Cloud Run is Google’s fully managed serverless container platform that enables running containerized applications without infrastructure management. With automatic scaling from zero to thousands of instances, billing on a 100ms basis, and support for any programming language, Cloud Run is ideal for modern web applications, APIs, microservices, and AI workloads.
What is Cloud Run?
Cloud Run is a serverless compute platform that combines the flexibility of containers with the simplicity of fully managed hosting. Unlike traditional cloud platforms, you don’t need to worry about servers, clusters, or scaling: Cloud Run handles this automatically.
The platform is based on Knative, an open-source Kubernetes framework, and uses Google’s global infrastructure with over 20 regions worldwide. You only pay for actually used resources, calculated to the nearest 100 milliseconds. With no traffic, the service automatically scales to zero instances, incurring no costs.
Core Features
- Any containerized application with HTTP/gRPC endpoints
- Automatic scaling from 0 to 1000 instances
- Pay-per-use with 100ms billing granularity
- GPU support for AI inference (NVIDIA L4)
- Cloud Run Jobs for batch processing up to 24 hours
Typical Use Cases
Web Applications and APIs: Modern web applications with dynamic traffic. Automatic scaling handles traffic spikes effortlessly while scale-to-zero saves costs during low traffic.
AI Inference with GPU: NVIDIA L4 GPUs for real-time AI inference. GPU instances start in 5 seconds and scale to zero when not in use.
Event-Driven Microservices: Seamless integration with Pub/Sub and Eventarc for asynchronous, event-driven architectures.
Scheduled Batch Jobs: Combine Cloud Run Jobs with Cloud Scheduler for periodic tasks like ETL pipelines, data aggregation, or backups.
Benefits
- Zero infrastructure management
- Scale to zero for cost efficiency
- Any language or framework in containers
- Fast deployments under 1 minute
- Native integration with Google Cloud ecosystem
Integration with innFactory
As a Google Cloud Partner, innFactory supports you with Cloud Run implementation: microservices architecture, migration from App Engine or GKE, CI/CD pipelines, and AI inference with GPU acceleration.
Available Tiers & Options
Cloud Run Services
- Zero infrastructure management
- Automatic scaling to zero
- Fast deployments under 1 minute
- GPU support for AI inference
- Stateless applications
- Request timeout up to 60 minutes
Cloud Run Jobs
- Batch processing with parallel execution
- Runs up to 24 hours
- Task-based scaling
- No HTTP endpoints
- Asynchronous execution
Cloud Run Functions
- Simple event handlers
- Full Cloud Run Service control
- Source code deployment
- Limited configuration options
Typical Use Cases
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cloud Run?
Cloud Run is a fully managed serverless container platform from Google Cloud. It enables running containers without infrastructure management, scales automatically based on traffic, and only charges for actually used resources (100ms granularity). Cloud Run supports any programming language that runs in containers and offers GPU acceleration for AI workloads.
What is the difference between Cloud Run Services, Jobs, and Functions?
Cloud Run Services are for HTTP-based workloads (APIs, web apps) with automatic scaling. Cloud Run Jobs are for batch processing and long-running tasks (up to 24h) without HTTP endpoints. Cloud Run Functions offer a simplified experience for event handlers with fewer configuration options but are based on Cloud Run infrastructure.
When should I use Cloud Run instead of Cloud Functions or GKE?
Use Cloud Run when you need container-based applications with HTTP/gRPC endpoints, want more control than Cloud Functions, but less complexity than GKE. Cloud Run is suitable for most web and API workloads. GKE is better for complex Kubernetes-native applications with advanced networking requirements. Cloud Functions is ideal for simple event handlers without container management.
Does Cloud Run support GPU acceleration for AI models?
Yes, Cloud Run offers NVIDIA L4 GPUs for AI inference workloads. GPU instances start in about 5 seconds and scale to zero when not in use. This is ideal for hosting Large Language Models (LLMs like Llama, Mistral, Gemma), computer vision, video transcoding, and other GPU-intensive applications.
How does scaling work in Cloud Run?
Cloud Run automatically scales based on incoming requests from 0 to 1000 instances. With no traffic, the service scales to zero containers (no costs). During traffic spikes, new instances start within seconds. You can configure minimum and maximum instances as well as concurrency per instance.
Is Cloud Run GDPR compliant and which EU regions are available?
Yes, Cloud Run is GDPR compliant. Available EU regions are europe-west1 (Belgium), europe-west3 (Frankfurt), europe-west4 (Netherlands), europe-west6 (Zurich), europe-west9 (Paris), europe-north1 (Finland). Google Cloud offers comprehensive data protection controls, compliance certifications, and data residency guarantees.
