[x_foo_x]

Is your 'Bare EC2' over SSL? I've used Apex Ping as well (btw it runs on Lambda), and it seems they open a new connection on each ping.

Getting 15 ms latency on a brand new TLS connection is nearly impossible over the internet. If you actually check the latency breakdown on your Ping, you'll see the TLS handshake is dominating the API Gateway -> EC2 request.

I'm all for this type of analysis, but too often it isn't apples to apples.

[jotto]

You're right, and I agree it isn't apples to apples. I am still looking for ways to break the 150ms TLS handshake barrier (let me know if you have)

My intention was merely to point out the difference between bare/raw HTTP on ec2 vs API Gateway (which is only HTTPS).

But this comparison is in fact almost useless because the world is moving to HTTPS everywhere.

[jotto]

(almost instead of completely useless) because there's still a ~50ms Lambda penalty