Deployment Decision Guide

Use this decision tree to determine the best GCP deployment option for your project.

Quick Decision Tree

START
  │
  ├─ Is it a static site (HTML/CSS/JS only)?
  │   ├─ YES → Firebase Hosting or Cloud Storage + CDN
  │   └─ NO ↓
  │
  ├─ Do you need server-side rendering (SSR)?
  │   ├─ YES → Cloud Run (or GCE for complex cases)
  │   └─ NO ↓
  │
  ├─ Do you need persistent connections (WebSockets)?
  │   ├─ YES → Compute Engine (GCE)
  │   └─ NO ↓
  │
  ├─ Is traffic highly variable or unpredictable?
  │   ├─ YES → Cloud Run (scale to zero)
  │   └─ NO ↓
  │
  ├─ Do you need long-running processes (>60 min)?
  │   ├─ YES → Compute Engine (GCE)
  │   └─ NO ↓
  │
  ├─ Is cost the primary concern?
  │   ├─ YES → Cloud Run with min_instances: 0
  │   └─ NO ↓
  │
  └─ Default → Cloud Run (best balance)

Detailed Comparison

Cloud Run (Recommended Default)

Best For:

• REST APIs
• Web applications
• Microservices
• Variable traffic patterns
• Cost-sensitive projects

Pros:

• Scale to zero (no idle costs)
• Automatic scaling
• Managed SSL certificates
• Simple deployment
• Pay only for what you use
• Container-based (portable)

Cons:

• Cold starts (1-5 seconds)
• 60-minute request timeout max
• No persistent local storage
• No WebSocket support (use Pub/Sub)
• VPC connector needed for Cloud SQL

Use When:

• You want the simplest deployment
• Traffic is variable or unpredictable
• You can accept cold starts
• Your requests complete in <60 minutes

Compute Engine (VMs)

Best For:

• WebSocket applications
• Background job servers
• Legacy applications
• Custom software requirements
• Persistent local storage needs

Pros:

• Full control over environment
• Persistent connections supported
• No cold starts
• Unlimited request duration
• Local SSD storage available
• Can run any software

Cons:

• Always-on costs
• Manual scaling required
• Manual SSL setup
• More operational overhead
• You manage updates/security

Use When:

• Need WebSocket connections
• Have long-running processes
• Need custom system packages
• Want predictable performance
• Have consistent, predictable traffic

Firebase Hosting

Best For:

• Static websites
• Single Page Applications (SPAs)
• Flutter Web (static builds)
• React/Vue builds
• Documentation sites

Pros:

• Free tier is generous
• Global CDN included
• Automatic SSL
• Simple deployment
• GitHub integration

Cons:

• Static content only
• Limited backend (use Functions)
• Less control over caching

Use When:

• Deploying static files only
• Want the simplest possible setup
• Don’t need server-side processing

App Engine (Standard)

Best For:

• Traditional web apps
• Python, Java, Node.js, PHP, Go, Ruby
• Auto-scaling web apps

Pros:

• Fully managed
• Auto-scaling
• Multiple language runtimes
• Traffic splitting built-in

Cons:

• Less portable than containers
• More expensive than Cloud Run
• Slower deployments
• Vendor lock-in

Use When:

• Need traffic splitting for A/B tests
• Prefer platform-managed runtimes
• Have existing App Engine apps

Cloud Functions

Best For:

• Event-driven processing
• Webhooks
• Background jobs
• API endpoints (simple)

Pros:

• Simplest deployment
• Pay per invocation
• Event triggers built-in
• No container management

Cons:

• Limited runtimes
• 9-minute timeout (Gen 1)
• Cold starts
• Less control

Use When:

• Building event-driven systems
• Need simple webhooks
• Want minimal infrastructure

Decision Matrix by Project Type

Flutter Web

React / Vue

Next.js

Laravel / PHP

Node.js

Python / FastAPI

Cost vs Performance Trade-offs

                    COST
                     ↑
                     │
        GCE          │          GCE
   (always-on)       │      (high spec)
                     │
     ─────────────────────────────────→ PERFORMANCE
                     │
    Cloud Run        │       Cloud Run
   (scale-to-0)      │     (min instances)
                     │
   Firebase          │
   Hosting           │

Choosing Based on Budget

Questions to Ask

Before recommending a deployment option, ask:

1. Traffic Pattern: Is traffic steady, variable, or spiky?
2. Latency Tolerance: Can you accept 1-5 second cold starts?
3. Request Duration: How long do requests typically take?
4. Connection Type: HTTP only, or need WebSockets?
5. Database: Need SQL, NoSQL, or none?
6. Background Jobs: Any async processing needed?
7. Budget: What’s the monthly budget?
8. Compliance: Any data residency requirements?

Sample Recommendation Format

## Deployment Recommendation for [Project Name]
 
**Project Type**: [Flutter Web / React / Next.js / etc.]
**Detected Requirements**:
- [ ] Server-side rendering: Yes/No
- [ ] Database needed: Yes/No
- [ ] WebSockets: Yes/No
- [ ] Background jobs: Yes/No
 
### Recommended: Cloud Run
 
**Why Cloud Run?**
- Best cost-to-performance ratio for your use case
- Handles variable traffic efficiently
- Simple deployment with Docker
- Free tier covers low traffic
 
**Estimated Monthly Cost**: $0-15
 
**Alternative Considered**: Compute Engine
- Would cost $20/month fixed
- Better for consistent high traffic
- Not recommended due to variable traffic pattern
 
**Next Steps**:
1. Confirm deployment target
2. Review cost estimate
3. Proceed with setup