LocalStack Cloud Emulator

My main use case for LocalStack  is to validate Docker  services that are using AWS  components like DynamoDB or SQS queues, things around AWS  products.

A quick specific example of how I use LocalStack  is that our product uses a lot of DynamoDB, so I need an instance that simulates DynamoDB when our microservices are contacting with the database repository. In this case, LocalStack provides the DynamoDB mock that allows us to validate and test our services.

The best features LocalStack offers include an extensive simulation of several AWS products, such as DynamoDB, SQS, and authentication. Several products facilitate the lives of software engineers when coding and testing connections or data from DynamoDB or storing that data. It is very important to have pre-made mocks instead of wasting time creating them to test our microservices. This is a great help.

LocalStack positively impacts my organization because it is used across the organization, increasing the productivity of all team members, not just developers but also QAs sometimes. It is an extensive tool with many AWS products, and since we are in a company that primarily works with the AWS cloud, this is very positive and easy to work with LocalStack. We do not have many configurations to do or anything very tricky; we just lift a Docker  container with configurations available on the internet, making all developers and QAs very productive and contributing to the increased delivery of our product organization.

LocalStack can be improved by enabling all premium features, but that is not the case. It could be more similar to the AWS product in some cases, depending on the AWS product we are using, particularly in simulating the bandwidths we use with AWS products. If it could simulate those bandwidths, the tests would be more reliable regarding performance, and additional functionalities like those in AWS products could be provided in LocalStack. As AWS products always improve and change, LocalStack must keep up with those changes more quickly.

I do not have much to add about needed improvements other than that the UI/UX of LocalStack is very good and friendly. LocalStack could provide a file to configure the Docker containers that allow us to start LocalStack without needing to search the internet; we could download that file, for instance, instead of following the documentation, which would greatly improve the lives of the developers.

I have been using LocalStack for about three years and some months.

LocalStack is very stable, and I have not experienced bugs or breakdowns. The only caveat is that some AWS features are missing, but other than that, it remains very stable.

I cannot answer how LocalStack's scalability is because we have not used it for performance tests; we have only conducted local tests individually by programmers and QAs. For performance tests, we used the real AWS, employing tools like JMeter  and BlazeMeter  instead of LocalStack.

I would describe the customer support of LocalStack as great since I have never needed it; not needing customer support is a positive aspect in my view.

We did not have a different commercial solution before; it was custom mocks created by us with Docker containers, solely through code implementation. We also had some mocks using Mockoon, but they did not simulate AWS products.

In terms of return on investment, we do not have a metric for fewer employees needed because we are increasing our workforce due to many projects. However, I can state that time saved is about ten to fifteen percent across the company in the testing area, not in the implementation area but in testing. Consequently, since time is saved, we have also saved about five percent of the money. This is not equal to the time saved because we have no costs with LocalStack, but it is approximately that much.

I can share specific outcomes or metrics I have seen as a result of using LocalStack. We eradicated the time we spent maintaining custom mocks, which was about ten hours per month, and we also eliminated the time spent creating mocks, which could take around two or three days for each mock, depending on the project. Additionally, the time spent testing is reduced by about twenty percent because LocalStack is very reliable, while the mocks we created always required tweaks to make them work. That increased productivity, and we have specific metrics reflecting that.

I have not encountered licensing or pricing issues, as we are using the free version, and the setup cost is insignificant because it is easier to set up LocalStack.

I did not evaluate other options before choosing LocalStack because it was the first solution that came to mind, and after searching the internet, I found it to be a great product. I did not feel the need to spend time evaluating other options since we are using the free version. If we decide to transition to the paid version in the future, then we may need to evaluate other options to see which is best for our company.

I would like to add that LocalStack is an excellent provider or simulator for DynamoDB, so we can rely on the results at least at the local level. However, we must perform the performance tests with AWS itself because we need to evaluate the performance and also the user experience with the actual latency that is provided by AWS.

LocalStack is deployed on-premises, specifically used on each local computer of the developers. We do not have a central installation of LocalStack; each one of us has an installation on our local computer to conduct local tests before performing further tests with AWS.

My advice for others looking into using LocalStack is that if they are working with AWS products, it provides great value because it offers most AWS products for free and simulates them quite well, allowing us to create services, microservices, or Docker containers that communicate with these products. You can simulate almost all the main operations you need to test and then have the confidence to test with the actual AWS components in the cloud.

My additional thought about LocalStack is to encourage them to keep up the good work with the product and improve LocalStack components, as I trust the market will adopt LocalStack because it is a very good product. I would rate this product nine out of ten.

On-premises

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

My main use case for LocalStack  is for tests on my machine. For example, when I want to create a table in AWS , I create a LocalStack  and use it in my tests before I publish the Terraform . I also create my application container and create the tables in LocalStack for running all my tests. I use not only tables, but also SQS and SNS. I only have features that I use to add about my main use case for LocalStack, to be honest.

The best features LocalStack offers are DynamoDB and container tests. I use a lot of testing containers, and it has helped me significantly.

LocalStack helps me with containers because it is easy to configure. I write my tests and when I need to deploy an application, all my tests are running in my pipeline through my DevOps process, and I can guarantee there is quality in my code. I have a container with LocalStack testing everything.

LocalStack has positively impacted my organization by improving the quality of the software and allowing us to test comprehensively.

I really do not have an opinion right now about how LocalStack can be improved because for my use, the features that I use are perfect. There may be many features that I have not used. Everyone here uses the same features that I use, so I cannot add more about needed improvements. It is pretty easy to use.

I have been using LocalStack for about two years.

I have not seen any return on investment for myself on my machine.

I do not know about the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for LocalStack because I just use it for myself. I do not use LocalStack in the production environment, only for myself to do my tests.

For example, sometimes I just do a proof of concept. Instead of creating a Terraform  and publishing on AWS  and having to create my table and my query over there, I do not need to do everything when doing a proof of concept on my machine. It has helped me a lot. I create a LocalStack and everything is working.

For the features that I use, I would say LocalStack deserves a 10 because I do not use any other features. I give LocalStack a 10 because it is pretty easy. I run my container on my machine and everything is working. It is pretty easy to create an SQS and SNS. For the features that I use, it is perfect and easy. I rate this review a 10.

On-premises

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

The main use case for LocalStack  was about simulation in order to have a low impact on costs for our AWS  environments.

An example of how I use LocalStack  is to have a simulation for our Vault, where we store our secrets. The way we store it was to have an internal software that we can give to others who are non-technical.

Some features of LocalStack that stand out for me are that I have the opportunity to integrate with many third-party systems, and for example, I used it in connection with PostgreSQL  because we needed to use a shared database.

The cost saving with LocalStack was very useful to lower the expenses in this way, because we need another company to administer our AWS .

LocalStack could be improved by adding more feedback when you use the CLI. I had to always use some other call in order to verify my operation.

I have been using LocalStack for almost one year.

In my experience, LocalStack is stable.

I don't know about LocalStack's scalability, as I didn't reach this use of LocalStack.

I don't know how the customer support is, as I never had to contact customer support.

It was the first time I used a solution like LocalStack.

I downloaded LocalStack for free instead of purchasing it through the AWS Marketplace .

There was no cost with LocalStack because it was free.

My advice is to get a full view of LocalStack, as it is very useful. I give this review a rating of 8.

Public Cloud

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

My main use case for LocalStack  is to run AWS  services locally on our machines, such as running on our laptop or on our server, and for a sandbox for testing our cloud apps.

A quick, specific example of how I use LocalStack  for testing my cloud apps is that we use LocalStack for a sandbox or staging environment for AWS  resources. We test it on LocalStack, and if everything works well, then we deploy it to AWS.

The best features LocalStack offers include the ability to test everything locally at no cost for AWS, a faster development and instant feedback cycle, offline deployment without needing internet, and it's excellent for learning AWS in a sandbox environment.

Out of those features, I find myself relying on the ability to run it locally for testing at no cost the most.

Using LocalStack has positively impacted my organization by saving 50-60% of our money because of using LocalStack and AWS resources on our local environment.

I calculated that 56% savings mostly on infrastructure cycle because if we use AWS, we have to pay for those resources, but by using LocalStack, we do not need to provision resources on AWS, so that is how we are saving that percentage.

LocalStack can be improved as it is currently not fully compatible with AWS services in each case, and there are limited features right now in that service. Additionally, only some of the services are free, and sometimes things work on LocalStack locally but fail on AWS. There is a performance limit, so I want those things to get improved.

I have been using LocalStack for six months.

In my experience, LocalStack is stable.

LocalStack's scalability is good.

I have seen a return on investment as I mentioned. We are saving 50 to 60% of our money using it.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that we are not currently paying for LocalStack, and the setup is easy. You just need to install Docker .

Before choosing LocalStack, we had a clear mindset that we wanted to use it.

I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.

On-premises

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

What do you like best about the product?

LocalStack helps emulate resources in your local environment. For us, it has been very useful in mocking AWS resources for local development and makes that workflow easier as we don't have to maintain our own custom solution.

What do you dislike about the product?

LocalStack doesn't entirely have feature parity and can sometimes be a bit fiddly to set up. It requires a lot fo reading through docs and debugging to get going.

What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?

LocalStack is helping our development workflow by allowing us to mock resources and therefore ensures fast development as we can run and debug changes locally before rolling them out to other environments.