Azure Container Instances
A service to run containers on demand without managing servers or orchestrators (ACI).
Azure Container Instances (ACI) is a serverless service that runs individual Docker containers in Azure without provisioning virtual machines or managing a container runtime. Containers start in seconds, and you pay only for the CPU and memory consumed while running, making ACI ideal for short-lived or bursty workloads such as batch jobs, event-driven tasks, and build steps. The key exam distinction is ACI versus Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): ACI runs single isolated containers with minimal setup, while AKS orchestrates clusters of many containers with auto-scaling, rolling updates, and service discovery. Choose ACI for simplicity and fast startup; choose AKS for multi-container coordination at scale.
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