AWS's Layer 7 load balancer that routes traffic based on application content like URL paths, host headers, and HTTP methods. Like an intelligent dispatcher who reads each request and sends it to the best specialist.
An e-commerce site uses Application Load Balancer to route /products to product servers, /checkout to payment servers, and /api to backend APIs, all based on URL paths.
All are Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) load balancers that can route requests using application-aware rules (host/path/headers). AWS ALB is tightly integrated with target groups, ECS/EKS, and WAF; Azure Application Gateway includes WAF options and URL-based routing; GCP’s External Application Load Balancer provides global anycast front ends and advanced HTTP(S) routing; OCI’s Load Balancer supports HTTP routing policies and rule sets for content-based routing.
Explore real-world architectures from our community that use Application Load Balancer: