4 ms·

Google AppEngine is a good alternative for Python, Go, Java, or PHP web apps.

pickle27 11y ago
I disagree - do they still lock you to their db? if they do then you are going to have to do a lot of work if you want to move to a different platform
- jonwayne 11y ago
  Absolutely not. You can use Cloud Datastore, or you can connect to any database that can communicate over sockets or http, including Cloud SQL. Of note is that Datastore has a free tier, Cloud SQL does not, and Socket usage can incur (some) cost when communicating with other databases. I've seen many Python apps that connect to a free MongoDB instance hosted on Mongolab. (also worth noting that Node.js support for App Engine is currently in beta.) (disclaimer: I work for Google on Cloud Platform)
  - jay_kyburz 11y ago
    Oh, do you mean as a managed VM?
    - jonwayne 11y ago
      Yes.
  - pickle27 11y ago
    cool I didn't know that - thanks for the info!
  - jay_kyburz 11y ago
    > also worth noting that Node.js support for App Engine is currently in beta. Is this public? I have been waiting to hear this for ages! Great News. I am planning a switch to node simply so I can run the same code on the front and back end. I was not looking forward to learning how to administer a server.
    - jonwayne 11y ago
      Check out https://cloud.google.com/nodejs https://cloud.google.com/nodejs
m_fayer 11y ago
As a longstanding gae user I have to disagree. The performance characteristics are esoteric, they're always a few generations behind wrt language updates and framework compatibility, and the whole platform is stagnating. At least in Java-land, and I think Python too.
- jonwayne 11y ago
  If you are a Java user and want to take advantage of Java 8, I really encourage you to check out managed VMs. We have a runtime available for Java 8 & Jetty 9 on github here: https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/appengine-java-vm-runtime https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/appengine-java-vm-run... (disclaimer: I work for Google on Cloud Platform, but not on anything Java related)
  - m_fayer 11y ago
    I tried to move beyond archaic Java with managed VMs when they were first announced. Back then it was half-baked and glitchy, it felt like Google was using its actual users to do their testing, I hope it's gotten better since. Generally, I think what Google is missing (or doesn't care about) is that anyone who is using a PAAS provider is willingly exchanging some flexibility, control, and price-efficiency for the luxury of having devopsy management tasks taken off their hands in a competent and reliable manner. Managed VMs seem to be providing so little of that that you might as well move to IAAS. Or, do as I have, and move to Azure - who do manage to stay pretty current, and blend PAAS and IAAS in a much more elegant manner.
    - jonwayne 11y ago
      > I tried to move beyond archaic Java with managed VMs when they were first announced. Please keep in mind that Managed VMs is still in beta, however, there are other parts of Google Cloud Platform that are in GA, including Compute Engine (IaaS), and Container Engine (somewhere between PaaS and IaaS). In fact, depending on how much control you want, Container Engine can be a better fit than App Engine.
- bduerst 11y ago

I disagree - do they still lock you to their db? if they do then you are going to have to do a lot of work if you want to move to a different platform

jonwayne 11y ago
Absolutely not. You can use Cloud Datastore, or you can connect to any database that can communicate over sockets or http, including Cloud SQL. Of note is that Datastore has a free tier, Cloud SQL does not, and Socket usage can incur (some) cost when communicating with other databases. I've seen many Python apps that connect to a free MongoDB instance hosted on Mongolab. (also worth noting that Node.js support for App Engine is currently in beta.) (disclaimer: I work for Google on Cloud Platform)
- jay_kyburz 11y ago
  Oh, do you mean as a managed VM?
  - jonwayne 11y ago
    Yes.
- pickle27 11y ago
  cool I didn't know that - thanks for the info!
- jay_kyburz 11y ago
  > also worth noting that Node.js support for App Engine is currently in beta. Is this public? I have been waiting to hear this for ages! Great News. I am planning a switch to node simply so I can run the same code on the front and back end. I was not looking forward to learning how to administer a server.
  - jonwayne 11y ago
    Check out https://cloud.google.com/nodejs https://cloud.google.com/nodejs

m_fayer 11y ago

As a longstanding gae user I have to disagree. The performance characteristics are esoteric, they're always a few generations behind wrt language updates and framework compatibility, and the whole platform is stagnating. At least in Java-land, and I think Python too.

jonwayne 11y ago
If you are a Java user and want to take advantage of Java 8, I really encourage you to check out managed VMs. We have a runtime available for Java 8 & Jetty 9 on github here: https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/appengine-java-vm-runtime https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/appengine-java-vm-run... (disclaimer: I work for Google on Cloud Platform, but not on anything Java related)
- m_fayer 11y ago
  I tried to move beyond archaic Java with managed VMs when they were first announced. Back then it was half-baked and glitchy, it felt like Google was using its actual users to do their testing, I hope it's gotten better since. Generally, I think what Google is missing (or doesn't care about) is that anyone who is using a PAAS provider is willingly exchanging some flexibility, control, and price-efficiency for the luxury of having devopsy management tasks taken off their hands in a competent and reliable manner. Managed VMs seem to be providing so little of that that you might as well move to IAAS. Or, do as I have, and move to Azure - who do manage to stay pretty current, and blend PAAS and IAAS in a much more elegant manner.
  - jonwayne 11y ago
    > I tried to move beyond archaic Java with managed VMs when they were first announced. Please keep in mind that Managed VMs is still in beta, however, there are other parts of Google Cloud Platform that are in GA, including Compute Engine (IaaS), and Container Engine (somewhere between PaaS and IaaS). In fact, depending on how much control you want, Container Engine can be a better fit than App Engine.
bduerst 11y ago