Cloud Digital Leader Google Cloud Products and Services Practice Question
A startup wants to deploy a containerized web application that can scale to zero when not in use and automatically scale based on request traffic. They have limited DevOps experience and want minimal infrastructure management. Which compute service 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 serverless container platform that scales to zero, automatically scales based on requests, and requires no cluster management, making it ideal for this scenario.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
App Engine Standard
Why it's wrong here
App Engine Standard is a PaaS that only supports language-specific sandboxed runtimes, not arbitrary Docker containers, so your containerized image cannot be deployed as-is. Its scaling model is tied to preconfigured runtime instances rather than request-driven container lifecycle, and it doesn't offer the same port-agnostic, per-request auto-scaling behavior as Cloud Run. For a startup already using containers, rewriting the app to match App Engine's runtime constraints defeats the purpose.
- ✗
Google Kubernetes Engine
Why it's wrong here
Google Kubernetes Engine requires you to provision and manage a cluster, including node pools, networking, and cluster upgrades, even though the control plane is managed. While cluster autoscaler can reduce nodes during low traffic, it typically cannot scale to zero because system components and kube-system pods still need at least one node, leaving idle cost and operational overhead. For a small startup with sporadic web traffic, this complexity and baseline expense are unnecessary compared to a serverless platform.
- ✗
Compute Engine
Why it's wrong here
Compute Engine is raw IaaS where you reserve virtual machines, and you are responsible for installing the Docker runtime, patching the OS, and configuring an autoscaling group if you want scaling at all. It never automatically scales to zero—you would have to stop or delete the VM manually, and you would still pay for attached disks and static IPs. Deploying a containerized web app this way introduces substantial manual infrastructure management and idle costs.
- ✓
Cloud Run
Why this is correct
Cloud Run is a fully managed serverless compute platform that executes stateless containers from a Docker image, automatically scaling each instance in response to incoming HTTP requests. It scales to zero when there is no traffic, meaning you pay only for requests actually being processed, with no cluster or VM to manage. This makes it ideal for a startup's containerized web application, providing built-in HTTPS, high availability, and request-based billing without any underlying infrastructure to operate.
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 |
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Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
Service
A service is a software component or system that performs a specific function and is available to be used by other programs or users over a network.
Key term
Cloud Run
Cloud Run is a fully managed compute platform from Google Cloud that lets you run containerized applications in a serverless environment, automatically scaling from zero to thousands of requests.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This GCDL 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 GCDL exam.