AWS Lambda vs AWS step function

Question

I am designing an application for which input is a large text file (size ranges from 1-30 GB) uploaded to S3 bucket every 15 min. It splits the file into n no of small ones and copy these files to 3 different S3 buckets in 3 different aws regions. Then 3 loader applications read these n files from respective s3 buckets and load the data into respective aerospike cluster.

I am thinking to use AWS lambda function to split the file as well as to load the data. I recently came across AWS step function which can also serve the purpose based on what I read. I am not sure which one to go with and which will be cheaper in terms of pricing. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Lambda and Step functions are like floors and steps to each floor. You cannot replace one with another.

Lambda is computing, steps functions take them to the desired step.

Youtube video explains very well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh7h3lkpeP4

To the analogy again, you can have multiple computes (lambda) in a single floor before you pass it on the next floor.

One of the example is as shown below.

Usecase: https://john.soban.ski/transcribe-customer-service-voicemails-and-alert-on-keywords.html

Hope it helps.