Google ACE Planning and Configuring a Cloud Solution Practice Question
An organization wants to run a stateless HTTP-based containerized application that scales to zero when not in use and charges only for request processing time. They do not want to manage any underlying infrastructure. Which compute option should they choose?
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
✓
Cloud Run
Cloud Run is a fully managed serverless platform for containers. It scales to zero automatically when no requests are coming in, and you pay only for the resources used during request processing. It is ideal for stateless HTTP-triggered workloads.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Compute Engine with managed instance group
Why it's wrong here
Compute Engine with a managed instance group would work for stateless HTTP but at the cost of always-on VMs; even with autoscaling, you must keep at least one instance running to serve requests, so you pay for compute, OS licensing (if any), and maintenance. It also requires you to manage instance templates, health checks, and VM lifecycle — operational overhead that is unnecessary for a simple stateless HTTP container.
- ✓
Cloud Run
Why this is correct
Cloud Run is the correct choice because it directly runs stateless HTTP container images in a fully managed, serverless environment, scaling from zero to handle traffic and back to zero when idle. You are billed only for compute resources used during request processing, not for paused instances, and it handles TLS, revisions, and autoscaling natively.
- ✗
Cloud Functions
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Functions is not a container runtime: it accepts HTTP triggers but expects you to upload function code (or a function framework), not a prebuilt container, and imposes language/framework-specific runtimes. Its ephemeral execution model and short timeouts make it unsuitable for arbitrary stateless HTTP containers with custom dependencies or long-lived libraries.
- ✗
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Standard
Why it's wrong here
GKE Standard puts the burden of managing the Kubernetes control plane and node pool on you; even with cluster autoscaler, the minimum node count cannot be zero because system workloads (kube-system) need a node. Running a stateless HTTP container there means paying for a baseline of VM instances and handling node upgrades, disruptions, and Container Runtime maintenance — far more overhead than this use case requires.
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
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Google Cloud Platform Overview
Key term
Organization
An Organization is a top-level container in Google Cloud that represents your company or entities and serves as the root node for all your cloud resources, policies, and access control.
Key term
Serverless
Serverless is a cloud computing model where the cloud provider manages the servers, and you only pay for the actual compute time your code uses, without having to worry about provisioning or maintaining infrastructure.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ACE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud 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 ACE exam.