You are creating an Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account. You need to choose whether to configure capacity by using either provisioned throughput or serverless mode. Which two workload characteristics…

Geo-distribution is a feature available with provisioned throughput mode, but not currently with serverless mode.

Serverless mode is cost-effective for workloads where the average throughput is significantly lower than the peak throughput, meaning requests are spiky rather than consistently high. This is precisely what a low average-to-peak traffic ratio indicates.

Serverless containers have a maximum storage limit of 1 TB, so 25 TB in a single container would exceed this limit and require provisioned throughput.

A high average-to-peak traffic ratio indicates a more consistent workload, which is often better suited for provisioned throughput to ensure stable performance and potentially lower cost at scale, as opposed to serverless.

Serverless mode automatically scales with intermittent traffic, meaning you only pay for the request units and storage consumed, avoiding the cost of provisioned throughput during idle periods. This characteristic perfectly aligns with the serverless billing model.