Overview
Preemptible instances (specifically the term used by Google Cloud, similar to AWS Spot Instances) offer massive discounts (up to 80%) compared to standard instances. The trade-off is that the provider can 'preempt' (shut down) the instance with a short notice (usually 30 seconds to 2 minutes).
Key Characteristics
- Low Cost: Significant savings for fault-tolerant workloads.
- Short-lived: Not suitable for applications that cannot handle interruptions.
- Availability: Based on the provider's excess capacity; availability varies by region and instance type.
Use Cases
- Batch processing and data analysis.
- Rendering and video encoding.
- Stateless microservices.
- Development and testing environments.