Workload Benchmarks
How Google Cloud VMs perform on actual workloads -- not just synthetic tests. Find the best VM for your specific use case.
Web Serving
Static file serving, API throughput, and request handling performance for web applications.
Top pick
C3 series
Maximum throughput and lowest latency
Database
Transactional throughput, query performance, and in-memory operations for database workloads.
Top pick
Z3 series
I/O-intensive OLTP databases
ML Inference
Model inference speed for LLMs, image classification, and generative AI workloads.
Top pick
G2 series
Cost-effective GPU inference for most models
ML Training
Training throughput for deep learning models using GPU-accelerated compute.
Top pick
A3 series
Large-scale model training and fine-tuning
Video Encoding
Video transcoding and encoding performance for media processing pipelines.
Top pick
G2 series
High-throughput hardware encoding for streaming
HPC
High-performance computing benchmarks including LINPACK and CFD simulations.
Top pick
H3 series
Tightly-coupled HPC and MPI workloads
Best VM by Workload -- Quick Reference
| Workload | Best Performance | Best Value | Budget Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Serving | C3 (c3-standard-8) | N2 (n2-standard-8) | E2 (e2-standard-4) |
| Database | Z3 (z3-standard-88) | M3 (m3-ultramem-32) | N2 (n2-standard-8) |
| ML Inference | G2 (g2-standard-8) | A3 (a3-highgpu-8g) | G2 (g2-standard-4) |
| ML Training | A3 (a3-highgpu-8g) | G2 (g2-standard-96) | G2 (g2-standard-24) |
| Video Encoding | G2 (g2-standard-8) | H3 (h3-standard-88) | C3D (c3d-standard-8) |
| HPC | H3 (h3-standard-88) | C3D (c3d-standard-60) | N2 (n2-standard-32) |