Google Cloud Pricing: How Much Will It Cost You in 2024?

Google Cloud provides high-end cloud computing services that can serve your website with some of the best performance currently available. But how much will this cost you? Will you get lower prices than its top competitors, such as Amazon Web Services? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t easy to find.

After all, Google Cloud uses a notoriously complex pricing system, filled with multiple combinable discount plans and a ton of premium add-ons – and it’s all billed by the second. In fact, it’s common for many users to accidentally overpay simply due to its sheer complexity.

That’s why I decided to work all this out for you. I evaluated Google Cloud’s services and researched overall costs, comparing it with the competition. I found that Google Cloud’s VM pricing is actually pretty competitive – but only if you’re careful and take full advantage of its various discounts. Read on to learn everything you need to know.

Google Cloud Features and Pricing Overview

Complex Pricing, but Still Cheaper Than the Average

For the best deal with Google Cloud, you should commit to a one- or three-year term to get a heavy discount over paying on-demand. But be forewarned: you cannot cancel a commitment, although you can cancel on-demand instances at any time. Overall, Google Cloud tends to offer better prices than the competition and offers Sustained Use Discounts (SUDs), which can save you up to 30% per month if you use your compute resources consistently.

Google Cloud charges by the second, which means you’ll only ever pay for what you use. It accepts major credit or debit cards in most countries, as well as PayPal, bank account transfers, and even checks in select regions.

You can sign up for a 90-day free trial with a $300 credit to test Google Cloud’s services. Or you can access certain services – like e2-micro and f1-micro VM instances – for free through its Free Tier.

Keep in mind that Google Cloud’s platform is not suited to beginners. Technical support is also not free (and expensive), and you’ll need significant know-how to run an unmanaged cloud instance.

Google Cloud VM Machine Pricing and Types

As a cloud computing service, Google Cloud offers well over 100 products. For web hosting, Google Cloud’s Compute Engine virtual machines (VMs) are the best fit:

• Shared-core machines (E2, F1, G1): Ideal for small projects and hobby sites, these plans feature 0.6–4 GB RAM, 0.2–2 cores, and the lowest pricing per hour or month. The f1-micro and e2-micro instances are also available on Google Cloud’s Free Tier.
• General-purpose machines (C4, C4A, N4, C3, C3D, E2, N2, N2D, T2D, T2A, N1): Ideal for most business and e-commerce sites, these plans range from 1.8–2880 GB RAM and 1–360 cores and feature a 1 core to 3.5–3.75 GB RAM ratio (standard plans).

Other types of VMs include:

• Compute-optimized machines (H3, C2, C2D): Best suited to high-performance tasks, these plans offer 2–112 cores, 4–896 GB RAM, and a 1:4 core to GB RAM ratio (on standard plans). These plans are quite costly.
• Memory-optimized machines (M3, M2, M1): Optimized for speed, these plans feature 32–416 cores, 961–11,776 GB RAM, and a 1 core to 14.15–30.5 GB RAM ratio. Pricing is easily within the upper end of the enterprise-level range.
• Storage-optimized machines (Z3): These plans offer 88–176 cores, 704–1408 GB RAM, storage-optimized local SSD drives, and a 1:8 core to GB RAM ratio. Starting at thousands of dollars/month, these plans won’t be a necessity (or option) for most sites.

On top of the plans above, each Google Cloud machine type is generally available in standard, high memory, and/or high CPU configurations.

Shared-Core Virtual Machines Pricing

Google Cloud’s shared-core VMs are the cheapest on offer. With these instances, you’ll be sharing CPU power with other customers. While this may result in less robust performance at times, you can enjoy budget prices.

Don’t get me wrong – performance is strong compared to similar virtual servers from major hosts, but the limited resources mean these instances are best for small projects.

f1-micro1

If you thought E2 instances were Google Cloud’s lowest-tier plans, I have something to tell you. Google Cloud offers cheap N1 VM plans that can accommodate even smaller websites and projects. f1-micro is available under the Free Tier and both f1-micro and g1-small offer up to 30% in sustained use discounts (SUDs). If you use your resources at least 25% of the time in a month, you could pay a third less.

You won’t get a burstable setup like the other E2 configurations, though. But if that suits you, you can save yourself an extra bit of money. With 0.2 cores and 0.6 GB RAM, the f1-micro is definitely the better value at just $5.55/month. In comparison, the g1-small VM costs over three times as much and only offers twice as many resources.

e2-micro1

Notably, the e2-micro plan is available completely free as part of Google Cloud’s Free Tier. This is because Google Cloud offers free usage for the e2-micro equal to the total hours in the current month – meaning if you run only a single instance of this type, you’ll never have to pay for it. But with multiple instances active you can exceed this limit, so be aware.

You’ll only have 1 GB of RAM and a 0.25 vCPU core, which might not be enough to run a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress reliably, especially if you get a lot of traffic. While you can periodically burst up to 2 vCPUs for free, this isn’t guaranteed and only lasts a short time. I wouldn’t recommend putting a mission-critical project on this instance, but it can work for prototypes, static sites, or lightweight CMSs.

Also included in the Free Tier is a persistent 30 GB HDD disk, 5 GB snapshot storage, and 1 GB network egress (outbound traffic) to all regions besides China and Australia. You’re limited to three US-based data centers, though. If you need more resources or data center options, you can upgrade to a paid e2-micro instance, which doesn’t include these limits.

e2-small1

If you want to run a WordPress-based site, I’d recommend the e2-small instance at minimum. At $12.23/month, this instance offers 2 GB of RAM and a 0.5 vCPU core outside of scaling. This should help you run a basic CMS site that has occasional heavy traffic.

Google Cloud’s shared-core machines offer stronger baseline CPU performance than similarly-priced Amazon Lightsail instances – and offer a lower price if you’re willing to commit. A three-year commitment will net you a discount of more than 50% without the need to pay upfront – you can just pay monthly as usual.

That said, Kamatera offers burstable instances1 for similar on-demand pricing without the need to share CPU power. If you need to meet surges in traffic, you’ll have the guaranteed resources to do so.

e2-medium1

The e2-medium instance offers 4 GB of RAM and a single CPU core. This offers much more flexibility, but you’ll have to pay the price – the e2-medium costs twice as much as the e2-small instance.

Along with the increased resources, the e2-medium instance can burst at 100% CPU for a total of 120s, which is twice as long as the e2-small. This may not sound like much time, but keep in mind this only applies to 100% CPU usage – if you require scaling any other time, the timeframe will be longer.

While you’ll never have top-end performance on a shared-core VM, the guaranteed CPU core helps immensely. Few Google Cloud competitors offer a comparable set of resources at this price.

Are Shared-Core Virtual Machines Right for You?

Google Cloud’s shared-core instances are best for basic websites or apps with low traffic – you can save plenty of money if this is all you’re looking to host. If you want to build a static HTML site or a very simple blog, you could even use the e2-micro for free.

However, I’d recommend the e2-small to start, especially if you want to use a CMS. It’s a good price compared to the competition and delivers enough resources to support a new site finding its footing. If you’re seeing a consistently high volume of traffic, you may require the dedicated resources offered by Google Cloud’s general-purpose VMs.

General-Purpose Virtual Machines Pricing

Google Cloud’s general-purpose VMs offer dedicated vCPU cores – you won’t have to share them with anyone else. The dedicated CPU power allows you to take advantage of Google Cloud’s top-notch infrastructure and offer more reliable performance than shared cores. These VMs are also more customizable than the shared-core instances.

e2-standard1

Google Cloud’s cheapest general-purpose VM, e2-standard-2, offers 2 vCPU cores and 8 GB of RAM for $48.91 per month. This instance offers more than enough resources to run multiple sites or apps with a significant amount of traffic.

Additionally, these instances are highly customizable – you can upgrade or downgrade any resource independent of the others. If you just need an extra 4 GB of RAM, for example, you can easily add this without reconfiguring the entire instance.

Although you can save more by signing up for a yearly plan, these servers are outside the realm of budget pricing. But Google Cloud still has an edge over its competitors. As these are virtual server instances, you can’t choose the processor you get, but you can rest assured that it’ll be one of a variety of Intel processors (Skylake or Broadwell) or an AMD EPYC Milan or Rome. While Kamatera offers more powerful Ice Lake processors, it tends to charge more than Google Cloud does for its E2 line.

c4-standard1

With C4 plans, you’ll get the benefits of scaling up to 192 vCPU cores and 720 GB RAM. A C4 instance should be able to run a handful of high-traffic sites without breaking a sweat – or the bank.

C4 plans will only cost you a fraction more per GB of RAM and core than an e2-standard configuration. Overall, the C4 range of plans manages to strike a nice balance between value and computing power.

n2-standard1

If you need to serve enterprise-level traffic, I’d recommend looking at N2 instances. The n2-standard-8 plan is a good place to start, with a mighty 8 vCPUs and 32 GB of RAM. While you could get the same resources with an E2 instance, the N2 line offers Ice Lake and Cascade Lake processors for better performance per CPU core.

To get the best value out of the N2 line, you’ll need to attain 100% usage each month. That’s because these instances are subject to a sustained-use discount – the more usage per month, the better the discount. With 100% usage, you’ll get an overall 20% discount on N2 plans.

c3-standard1

If you’re looking for a cloud instance that can handle almost anything you can throw at it, the C3 range is certainly worth a look. Right off the bat, this option offers a minimum of 4 vCPUs and 16 GB of RAM.

Of course, you can scale even higher than 4 cores and 16 GB RAM if necessary. It’s also worth noting that C3-lssd instances automatically attach local SSD storage. This can give you impressive performance and ultra-low latency – perfect for critical databases.

Are General-Purpose Virtual Machines Right For You?

If you’re dealing with a medium or high volume of traffic and require a highly customizable environment, the general-purpose instances will likely be a good fit for you. These instances can handle large workloads at a lower price than competing providers.

Still, your website or project will likely need to be commercially viable enough to justify the cost. If you’re unsure about which instance to choose, I’d recommend starting with the e2-standard-2. It offers a comfortable number of resources at an affordable price. You can always scale up (or down) as necessary.

Google Cloud’s Compute-Optimized plans are among its highest (yet affordable) RAM offerings, with around 4 GB of RAM allocated per core. These plans also balance computing power with price, with C2D and C2 being the more affordable options.

Overall, the compute-optimized plans are best for heavy traffic sites, as well as CPU-heavy tasks like Machine Learning (ML) and game servers. But if you’re on a budget, look at the C2D plans first.

c2d-standard1

C2D plans are the most affordable of Google Cloud’s compute-optimized plans. They come in three configurations: standard, highmem, and highcpu (detailed below). Highcpu plans actually start out the cheapest, but mainly because the lowest configuration starts with 2 cores and 4 GB RAM.

If you need more computing power, I suggest choosing the entry-level c2d-standard-2 instance, which features 2 cores and 8 GB RAM. Starting at $66.28/month, it only costs a few more dollars per month and also includes higher-level plans if you need more power.

For speedier performance, opt for the c2d-highmem plans – just note that they’re the most expensive C2D option.

c2d-highcpu1

With twice as many cores per GB of RAM, Google Cloud’s c2d-highcpu plans cost a little less than standard options overall. These plans are still suitable for high-compute projects like machine learning, game servers, or media transcoding. C2D machines are currently only available in certain regions in the US, Europe, and Asia.

c2-standard1

C2 plans are one of Google Cloud’s top performers, offering Cascade Lake processors and an SUD discount of up to 20%. On this setup, the 2nd generation Cascade Lake processors offer a base frequency of 3.1 GHz up to a maximum of 3.9 GHz – the fastest Google Cloud has to offer. Between C2D and C2 machines, C2 are best for AI, machine learning, and ad serving.

Of course, this level of performance doesn’t come cheap. But thanks to that SUD discount, these servers can be less expensive than the competition if you anticipate near-100% CPU usage per month. If not, you may actually get a better price from Kamatera1, which offers similarly powerful Ice Lake processors without the need to fulfill any conditions for affordable pricing.

Is Compute-Optimized Hosting Right for You?

If you’re running a game server, training a Large Language Model (LLM), or modeling or collecting data, then you need more computing power. Google Cloud’s Compute-Optimized plans are the perfect solution, and though expensive, they’re actually competitively priced considering the resources and hardware.

However, if you’re not doing anything heavy-duty like the above, the compute-optimized plans are probably overkill. For basic to enterprise business or personal websites, an E2 instance or similar should be sufficient. Even a cloud plan from Cloudways or DigitalOcean might be a better fit.

Recommended Google Cloud Alternatives

While Google Cloud offers many advantages, it may not be for you. If so, I’d recommend taking a look at our top-rated alternatives below to see if they may prove a better fit.

Kamatera

Kamatera’s entry-level instances offer better value. While Google Cloud limits you to just three burstable entry-level instances, Kamatera allows you to custom-build your own. None of these instances share a CPU core with other customers, either. You’ll get more stability through traffic surges.

Additionally, all Kamatera instances benefit from Ice Lake processors, offering stronger performance per core than Google Cloud’s entire E2 line. Kamatera also doesn’t require you to fulfill multiple restrictive conditions for the best prices – they’re offered by default.

Liquid Web

If you’re looking for quality managed service and support, Liquid Web offers a better deal. While Google Cloud charges a huge fee for rapid technical support and some minor management services, Liquid Web offers free 24/7/365 technical support with all plans and affordable managed hosting as an add-on.

You can even choose from core-managed or fully managed tiers to save money. Additionally, Liquid Web’s technical support guarantees a reply in under a minute to any queries, or you can request compensation.

Cloudways

Rather than offer its own web hosting services, Cloudways acts as a third-party hosting management service for some top names in cloud infrastructure. You can get managed hosting for Google Cloud, as well as Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr in a range of configurations.

Cloudways simplifies Google Cloud’s hosting service with its own hosting software stack and affordable technical support. Cloudways configures and manages your server via its proprietary platform.

DigitalOcean

Between Google Cloud and DigitalOcean, Google definitely has the larger data center network. However, DigitalOcean is the better VM option for smaller businesses as it offers more affordable plans. It also has a larger range of lower-resource configurations.

DigitalOcean also provides a comprehensive range of complementary services – like load balancers, IPs, and network firewalls – to complement your cloud service. Keep in mind that DigitalOcean is an unmanaged service, just like Google Cloud, so it requires more know-how to set up. Of course, you can also purchase managed Google Cloud plans via DigitalOcean’s subsidiary, Cloudways.

Is Google Cloud’s VM Pricing a Good Deal?

All in all, Google Cloud offers competitive prices across the board. And its discount plans could save you a significant amount of money over competing hosts. If you’re still unsure which instance is best for you, here are my recommendations.

For a prototype or a simple static site, I’d recommend Google Cloud’s e2-micro1. It’s free up to certain resources and specs, and while there’s a limit on resources, it could still work for lightweight projects.

Or, if you’re looking to host a dynamic, low-traffic site, Kamatera is your better option1. Unlike Google Cloud’s E2 instances, you’re not forced to share CPU power on its entry-level plans. Extra resources will be more reliably available during traffic surges – and they’re also cheaper than Google Cloud’s offerings.

For more serious projects, I’d choose an e2-standard plan1. They offer dedicated CPU performance with a lower starting price than Google’s competition. For higher-traffic and enterprise websites, the N2 and C2 plans are worth a look, too – but only if you have the budget.

But please note: if you seek managed service and technical support, you can find a more favorable offer elsewhere. To fully leverage Google Cloud’s competitive pricing, you’ll require technical expertise or the financial resources to engage someone who can meet this requirement. You can get technical support from Google, but it costs extra – around 3–10% of your monthly Google charges, and it’s only available if you spend $29 or more per month.

FAQ

Is Google Cloud free?

Google Cloud offers limited access to some basic services as part of its Free Tier. This Free Tier includes Compute Engine virtual machines. Every user gets access to unlimited e2-micro instances for free up to a certain amount of hours/month, provided you select one of its US-based data centers. The smaller f1-micro instance is also available on the free tier (up to 28 hours per day).

How much does Google Cloud cost per month?

It depends on the level of computing power, your bandwidth, your data center location, storage consumption, and whether you’ve enabled any other active services. Our Google Cloud VM pricing breakdown can give you a sense of its price points for a range of requirements.

How does Google Cloud pricing work?

Google Cloud charges by the second, so you only pay for what you use. Adding select services like storage or load balancers can bring your prices up, while using select VMs continuously can lower your bill by 20–30%. You can also get a 30–50% discount by signing up for one year or three years. If you’re looking for a more straightforward billing structure for web hosting, check out our list of the top-rated cloud hosts in 2024.

Is Google Cloud cheaper than AWS?

Google Cloud tends to offer lower base prices for both shared-core and general-purpose instances despite both hosts offering similar discount plans. Still, complicated pricing structures and per-second billing can unexpectedly inflate your monthly bill. If you’re looking for cheap or free cloud hosting that also happens to be good, take a look at our list of best free cloud hosting for 2024 for a list of suggestions.