Load Balancer vs DNS Load Balancing

Developers should use load balancers when building scalable web applications, APIs, or microservices that require high availability and fault tolerance, such as e-commerce sites, streaming platforms, or cloud-based services meets developers should learn and use dns load balancing when building high-traffic web applications, apis, or services that require redundancy and fault tolerance, as it provides a simple, cost-effective way to distribute load without specialized hardware. Here's our take.

Load Balancer

Nice Pick

Developers should use load balancers when building scalable web applications, APIs, or microservices that require high availability and fault tolerance, such as e-commerce sites, streaming platforms, or cloud-based services

Pros

• They are crucial for distributing traffic during peak loads, enabling zero-downtime deployments through rolling updates, and improving response times by reducing server bottlenecks
• Related to: reverse-proxy, high-availability

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

DNS Load Balancing

Developers should learn and use DNS load balancing when building high-traffic web applications, APIs, or services that require redundancy and fault tolerance, as it provides a simple, cost-effective way to distribute load without specialized hardware

Pros

• It is particularly useful for global applications where geographic distribution of servers can reduce latency, and for scenarios where quick failover is needed, such as during server outages or maintenance
• Related to: load-balancing, dns

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Load Balancer is a tool while DNS Load Balancing is a concept. We picked Load Balancer based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Load Balancer wins

Based on overall popularity. Load Balancer is more widely used, but DNS Load Balancing excels in its own space.