Match each GCP compute service to its characteristic.
Drag a concept onto its matching description — or click a concept then click the description.
Virtual machines with full control
Managed Kubernetes clusters
Serverless containers
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Event-driven serverless functions
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Compute Engine: Virtual machines on demand, IaaS.
Compute Engine provides IaaS virtual machines; GKE offers managed Kubernetes; Cloud Run enables serverless containers; App Engine is a PaaS for web apps. Common confusions include mixing serverless and Kubernetes features.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Compute Engine: Virtual machines on demand, IaaS.
Why this is correct
Compute Engine provides scalable virtual machines as an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offering.
Compute Engine: Managed Kubernetes clusters.
Why it's wrong here
This describes Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), not Compute Engine.
Google Kubernetes Engine: Managed Kubernetes clusters.
Why this is correct
GKE is a managed Kubernetes service for running containerized applications.
Google Kubernetes Engine: Serverless container execution.
Why it's wrong here
This describes Cloud Run, which runs containers in a serverless manner.
Cloud Run: Serverless container execution.
Why this is correct
Cloud Run executes stateless containers on a fully managed serverless platform.
Cloud Run: PaaS for web apps with auto-scaling.
Why it's wrong here
This describes App Engine, which is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for web applications.
Quick reference
| 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
Learn chapter
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Networking Basics
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.
About these practice questions
This PCA question is part of Courseiva's 807-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.