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Sreekar Reddy
Sreekar Reddy

Posted on • Originally published at sreekarreddy.com

☁️ Serverless Explained Like You're 5

A taxi instead of owning a car

Day 28 of 149

👉 Full deep-dive with code examples


The Car Analogy

Owning a Car (Traditional Server):

  • Pay for the car even when parked
  • Pay for gas even when not driving
  • Maintenance, insurance, parking...
  • Costs money 24/7!

Taking Taxis (Serverless):

  • Pay when you ride
  • No car sitting idle
  • No maintenance worries
  • Pay per trip!

How It Works

Traditional: Server runs 24/7, you pay 24/7

Serverless: Code runs on demand (when triggered)

User makes request →
  Your code wakes up →
    Runs →
      Goes back to sleep
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You usually pay based on execution time and usage.


Famous Examples

  • AWS Lambda
  • Vercel Functions
  • Cloudflare Workers

When to Use

✅ Good for: Unpredictable traffic, APIs, webhooks
❌ Not great for: Long-running processes, real-time apps


In One Sentence

Serverless lets your code run on demand, charging you based on what you use.


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