# Google Cloud Run

Source: https://www.fortrabbit.com/hosting-guide/providers/serverless/google-cloud-run
Created: 2026-07-12
Reviewed: 2026-07-12


## About Google Cloud Run

Cloud Run is Google's serverless container platform. It runs any container, scales it to zero when idle, and bills only while a request is in flight. The scale-to-zero end of serverless, minus the function model. PHP runs as an ordinary container, usually php-fpm with nginx or a FrankenPHP build.

Language-agnostic containers make it portable. That portability has a price, and the price is the container. A Dockerfile to write and keep current. An image registry. The surrounding Google Cloud services to wire up. And scale-to-zero still buys a cold start on the first request after a quiet spell.

## Why fortrabbit

Cloud Run fits a team already living in containers and Google Cloud that wants per-use billing. It hands over the runtime but keeps the packaging. Nothing runs until someone has built an image, and keeps building it.

fortrabbit drops that step. PHP is a first-class citizen here, not a container to assemble. Push code with Git and it runs, with a MySQL component, persistent storage, and PHP version switching built in. No Dockerfile, no registry, no cold start after a quiet hour.