running their own clusters on Amazon ECS or Kubernetes. Applications scale with traffic, and the service integrates with other AWS offerings for networking, security and monitoring.
App Runner is a commercial, hosted service available only on AWS, with usage-based pricing described on its pricing page. It suits small teams and product groups that want the convenience of a platform-as-a-service while staying inside the AWS ecosystem and its account, billing and identity systems.
Key features
- Deploy from source code or container images
- Automatic scaling with traffic
- Managed secure web endpoints
- No servers or clusters to operate
- Integration with other AWS services
Good fit for
- →Hosting containerized web APIs on AWS
- →Deploying web apps without managing infrastructure
- Tags
- aws
- containers
- paas
- web-apps
- auto-scaling
- managed-service
AWS App Runner: questions and answers
- What is AWS App Runner used for?
- AWS App Runner is a managed AWS service that builds and runs containerized web applications and APIs from source code or container images. It is a good fit for hosting containerized web APIs on AWS and deploying web apps without managing infrastructure.
- How much does AWS App Runner cost?
- AWS App Runner is a paid product with no free plan. Pay-as-you-go: $0.064 per vCPU-hour and $0.007 per GB-hour while processing requests, plus $0.007 per GB-hour for provisioned idle memory. No free plan is listed.
- Is AWS App Runner open source?
- No. AWS App Runner is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to AWS App Runner include Coolify, Dokploy and Dokku.
- What are some alternatives to AWS App Runner?
- AWS App Runner competes with Google Cloud Run, Azure Container Apps and Azure App Service. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source AWS App Runner alternatives.
Open-source alternatives to AWS App Runner
See all
Coolify
Hosting & PaaS
Self-hosting platform with superpowers. Deploy apps, databases & 280+ services to your
Apache-2.0vs Heroku★ 62k
Dokploy
Hosting & PaaS
Open-source self-hostable Platform as a Service (PaaS) that simplifies the deployment and
OSSvs Heroku★ 38k
Dokku
Hosting & PaaS
A docker-powered PaaS that helps you build and manage the lifecycle of applications
MITvs Heroku★ 32k
CapRover
Hosting & PaaS
Scalable PaaS (automated Docker+nginx) - aka Heroku on Steroids
OSSvs Heroku★ 15k
Kubero
Hosting & PaaS
A free and self-hosted PaaS alternative to Heroku / Netlify / Coolify / Vercel / Dokku / P
GPL-3.0vs Heroku★ 4.4k
ZaneOps
Hosting & PaaS
A beautiful and fast self-hosted PaaS for deploying and managing web apps, databases, stat
OSSvs Heroku★ 1.4k
SaaS alternatives to AWS App Runner
See all
Google Cloud Run
Hosting & PaaS
Serverless platform for running containers that scale to zero on Google Cloud
SaaS
Azure Container Apps
Infrastructure & Containers
Serverless container service on Azure for microservices and jobs
SaaS
Azure App Service
Hosting & PaaS
Managed Azure platform for hosting web apps, APIs and mobile backends
SaaS
Heroku
Hosting & PaaS
Heroku is a cloud platform as a service where developers deploy, run and scale applications on managed containers, with managed data services and AI add-ons.
SaaS
Render
Hosting & PaaS
Managed hosting for web services, static sites, databases and cron jobs
SaaS
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Hosting & PaaS
PaaS that deploys and scales web apps on AWS from uploaded code
SaaS

