GKE or App enginr or Cloud Run

Use Compute Engine if you are migrating a legacy application with specific licensing, OS, kernel, or networking requirements. Examples: Windows-based applications, genomics processing, SAP HANA.

Use GKE if your application needs a specific OS or network protocols beyond HTTP/s. When you use GKE, you are using Kubernetes, which makes it easy to deploy and expand into hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Anthos is a platform specifically designed for hybrid and multi-cloud deployments. It provides single-pane-of-glass visibility across all clusters from infrastructure through to application performance and topology. Example: Microservices-based applications.

Use Cloud Run if you just need to deploy a containerized application in a programming language of your choice with HTTP/s and websocket support. Examples: websites, APIs, data processing apps, webhooks.

Use App Engine if you want to deploy and host a web based application (HTTP/s) in a serverless platform. Examples: web applications, mobile app backends

Use Cloud Functions if your code is a function and just performs an action based on an event/trigger from Pub/Sub or Cloud Storage. Example: Kick off a video transcoding function as soon as a video is saved in your Cloud Storage bucket.

Need portability with open source?

If your requirement is based on portability and open-source support take a look at GKE, Cloud Run, and Cloud Functions. They are all based on open-source frameworks that help you avoid vendor lock-in and give you the freedom to expand your infrastructure into hybrid and multi-cloud environments. GKE clusters are powered by the Kubernetes open-source cluster management system, which provides the mechanisms through which you interact with your cluster. Cloud Run for Anthos is powered by Knative, an open-source project that supports serverless workloads on Kubernetes. Cloud Functions use an open-source FaaS (function as a service) framework to run functions across multiple environments.

What are your team dynamics like?

If you have a small team of developers and you want their attention focused on the code, then a serverless option such as Cloud Run or App Engine is a good choice because you won’t have to have a team managing the infrastructure, scale, and operations. If you have bigger teams, along with your own tools and processes, then Compute Engine or GKE makes more sense because it enables you to define your own process for CI/CD, security, scale, and operations.

What type of billing model do you prefer?

Compute Engine and GKE billing models are based on resources, which means you pay for the instances you have provisioned, independent of usage. You can also take advantage of sustained and committed use discounts.

Cloud Run, App Engine, and Cloud Functions are billed per request, which means you pay as you go.