Note
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try signing in or changing directories.
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try changing directories.
Azure Container Apps express provides the fastest way to deploy containerized web applications to Azure. With opinionated defaults and a minimal configuration surface, express is a developer-first and agent-first platform designed to get your web apps running in the cloud as fast as possible.
By using express, you can create a container app directly without waiting for environment provisioning first. The rapid provisioning and scale-from-zero features make express an ideal host for AI-powered applications and agent backends.
Key capabilities
The express deployment model removes infrastructure decisions so you can focus on building your application.
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| High-speed launch | Deploy in minutes with no infrastructure tuning required. Scaling behavior is built in from the start. |
| Simple, powerful apps | Run HTTP-first workloads including APIs, SaaS frontends, AI gateways, and event-driven web backends. |
| Automatic elasticity | Scale from zero to hyperscale automatically. The platform is designed for unpredictable traffic patterns, and scaling is handled for you. |
| Scale from zero | Your app scales down to zero when idle and back up on demand, so you only pay for what you use. |
| High-speed startup | Optimized cold start ensures your app is ready to serve traffic quickly. |
| Opinionated defaults | Sensible defaults are applied automatically so you don't have to configure infrastructure settings. |
| Minimal configuration surface | Fewer decisions to make means faster time to production. |
| Developer velocity | Spend less time on infrastructure and more time writing code. |
Common scenarios
The express deployment model works best for HTTP web workloads where speed of deployment and simplicity matter most.
SaaS applications: Launch SaaS products without worrying about scaling infrastructure.
AI app frontends: Deploy AI-powered interfaces and gateways that scale with demand.
Developer tools: Ship internal and external dev tools with zero-config deployment.
Web dashboards: Build internal analytics, monitoring, and admin panels with instant availability.
Startups and new projects: Go from idea to production in minutes. Prototype fast, and scale as you grow.
Rapid prototyping: Build and validate ideas quickly, then keep running in production without replatforming.
How express works
The express deployment model simplifies the deployment experience by removing the need to manage a Container Apps environment. You deploy your app and the platform provisions the underlying resources for you.
Less environment details to manage: When using the portal, the platform creates a light-weight environment for your app. If working from the CLI, you still create an environment yourself.
Consumption-based compute: Express apps run on consumption CPU with pay-as-you-go pricing. Your apps scale to zero when idle, so you only pay for the compute your app uses.
Opinionated defaults: The platform handles configuration decisions like scaling rules, networking, and resource allocation with production-ready defaults.
Request-driven duration: Compute runs when your app receives requests and scales down when traffic stops.
Optimized cold start: The platform automatically optimizes cold-start behavior, so your app is ready to serve traffic quickly after scaling from zero.
Specialized management UI: Express apps are managed through a UI experience separate from the Azure portal. When you create or manage an express app, the platform directs you to this streamlined interface instead of the standard Azure portal experience.
When to use express
Use the following table to determine if express is the right fit for your workload.
| Scenario | Use express | Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Web apps and REST APIs | ✅ Yes | |
| SaaS frontends and AI gateways | ✅ Yes | |
| Rapid prototyping and startups | ✅ Yes | |
| Web dashboards and admin panels | ✅ Yes | |
| GPU workloads | ❌ No | Use serverless GPUs with dedicated workload profiles |
| TCP services | ❌ No | Use Workload Profile Container Apps environments |
| Jobs and batch processing | ❌ No | Use Container Apps jobs |
| Microservices with service discovery | ❌ No | Use Workload Profile Container Apps environments |
Considerations
Keep these important points in mind when using express:
Ingress protocols: Express supports HTTP ingress. It doesn't support HTTP/2, TCP, insecure HTTP, additional ingress ports, or target port auto-detection (
targetPort: 0).Consumption CPU compute: Express apps run on consumption-based CPU compute. GPU workloads require Consumption GPU Workload Profiles.
Opinionated configuration: The express model uses opinionated defaults with a minimal configuration surface. If you need fine-grained control over compute, networking, or cold-start behavior, use standard Container Apps with a workload profiles environment.
Focused networking: Express supports internal or external ingress, IP restrictions, CORS, virtual network egress, and environment private endpoints. CORS, virtual network integration, and private endpoints are available through the Azure Resource Manager (ARM) API but aren't exposed in the express portal. For virtual network egress, configure either an environment-level subnet or an app-level outbound subnet. An app-level subnet can't be combined with an environment-level virtual network, can only be shared by apps in the same environment, and can't be changed or removed after it's set. Custom domains, client certificates, session affinity, and built-in service discovery aren't available.
Feature availability: Express offers a focused set of Container Apps capabilities. User-assigned managed identities and HTTP, CPU, and memory scale rules are available through ARM but aren't exposed in the express portal. Dapr, jobs, workload profiles, and system-assigned managed identities aren't available.
Supported features
Express provides a streamlined set of Azure Container Apps capabilities. The following tables show which features are available and whether you can configure them in the Express management experience or through Azure Resource Manager (ARM).
Available capabilities
| Feature | Availability |
|---|---|
| Scale to zero | ✅ Supported |
| Container image deployment | ✅ Public images and private images authenticated with username and password secrets |
| Multiple replicas | ✅ Supported |
| Environment variables | ✅ Literal values and references to manual secrets |
| HTTP ingress | ✅ Supported; target port auto-detection isn't available |
| Default ingress domain | ✅ Microsoft-managed azurecontainerapps.io domain |
| Express management experience | ✅ Streamlined experience for creating and managing Express apps |
| Log streaming | ✅ Live, per-container log streams |
| Regional availability | ✅ Available in the regions listed below |
| Start and stop apps | ✅ Supported |
| Consumption-based billing | ✅ Usage-based billing |
| Rolling updates | ⚠️ Automatic single-revision updates; traffic splitting isn't available |
| IP restrictions | ✅ Allow or deny traffic by CIDR range |
| Console access | ✅ Browser-based, per-container console |
| Internal and external ingress | ✅ Supported |
| Single-revision deployment | ✅ Built in |
| App-to-app communication | ⚠️ Supported through an external ingress FQDN; internal service discovery isn't available |
| Manual secrets | ⚠️ Available through ARM; Key Vault references aren't supported |
| Metrics (Azure Monitor) | ✅ Available in the app overview and environment dashboard |
| Logs (Log Analytics) | ⚠️ Environment-level configuration is available through ARM |
| Autoscaling | ⚠️ HTTP, CPU, and memory scaling are available through ARM; authenticated scale rules aren't supported |
| User-assigned managed identity for app runtime | ⚠️ Available through ARM |
| User-assigned managed identity for image pulls | ⚠️ Available through ARM for supported Azure Container Registry servers |
| Virtual network integration | ⚠️ Environment-level and app-level outbound connectivity are available through ARM. App-level configuration has the networking limitations described previously. |
| Express environment quotas | ⚠️ Regional and global Express environment limits apply |
| Health probes | ⚠️ HTTP and TCP health probes are available through ARM; exec-based probes aren't supported |
| CORS | ⚠️ Available through ARM; exposed response headers aren't supported |
| Private endpoints | ✅ Environment-level private endpoints are available through ARM when public network access is disabled |
Capabilities not currently available
The following capabilities aren't currently available in Express.
- Sidecar containers
- Init containers
- Insecure HTTP ingress
- TCP ingress
- Debug console
- Key Vault secret references
- Easy Auth
- Custom domains with managed certificates
- Custom domains with customer-provided certificates
- Environment custom domain suffix with a customer-provided certificate
- Environment custom domain suffix with a managed certificate
- Client certificates
- Azure Monitor logging
- Session affinity
- Volume mounts
- Azure Files storage
- Ephemeral storage
- GPU
- Additional ingress ports
- Dapr
- Deployment labels
- Language stack configuration
- Multiple revisions and traffic splitting
- Resiliency
- Source-to-cloud deployment
- Aspire
- Maintenance windows
- OpenTelemetry
- Premium ingress
- Workload profiles
- Peer-to-peer traffic encryption
- Container Apps jobs
- Zone redundancy
Region availability
During public preview, Express is available in the following Azure regions:
- Australia East
- Brazil South
- Canada Central
- Canada East
- Central India
- Central US
- East Asia
- East US
- East US 2
- East US 2 EUAP
- France Central
- Germany West Central
- Italy North
- Japan East
- Japan West
- Korea Central
- North Central US
- North Europe
- Norway East
- Poland Central
- South Africa North
- South Central US
- South India
- Southeast Asia
- Spain Central
- Sweden Central
- Switzerland North
- Switzerland West
- UAE North
- UK South
- UK West
- West Central US
- West Europe
- West US
- West US 2
- West US 3
