Amazon ECS Express Mode
An Amazon ECS Express Mode service reduces the complexity of deploying containerized applications by providing sensible defaults and automating the configuration of supporting AWS services. Instead of managing configuration parameters across multiple services, an Express Mode service requires only three things to get started:
A container image
A task execution role
An infrastructure role
Amazon ECS Express Mode orchestrates and configures all necessary infrastructure: a Fargate-based ECS service with a unique accessible URL, load balancer with SSL/TLS, auto scaling policies, monitoring, and networking components.
Use Amazon ECS Express Mode services in the following scenarios:
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Web applications and APIs - Stateless containerized applications that serve HTTP requests
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Rapid prototyping - Quickly deploy and test applications without infrastructure setup overhead
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Developer productivity - Enable application teams to deploy independently without deep AWS knowledge
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Platform team efficiency - Reduce maintenance overhead by providing self-service deployment capabilities
Amazon ECS Express Mode services support either public or private HTTPS applications and automatically scale based on utilization or traffic.
Benefits of Amazon ECS Express Mode services
Amazon ECS Express Mode services provide several key advantages for deploying and managing containerized applications on AWS.
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Simplified deployment - Deploy containerized applications with production-ready defaults across multiple AWS services.
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No compromise on capabilities - All underlying AWS resources remain accessible for direct management when you need fine-grained control or advanced features.
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Cost optimization - Shares Application Load Balancers across multiple Express Mode services using the same networking conifguration to reduce costs.
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Transparent infrastructure - All resources are created in your AWS account with full visibility and accessibility through the AWS console and APIs.
Pricing
There is no additional charge for using an Amazon ECS Express Mode service. You pay only for the underlying AWS resources that are created to run your application, including:
Fargate compute resources
Application Load Balancer
CloudWatch logs and metrics
Data transfer charges
Availability
Amazon ECS Express Mode is available in all AWS Regions where Amazon ECS and Fargate are supported. You can create and manage Express Mode services using any of the following:
The Amazon ECS console
AWS AWS CLI
AWS SDKs
CloudFormation
Terraform
AWS Labs MCP Server for Amazon ECS
