AWS Step Functions
Visual workflows for distributed applications
Overview
AWS Step Functions is a serverless function orchestrator that makes it easy to sequence AWS Lambda functions and multiple AWS services into business-critical applications. Through its visual interface, you can create and run a series of checkpointed and event-driven workflows that maintain the application state.
✨ Key Features
- Visual workflow designer
- State management
- Built-in error handling and retries
- Parallel execution
- Direct integration with over 200 AWS services
- Standard and Express workflow types
🎯 Key Differentiators
- Deepest integration with the AWS service ecosystem
- Visual designer simplifies complex workflow creation
- Managed state and checkpointing for resilient long-running processes
Unique Value: Simplifies the complex task of coordinating distributed services by providing a visual, stateful, and resilient workflow engine.
🎯 Use Cases (5)
✅ Best For
- Coordinating a series of Lambda functions for a multi-step process
- Human-in-the-loop approval workflows
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- High-throughput, low-latency data streaming (better for Kinesis)
- Simple, single-step tasks
🏆 Alternatives
Compared to self-hosting Airflow, Step Functions is fully managed, serverless, and offers tighter integration with services like Lambda and IAM.
💻 Platforms
🔌 Integrations
🛟 Support Options
- ✓ Email Support
- ✓ Live Chat
- ✓ Phone Support
- ✓ Dedicated Support (AWS Business Support tier)
🔒 Compliance & Security
💰 Pricing
Free tier: 4,000 state transitions per month for Standard Workflows.
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