CV0-004 Cloud Architecture and Design Practice Question
Which of the following is a characteristic of serverless computing (FaaS)?
⚠ Common exam trap
CV0-004 often tests the confusion between serverless (consumption-based, no server management) and IaaS (pre-provisioned, pay-for-allocated) — candidates who conflate 'no servers to manage' with 'no servers involved' or who pick reserved-capacity answers get tripped up.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
You are charged per execution or compute time
Serverless computing (FaaS) abstracts all infrastructure management and bills based on actual consumption — typically per invocation and per GB-second of compute time. This means you pay only when your function executes, not for idle capacity. This consumption-based model is the defining economic characteristic of FaaS platforms like AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Cloud Functions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
You pay for allocated resources regardless of usage
Why it's wrong here
FaaS charges only for actual invocations and compute time consumed, with no charge while idle. Paying regardless of usage describes reserved instances or provisioned capacity, which is tempting because some platforms offer minimum instances, but that is a billing option rather than the serverless model itself.
- ✓
You are charged per execution or compute time
Why this is correct
Serverless computing (FaaS) bills only for actual invocation and execution duration, measured in milliseconds, rather than for idle provisioned capacity. This consumption-based model directly satisfies the characteristic sought: no charges accrue while code sits dormant, unlike always-on virtual machines or containers.
- ✗
You must manage the underlying servers
Why it's wrong here
The provider operates the servers, runtime, and scaling; customers deploy only code. Managing servers describes IaaS, which is tempting because containers and VMs still run underneath, but FaaS abstracts that layer entirely, so no server administration is performed by the consumer.
- ✗
You have to provision capacity in advance
Why it's wrong here
FaaS bills per invocation and execution duration, scaling to zero when idle; no capacity is reserved beforehand. Pre-provisioning describes reserved or dedicated instances, which is tempting because provisioned concurrency exists in some platforms to reduce cold starts, but that is an optional optimisation, not a defining characteristic.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CV0-004 exam.