

# How it works
<a name="runtime-compute-how-it-works"></a>

AgentCore Runtime offers two compute types for hosting your agents: **microVMs** and **Instances**. The following topics describe how each compute type works so that you can choose the right one for your workload. For a side-by-side comparison, see [Compare compute types](runtime-instances-how-it-works.md#runtime-instances-compute-comparison).

**Topics**
+ [microVMs](runtime-how-it-works.md)
+ [Instances](runtime-instances-how-it-works.md)