CPU Classes
The CPU class determines the type of compute your container runs on and its pricing tier. You select a CPU class when creating a container.
Available classes
Shared CPU
The default class. CPU resources are shared with other workloads on the same physical node. Your container is guaranteed its requested millicores but may be throttled during periods of high node-wide contention.
- Best for: Websites, APIs, background workers, development environments, and any workload where occasional brief CPU throttling is acceptable.
- Pricing: Lowest rate.
Dedicated CPU
Your container's CPU allocation is reserved exclusively for it on the node — no other workloads compete for those cores. Provides consistent, predictable CPU performance.
- Best for: Latency-sensitive services, real-time processing, applications where consistent response times are critical.
- Pricing: Higher than shared.
Premium CPU
The highest performance tier. Runs on higher-specification hardware with dedicated CPU allocation and optimised for compute-intensive workloads.
- Best for: CPU-intensive processing, machine learning inference, video transcoding, and similar heavy workloads.
- Pricing: Highest rate.
Choosing a class
If you are not sure which class to use, start with shared. Monitor CPU utilisation and response time metrics on the container's Metrics tab. If you observe consistent CPU throttling or latency spikes that correlate with CPU pressure, upgrade to dedicated.
Changing the CPU class
You can change the CPU class on an existing container. The change triggers a redeployment. Note that changing the CPU class also changes the billing rate from the next completed hour bucket onwards.
