Choosing Google App Engine Standard vs Flexible Environment for Laravel Application?

Question

I am deploying a Laravel app (content management system) on GCP App Engine but I am not sure what are the advantages or disadvantages of standard vs flexible environment and how it would impact a Laravel application. The application will not have many users (low traffic) but will require to read the database and show outputs etc. for a number of rows. Could someone please highlight differences and provide suggestions. I am sorry if this question doesn't fit here as I am new to this StackExchange.

Answer 1

That’s a great question. Both environments have their pros and cons, and at the end of the day, you’ll decide what best suits your needs.

App Engine Standard

TL;DR: Super fast startup, scales to zero, priced by the number of instance hours somewhat restrictive

Pros:

• The app can scale to zero when it is idle
• Deploys quickly
• Autoscales in seconds
• Can run for free or at very little cost

Cons:

• Only specific languages are supported
• No Background processes
• Can’t consume VM resources
• No flexibility in the runtime
• No SSH

App Engine Flex

TL;DR: Super customizable and high performing environment at the cost of scalability overhead and cost

Pros:

• Everything is customizable. Runtime and Infrastructure
• Instances can be accessed via SSH, unlocking more potential
• Performance is SOLID as it runs on the VMs that suit your needs. Background processes and thread exist

Cons:

• Does not scale to 0. You need to have 1 instance at all times
• Takes significantly longer to deploy
• Scaling instance takes longer
• Costs a more than standard

Takeaway

Use App Engine Standard if you don’t need to customize the runtime or infrastructure.

In your case, I would suggest you use App Engine Standard as your app isn’t going to have many users and you can connect to Cloud SQL.

I hope that this helps.

Cheers!