GKE vs Cloud Run decision in GCP - CLI Comparison

Introduction

Choosing between GKE and Cloud Run helps you decide how to run your applications in the cloud. GKE manages containers with more control, while Cloud Run runs containers without managing servers.

When you want full control over container orchestration and scaling for complex apps, use GKE.

When you want to deploy simple containerized apps quickly without managing infrastructure, use Cloud Run.

When your app needs to run continuously with custom networking, GKE is better.

When your app can scale down to zero and only run on demand, Cloud Run saves cost.

When you want to integrate with Kubernetes tools and ecosystem, choose GKE.

Commands

This command creates a GKE cluster named example-cluster with 3 nodes in the us-central1-a zone. It sets up the environment to run containerized apps with Kubernetes.

Terminal

gcloud container clusters create example-cluster --zone us-central1-a --num-nodes 3

Expected Output

Creating cluster example-cluster in us-central1-a...



Created [https://container.googleapis.com/v1/projects/my-project/zones/us-central1-a/clusters/example-cluster].



To inspect the contents of your cluster, go to: https://console.cloud.google.com/kubernetes/workload_/gcloud/us-central1-a/example-cluster?project=my-project



kubeconfig entry generated for example-cluster.



NAME              LOCATION       MASTER_VERSION  MASTER_IP       MACHINE_TYPE   NODE_VERSION  NUM_NODES  STATUS

example-cluster   us-central1-a  1.26.8-gke.1200 34.68.123.45    e2-medium      1.26.8-gke.1200  3          RUNNING

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--num-nodes - Sets the number of nodes in the cluster

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--zone - Specifies the zone where the cluster is created

This command deploys a containerized app named example-app to the GKE cluster using the specified container image and port.

Terminal

kubectl run example-app --image=gcr.io/my-project/example-app:latest --port=8080

Expected Output

pod/example-app created

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--image - Specifies the container image to run

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--port - Exposes the container port

This command deploys the container image to Cloud Run as a managed service named example-service in the us-central1 region, allowing public access.

Terminal

gcloud run deploy example-service --image=gcr.io/my-project/example-app:latest --region us-central1 --platform managed --allow-unauthenticated

Expected Output

Deploying container to Cloud Run service [example-service] in project [my-project] region [us-central1]



✓ Creating Revision...

✓ Routing traffic...



Service [example-service] revision [example-service-00001-abc] has been deployed and is serving 100 percent of traffic.



Service URL: https://example-service-abc-uc.a.run.app

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--platform managed - Deploys to fully managed Cloud Run

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--allow-unauthenticated - Allows public access to the service

This command lists all Cloud Run services in the us-central1 region to verify the deployment.

Terminal

gcloud run services list --region us-central1

Expected Output

SERVICE         REGION      URL

example-service us-central1 https://example-service-abc-uc.a.run.app

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--region - Specifies the region to list services

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else, remember: GKE gives you full control and complexity for container orchestration, while Cloud Run offers simple, serverless container deployment with automatic scaling.

Common Mistakes

Trying to deploy a container to Cloud Run without specifying the region or platform flags

Cloud Run needs region and platform info to know where and how to deploy the service

Always include --region and --platform managed flags when deploying to Cloud Run

Creating a GKE cluster with too few nodes for the app's resource needs

The app may not have enough resources to run properly, causing failures or slow performance

Estimate resource needs and create the cluster with enough nodes or scale nodes later

Not exposing the container port when deploying to GKE

Kubernetes won't know which port the app listens on, so traffic won't reach the app

Use the --port flag with kubectl run to expose the correct container port

Summary

Use 'gcloud container clusters create' to set up a GKE cluster for full container orchestration control.

Deploy containers to GKE with 'kubectl run' specifying image and port for app access.

Use 'gcloud run deploy' with region and platform flags to deploy containers serverlessly on Cloud Run.

List Cloud Run services with 'gcloud run services list' to verify deployments.