Container Instances
Launch containers with hypervisor isolation.
Develop apps fast without managing virtual machines or having to learn new tools—it's just your application, in a container, running in the cloud.
Run containers without managing servers
By running your workloads in Azure Container Instances (ACI), you can focus on designing and building your applications instead of managing the infrastructure that runs them.
Increase agility with containers on demand
Deploy containers to the cloud with unprecedented simplicity and speed—with a single command. Use ACI to provision additional compute for demanding workloads whenever you need. For example, with the Virtual Kubelet, use ACI to elastically burst from your Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster when traffic comes in spikes.
Secure applications with hypervisor isolation
Gain the security of virtual machines for your container workloads, while preserving the efficiency of lightweight containers. ACI provides hypervisor isolation for each container group to ensure containers run in isolation without sharing a kernel.
What can you build with Azure Container Instances?
Elastic bursting with AKS
ACI provides fast, isolated compute to meet traffic that comes in spikes, without the need to manage servers. For example, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) can use the Virtual Kubelet to provision pods inside ACI that start in seconds. This enables AKS to run with just enough capacity for your average workload. As you run out of capacity in your AKS cluster, scale out additional pods in ACI without any additional servers to manage.
Event-driven applications with Azure Logic Apps
Combine ACI with the ACI Logic Apps connector, Azure queues, and Azure Functions to build robust infrastructure that can elastically scale out containers on demand. With Azure Container Instances, you can run complex tasks that are capable of responding to events.
Data processing jobs
Use Azure Container Instances for data processing where source data is ingested, processed, and placed in a durable store such as Azure Blob storage. By processing the data with ACI rather than statically-provisioned virtual machines, you can achieve significant cost savings through per-second billing.
Free e-book: Designing Distributed Systems
Explore how repeatable, generic patterns and reusable components can make developing distributed systems easier and more efficient—so you can focus more time on development. Get the free O’Reilly e-book by Brendan Burns, Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft and co-founder of the Kubernetes project.
Comprehensive security and compliance, built in
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Microsoft invests more than USD$1 billion annually on cybersecurity research and development.
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We employ more than 3,500 security experts who are dedicated to data security and privacy.
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Container Instances pricing
- No upfront cost
- No termination fees
- Per-second billing
Get started with an Azure free account
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After your credit, move to pay as you go to keep building with the same free services. Pay only if you use more than your free monthly amounts.
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