What is a cloud engine?

A cloud engine is your own dedicated cloud environment. It is a private set of nodes running the Internet Computer (ICP) protocol, in the regions you choose, billed by card, with no servers or operating systems for you to manage.

The mental model: create, operate, pay

You create an engine by choosing a node configuration and one or more regions, then paying by card. The engine provisions on its own and moves to a running state, usually within minutes. From there you operate it: deploy apps, view its nodes, and manage who can administer it. You pay for the nodes you reserve.

You choose the nodes and the geography

Unlike a typical cloud region, you select the spec class, the number of nodes, and the locations that run your engine. The nodes are distributed across independent locations, so your apps keep serving users even if a whole data center goes down.

Execution is verifiable

Every response from your engine is signed by the engine's key and can be checked against the NNS (Network Nervous System) root key. You can verify which nodes ran your code rather than relying on a contractual promise. The running code is tamperproof: it cannot be changed silently, because every change is replicated and verified across the nodes.

No servers to run

There is no operating system to patch, no security team to staff, and no admin team to keep things online. Integrity, replication, and uptime are properties of the network, enforced across the nodes on every request.

One engine, one asset

An engine is a single business asset you own and control, not a tier of infrastructure to wire together. It is sovereign by design: it can run on bare metal, on AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure, on local cloud providers, or across a mix of them, and the guarantees travel with the protocol rather than the hardware.

Related: How do I create an engine? What am I paying for, and how is the price set? Glossary.