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Gyro Serverless Containers: no servers to rent, pay per container

Gyro Containers (ECS) 96 views Step-by-step guide Last verified: Markdown
What you will learnhow to pick a size for a container in serverless mode, how the price is calculated, autoscaling and the limits.
Time7 minutes

1. Serverless vs. dedicated nodes

Dedicated nodes (Starter / Standard / Pro) Serverless
What you rent Nodes reserved for you (e.g. 2 × 2 vCPU / 4 GB) Nothing; only running containers
Size Containers fit into your nodes You pick vCPU + memory per container
Price Environment + per node, hourly (monthly cap = package price) vCPU-hour + GB-hour, only while running
Best for Steady, predictable load Small services, test environments, spiky traffic

The panel, address (<service>-<code>.gyroapp.net), versions/rollback, variables, secrets, custom domain + free SSL, logs, image registry, API, CLI and Terraform are the same in both modes.

2. Sizes

Every container copy uses one of these combinations (industry standard table):

vCPU Memory options
0.25 0.5 GB · 1 GB · 2 GB
0.5 1-4 GB (1 GB steps)
1 2-8 GB (1 GB steps)
2 4-16 GB (1 GB steps)
4 8-30 GB (1 GB steps)

An invalid combination (e.g. 0.25 vCPU / 4 GB) is refused and the allowed values are shown. 8 and 16 vCPU sizes will open later.

Each copy also gets 4 GB local disk (writable layer + /tmp 512 MB); use Object Storage or a separate database server for persistent data.

3. Your first serverless service

  1. Order Gyro Serverless Containers (prepaid; roughly 24 hours of the smallest container in your balance is enough to order).
  2. On the service page: Services → New service.
  3. Enter a name, an image (e.g. nginxinc/nginx-unprivileged:alpine) and the port (8080).
  4. Pick vCPU in CPU / copy and memory in Memory / copy. The estimated hourly price is shown under the form.
  5. Switch on Public and press Create. Within seconds the service is live on its HTTPS address.

CLI:

bash
gyro container service create SERVICE_ID --name web --image nginxinc/nginx-unprivileged:alpine \
  --port 8080 --replicas 1 --cpu-m 250 --memory-mi 512 --public

Terraform:

hcl
resource "gyro_container_service" "web" {
  service_id = 12345            # serverless service id
  name       = "web"
  image      = "nginxinc/nginx-unprivileged:alpine"
  port       = 8080
  replicas   = 1
  cpu_m      = 250              # 0.25 vCPU
  memory_mi  = 512              # 0.5 GB
  public     = true
}

4. How the price is calculated

Every running copy is measured minute by minute and charged from your balance at the top of the hour:

hourly price = vCPU × price per vCPU-hour + GB × price per GB-hour

Example (1 copy, 24/7) Hourly Full month (730 h)
0.25 vCPU / 0.5 GB €0.0087 ~€6.31
0.5 vCPU / 1 GB €0.0173 ~€12.63
1 vCPU / 2 GB €0.0346 ~€25.26
2 vCPU / 4 GB €0.0692 ~€50.52

Current prices: €0.0298 per vCPU-hour, €0.0024 per GB-hour. (VAT excluded; the current price on the product page applies.)

  • A service scaled to 0, stopped or deleted is not charged.
  • There is no "monthly maximum" in serverless mode: you pay for what you use.
  • Image registry: 2 GB free per environment, then €0.05 per GB-month.
  • The Spending screen shows separate CPU and memory lines per service with the measured hour.

5. Autoscaling

Turn on Autoscaling in the service settings: min / max copies and target CPU percent. Copies are added under load and removed when it drops; only running copies are charged. Your account limit for containers running at once (default 16 vCPU / 32 GB) is on the product page; open a ticket to raise it for your account.

6. Security and isolation

  • Every container runs in its own isolated kernel sandbox; it cannot see or reach another customer's containers on the same machine.
  • Containers run as a non-root user without privileges; infrastructure networks and management systems are unreachable.
  • Outbound SMTP port 25 is closed (use 587).
  • CPU, memory and disk of each copy are limited to the size you picked; a copy that exceeds it is restarted (Logs → Previous instance).

7. FAQ

Why did my container wait a few minutes on first start?

If the region has no free capacity at that moment, new capacity is prepared (usually 2-5 minutes). The service shows "Starting"; waiting is not charged.

I got "the region is at capacity for this size". Try a smaller size or fewer copies, or try again in a few minutes.

Can I move from dedicated nodes to serverless?

Run the same images in a new serverless service and point your domain there; both products can run side by side.

Does an image that needs root work?

No; in serverless mode containers always run as a non-root user. Use images such as nginxinc/nginx-unprivileged.

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