easyMultiple Choice
Google PCA Practice Question: Run a containerized application that scales down…
A company wants to run a containerized application that scales down to zero when not in use and only incurs costs when requests are being processed. They do not want to manage infrastructure. Which compute service should they use?
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 container platform that scales to zero and charges only for resources used during request processing. GKE Autopilot manages infrastructure but does not scale to zero (has a minimum node). Cloud Functions scales to zero but is for functions, not containers. Compute Engine always has running VMs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cloud Functions
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Functions executes event-driven functions, not long-running containerised applications, and lacks the HTTP container serving model Cloud Run provides. It is tempting because it is serverless and scales to zero, but the workload is a containerised application, which Cloud Run hosts directly.
- ✗
Compute Engine
Why it's wrong here
Compute Engine provides raw VMs that bill while running and never scale to zero, and you manage the OS and infrastructure yourself. It is tempting as a general compute platform for containerised workloads, but Cloud Run is the serverless option that scales to zero and bills per request.
- ✓
Cloud Run
Why this is correct
Cloud Run is a fully managed serverless container platform that scales to zero instances when idle and bills only for request processing. It removes node and cluster management, matching both the scale-to-zero and no-infrastructure constraints.
- ✗
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Standard
Why it's wrong here
GKE Standard runs a persistent cluster whose nodes incur charges continuously, and it requires you to manage node pools and infrastructure. It is tempting because GKE Autopilot runs containers, but only Autopilot scales to zero and removes node management; Standard does neither.
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 Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Key term
GKE
GKE is Google's managed Kubernetes service that automates deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications in the cloud.
Key term
Compute Engine
Compute Engine is Google Cloud's Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering that lets you create and run virtual machines on Google's infrastructure.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCA 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 PCA exam.