Serverless Computing

Serverless computing is a cloud execution model where the provider automatically manages the server infrastructure. Developers write code that runs in response to events or requests, and the cloud provider handles provisioning, scaling, and maintenance. You pay only for the compute time your code actually uses.

Serverless functions (AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, Vercel Functions) are commonly used in data pipelines: a function can be triggered by an API call, a scheduled event, or a file upload to process data without requiring a permanently running server.

For developers building lightweight data integrations - such as a function that calls a property API every hour and stores results in a database - serverless is an efficient and cost-effective approach. The auto-scaling model means your pipeline handles spikes without manual capacity planning.