AWS Express Workflows
Short, high-volume workflows
A Step Functions workflow type for short tasks (up to 5 minutes) at very high volume; at-least-once semantics, cheaper than Standard but without Standard's detailed execution history.
- Cost$ Low
- Difficulty●●●●●
- Costs money when idle?No
- Serverless
- In examsDVA · SAA
Think of it asLike an express toll lane: cars pass continuously without detailed records for each one.
When to use it
✓ Use it when
High-volume, short event processing: IoT, streams, API backends.
✗ Avoid it when
Long workflows, needing exactly-once or waiting for human approval → Step Functions Standard.
Common uses
- Transform high-frequency IoT events
- Orchestrate microservices behind API Gateway
- Process each record from a stream
What does it cost?
- Pricing model: Charged by the number of executions and duration × memory used.
