ALB versus ALB WebSocket

13 Mar 2026

Learn how ALB differs from ALB WebSocket.

	ALB	ALB WebSocket
Type	REST API	Websocket
HTTPS/TLS	✅	✅
Backends	✅ Lambda ❌ Public endpoint ✅ Private endpoint ❌ AWS Service APIs	❌ Lambda ❌ Public endpoint ✅ Private endpoint ❌ AWS Service APIs
Costs	💰💰	💰💰
Maturity	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Authentication	❌ IAM ❌ API Key ✅ OpenID Connect ✅ SAML ✅ Social ❌ Custom	❌ IAM ❌ API Key ✅ OpenID Connect ✅ SAML ✅ Social ❌ Custom
Tenant-based Throttling	❌	❌
Request Validation	❌	❌
Req./Res. Transformation	❌	❌
Endpoints	✅ Public ✅ Private	✅ Public ✅ Private
WAF	✅	✅

Further reading