TL&#x2F;DR - Preemptible VMs are the same as regular instances except for one key difference - they may be shut down at any time [1, 2, 3]. Similar to early AWS spot instances from what I gather (minus the bidding exchange).<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;googlecloudplatform.blogspot.ca&#x2F;2015&#x2F;05&#x2F;Introducing-Preemptible-VMs-a-new-class-of-compute-available-at-70-off-standard-pricing.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;googlecloudplatform.blogspot.ca&#x2F;2015&#x2F;05&#x2F;Introducing-P...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cloud.google.com&#x2F;compute&#x2F;docs&#x2F;instances&#x2F;preemptible" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cloud.google.com&#x2F;compute&#x2F;docs&#x2F;instances&#x2F;preemptible</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=9564122" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=9564122</a>