Google Cloud Batch vs Webcron

Google Cloud Batch schedules, queues, and runs batch jobs on Google infrastructure. It obtains resources for jobs, creates or removes them during runtime to match job specifications, and can scale compute resources automatically for parallel work. Jobs run executable scripts or containerized workloads, with tasks arranged sequentially or in parallel. Storage options include persistent disks, local SSDs, Cloud Storage buckets, and network file systems such as Filestore. Integrations identified for a developer workflow include Cloud Storage, Pub/Sub, Cloud Logging, and Workflows. Batch can send job and task state changes through Pub/Sub, with notifications streamable to BigQuery. It supports IAM permissions and VPC Service Controls; Secret Manager can provide sensitive job data. Batch itself has no additional charge, but resources used by jobs are billed, and quotas and limits apply. Each job is restricted to one task group, named group0, and finished jobs are automatically deleted after 60 days unless deleted earlier. It is available through API and web, with cloud deployment.

Webcron is a cloud service for scheduling web-accessible scripts and monitoring servers, websites, and routers. Jobs can run once or on a schedule as often as every minute, with timeouts up to one hour. Users can choose notifications for successful or failed jobs. Monitoring checks whether targets can be reached from more than one location, using HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, or ping at intervals from 1 to 60 minutes. Monitors can compare page content, look for a specified string, and add custom request headers.

The API communicates directly with the Webcron engine, and its documented methods cover cron jobs and monitors. A PHP class is available for API connections and is stated to support PHP 5.0 and later. The maker lists monitoring stations in the United States, Japan, Singapore, Ireland, Brazil, Germany, France, South Korea, and Australia. Webcron has no free plan and offers a 14-day trial; monitoring can be tried free for one week or until credits are used up. Listed per-launch prices include free for a 180-second timeout, €0.01, paid once for 600 seconds, €0.13, paid once for 1800 seconds, and €0.25, paid once for 3600 seconds. Email alerts cost €0.01 and SMS alerts cost €0.15.