To minimize image storage costs and latency in your new API, which architecture is best?

The architecture that best minimizes image storage costs and latency in this scenario is the combination of a Cloud Content Delivery Network (CDN) backed by Cloud Storage.

Using a CDN greatly enhances the performance of delivering images to users by caching content closer to their geographical location. This reduces latency significantly, as users can retrieve images from edge locations that are nearby rather than fetching them from a central server, which could be located far away. This is particularly important for APIs that serve images frequently, as the speed of access directly influences the responsiveness perceived by users.

Cloud Storage serves as a cost-effective and scalable solution for storing images, allowing for easy integration with a CDN. With Cloud Storage, you pay only for what you use, which keeps storage costs low. Moreover, the automatic scaling of Cloud Storage ensures that you can handle variable loads efficiently without worrying about capacity planning.

In contrast, while App Engine and Compute Engine offer flexibility and robust environments for applications, they may not be the most efficient choices for serving static assets like images in terms of cost and performance compared to the optimized delivery that a CDN provides. Transfer Appliance, while useful for transferring large data sets, is not relevant for serving images in real-time through an API. Utilizing Cloud Filestore in the context of