Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Pricing Overview

GCP

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Pricing Overview

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the third-largest public cloud and is widely used for data analytics, machine learning, and container-native workloads. GCP differentiates itself with per-second billing, automatic sustained-use discounts, and a clean commitment model that requires less upfront planning than AWS or Azure.

Compute: Machine Types

GCP custom machine types are a distinctive feature — you can pick any combination of vCPU and memory within a family rather than choosing from a fixed list. Common families include:

  • General purpose — e2, n2, n2d. e2 is the cost-optimized default; n2 runs on Intel Cascade Lake; n2d uses AMD EPYC.
  • Compute optimized — c2, c2d. For HPC and batch workloads.
  • Memory optimized — m1, m2. For large SAP HANA and in-memory databases.
  • Shared-core — e2-micro, e2-small, e2-medium. The e2-micro is included in the always-free tier.

An e2-medium (2 vCPU, 4 GiB) on-demand in us-central1 lists around $0.0624 per hour, and the sustained-use discount brings it down further when the VM runs for a significant portion of the month.

Sustained-Use Discounts

GCP automatically applies a sustained-use discount (up to 30 percent off) when a VM runs for more than 25 percent of the month, with the discount increasing proportionally up to 100 percent. No reservation or upfront payment is required, which makes GCP attractive for workloads that are long-running but not predictable enough to justify a 1-year commitment.

Committed Use Discounts

For steady-state workloads, Committed Use Discounts (CUDs) offer up to 57 percent off on-demand for a 1-year commitment and up to 70 percent for 3 years. Resource-based CUDs apply to vCPU and memory; spend-based CUDs apply to a dollar spend across resources including GPUs and TPUs.

Storage and Network

GCP standard storage in a multi-region is priced at $0.026 per GB-month, slightly above S3 but with the advantage of automatic multi-region redundancy. GCP also offers the most generous egress pricing structure: 200 GB per month of free internet egress, compared with AWS’s 100 GB on CloudFront and Azure’s 100 GB on the first outbound tier.

Free Tier

GCP’s always-free tier includes one e2-micro VM per month in us-central1, us-east1, or us-west1, 5 GB of regional standard storage, and 1 GB of outbound networking. New accounts receive a $300 credit valid for 90 days. See our AWS vs GCP storage comparison for the side-by-side.

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