Google Cloud Platform for Developers

When to use Compute Engine

As we've covered in previous chapters, there are many compute options on Google Cloud, with varying levels of abstraction of the underlying infrastructure. Of these options, Compute Engine offers the lowest level of abstraction. As a corollary to this, Compute Engine provides the most control and flexibility of these options.

This control and flexibility does, however, come at a cost. Compared to other options, Compute Engine generally presents a significant increase in developer effort to deploy and manage services. For many web services, this increase will greatly outweigh any potential savings on raw resources.