AWS AppSync for chatting application

Question

I'm trying to use AppSync for chatting application. I'm able to reproduce the AWS tutorial (https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/mobile/building-a-serverless-real-time-chat-application-with-aws-appsync/)

However, I'm still not sure if AppSync can handle a production environment for chatting application. Will it be expensive because of the DynamoDB part?

Moreover, if I'm subscribing each conversation, will there be a performance issues for the users in the front-end if I have like 1000 conversations / user?

Answer 1

Using AppSync and DynamoDB no doubt will suit a production environment handling 1000 conversations and is able to scale much further. However, the cost can get higher both for AppSync and DynamoDB at scale.

While saying that, its a tradeoff when considering the total cost of ownership since the development and management effort is significantly less since these are fully managed services.

It is also subjective considering, against what technology you are comparing with. So what I would suggest is to do a rough capacity planning and come up with an estimation to compare against few other technologies (Even within AWS, e.g; You can also consider AWS IOT Websockets, AWS Message MQ to build real-time chat applications).