What is App Engine?
App Engine is Google’s Platform as a Service for serverless web applications. Developers deploy code, Google handles automatic scaling, load balancing, patching and infrastructure management. The service has existed since 2008 and was one of the first serverless compute services ever.
Core Features
- Automatic Scaling: Scales from zero to millions of requests without manual configuration
- Zero Server Management: No patching, no capacity planning, no load balancer setup
- Versioning: Deploy multiple versions simultaneously and traffic splitting for canary deployments
- Integrated Services: Native integration with Cloud SQL, Memorystore, Cloud Tasks and Pub/Sub
- Custom Domains: SSL certificates automatically managed via managed certificates
Typical Use Cases
Web Applications
Classic web applications with varying traffic benefit from App Engine’s scaling capabilities. Standard Environment scales to zero instances at low traffic, saving costs.
Mobile Backends
App Engine works well as a backend for mobile apps. Automatic scaling handles traffic spikes during app launches or marketing campaigns without manual intervention.
Microservices
Multiple App Engine services can operate as a microservices architecture. Each service scales independently and can be implemented in different languages.
Benefits
- Fastest deployment: from code to URL in minutes
- No infrastructure expertise required
- Automatic SSL and DDoS protection
- Pay-per-use billing in Standard Environment
Integration with innFactory
As a Google Cloud Partner, innFactory supports you with App Engine: architecture consulting, migration from existing applications, performance optimization and cost analysis. We help with the decision between App Engine, Cloud Run and GKE.
Available Tiers & Options
Standard Environment
- Fastest scaling to zero
- Lowest cost at low traffic
- Sandbox security
- Limited runtimes
- Restricted language versions
Flexible Environment
- Docker container support
- Any language version
- Longer request timeouts
- At least one instance active
- Slower scaling
Typical Use Cases
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
What is App Engine?
App Engine is Google's Platform as a Service for serverless web applications. Developers deploy code, Google handles scaling, patching and infrastructure management.
What is the difference between Standard and Flexible Environment?
Standard Environment offers fast scaling to zero and low costs but limited runtimes. Flexible Environment allows Docker containers and arbitrary configurations but requires at least one active instance.
Which programming languages does App Engine support?
Standard Environment supports Python, Java, Node.js, Go, PHP and Ruby. Flexible Environment allows any language via custom Docker images.
How does App Engine differ from Cloud Run?
App Engine is an established PaaS with fixed runtimes. Cloud Run offers more flexibility through arbitrary containers and per-second billing. For new projects, Google often recommends Cloud Run.
