Comparison of WebAssembly and Container Technologies
Nguyen, Nhat An (2025)
2025
Tietotekniikan DI-ohjelma - Master's Programme in Information Technology
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-05-15
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202505095160
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202505095160
Tiivistelmä
Containerization has been a standard of various software applications because of its portability, easy deployment, scalability, and well-rounded ecosystem. However, the rise of alternative solutions for different use cases surpasses containers in many aspects, and WebAssembly is one of them. WebAssembly was developed to optimize web applications and has been growing to perform better in server applications. This thesis broadly examines two technologies and compares their usage in non-web applications by investigating their execution models, conducting a benchmarking experiment, and a literature review.
The background, execution, memory, and security model are examined to see the theoretical differences between the two technologies. The primary findings of the literature survey show that WebAssembly performs better for applications requiring limited resources and strong security, with a short-lived and fast startup time, specifically for Edge and IoT applications. On the other hand, containers have better scale, resource management, and a mature ecosystem. As a result, containers are suitable for serverless computing and high-performance computing applications.
The matrix multiplication experiment illustrated anticipated results in most aspects except for computation, which should greatly favor the container when the matrix scales. However, both technologies share a very similar graph. These results suggest that the results can vary with different setups, and users should consider the specific application requirements to determine the compatible technology.
The background, execution, memory, and security model are examined to see the theoretical differences between the two technologies. The primary findings of the literature survey show that WebAssembly performs better for applications requiring limited resources and strong security, with a short-lived and fast startup time, specifically for Edge and IoT applications. On the other hand, containers have better scale, resource management, and a mature ecosystem. As a result, containers are suitable for serverless computing and high-performance computing applications.
The matrix multiplication experiment illustrated anticipated results in most aspects except for computation, which should greatly favor the container when the matrix scales. However, both technologies share a very similar graph. These results suggest that the results can vary with different setups, and users should consider the specific application requirements to determine the compatible technology.