Pricing and billing

Summary

Google Cloud offers per-second billing for services like Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Dataproc, and App Engine flexible environment VMs. It provides sustained-use discounts for long-running instances and custom VM types for cost optimization. Users can set budgets and alerts to manage expenses, with visual reporting tools available in the Google Cloud Console. Quotas, including rate and allocation types, prevent over-consumption of resources, ensuring both account and community protection.

Takeaways

• 💲 Google Cloud was the first to offer per-second billing for its Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Dataproc, and App Engine flexible environment VMs.
• ⏱️ Compute Engine provides sustained-use discounts automatically when a virtual machine runs for more than 25% of the billing month.
• 🛠️ Custom virtual machine types in Compute Engine allow for fine-tuning of vCPU and memory to optimize pricing for specific workloads.
• 💡 Google's online pricing calculator is available to estimate costs at cloud.google.com/products/calculator.
• ⚠️ To prevent unexpected high bills, Google Cloud allows setting budgets at the account or project level, with alerts for when costs approach the limit.
• 🔔 Budget alerts can be customized and are typically set at 50%, 90%, and 100% of the budget limit.
• 📊 The Reports tool in Google Cloud Console visually tracks expenditure based on projects or services.
• 🚦 Quotas in Google Cloud are in place to prevent over-consumption of resources, protecting both users and the platform from errors or attacks.
• 🔄 Rate quotas in Google Cloud reset after a specific time period, such as 3,000 API calls every 100 seconds for GKE.
• 📈 Allocation quotas limit the number of resources per project, like a maximum of 15 Virtual Private Cloud networks by default, but can be adjusted by request.

Q & A

What is the significance of Google being the first major cloud provider to offer per-second billing?

Google's introduction of per-second billing for its services such as Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Dataproc, and App Engine flexible environment VMs allows for more granular and cost-effective billing, benefiting users by charging only for the exact amount of time they use the services.

What are sustained-use discounts in Google Cloud's Compute Engine?

Sustained-use discounts are automatic discounts applied when a virtual machine instance is run for more than 25% of a billing month. For every incremental minute beyond this threshold, the user receives a discount, encouraging longer-term usage of resources.

How do custom virtual machine types in Compute Engine help users?

Custom virtual machine types enable users to configure virtual machines with specific amounts of vCPU and memory tailored to their application needs, allowing for optimal performance and cost efficiency.

What is the purpose of Google Cloud's online pricing calculator?

The online pricing calculator is a tool that helps users estimate their costs for using Google Cloud services, providing a clear understanding of potential expenses and aiding in budget planning.

How can users prevent unexpected high costs on Google Cloud?

Users can define budgets at the billing account or project level and set alerts at specific thresholds, such as 90% of the budget limit, to receive notifications before reaching their spending limit.

What is the role of the Reports tool in Google Cloud Console?

The Reports tool is a visual aid that allows users to monitor their expenditure based on projects or services, helping them to keep track of their spending and make informed decisions about resource usage.

What are the two types of quotas implemented by Google Cloud, and how do they work?

Google Cloud implements rate quotas and allocation quotas. Rate quotas limit the number of requests to an API within a specific time frame and reset after that period. Allocation quotas control the total number of resources a project can have, such as the default limit of 15 Virtual Private Cloud networks per project.

How can users request an increase in the default quotas set by Google Cloud?

Users can request an increase in quotas by reaching out to Google Cloud Support, which will consider the request and potentially adjust the limits based on the user's needs and usage patterns.

Why are quotas important in Google Cloud's service structure?

Quotas are crucial as they prevent over-consumption of resources due to errors or malicious attacks, ensuring that the platform remains stable and secure for all users while also protecting account owners from unexpected high costs.

What is the default rate quota for the GKE service in terms of API calls?

The default rate quota for the Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) service allows for 3,000 calls to its API from each Google Cloud project every 100 seconds before resetting.

Outlines

00:00

💼 Google Cloud's Pricing Structure Overview

This paragraph provides an overview of Google Cloud's pricing structure, highlighting its innovative billing approach. Google Cloud was the pioneer in offering per-second billing for its Compute Engine, a service that provides virtual machines. This billing model has been extended to other services like Google Kubernetes Engine (container service), Dataproc (big data service), and App Engine flexible environment VMs (platform service). Compute Engine also offers sustained-use discounts, which automatically apply when a virtual machine runs for more than 25% of the billing month, providing incremental discounts for each additional minute used. The paragraph also mentions the ability to customize virtual machine types to optimize vCPU and memory for specific applications, thereby tailoring the pricing to workloads. Google provides an online pricing calculator to estimate costs, which can be accessed through their website. To manage expenses, users can set budgets at the account or project level, with alerts that can be customized to notify when costs approach the budget limit. The Google Cloud Console includes a 'Reports' tool for visual monitoring of expenditures, and the platform implements quotas to prevent over-consumption of resources, protecting both users and the Google Cloud community. Quotas are categorized into rate quotas, which reset after a specific time, and allocation quotas, which limit the number of resources per project. While default quotas are set, users can request increases from Google Cloud Support.

Keywords

💡Per-second billing

Per-second billing refers to a pricing model where cloud services are charged on a per-second basis rather than the traditional per-hour model. This approach allows users to pay only for the exact amount of time they use the service, which can lead to cost savings for workloads that do not require continuous operation. In the context of the video, Google Cloud was the first major cloud provider to offer this billing model for its Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Dataproc, and App Engine flexible environment VMs, enabling more granular cost management.

💡Compute Engine

Compute Engine is Google Cloud's Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering that allows users to run virtual machines (VMs) on Google's infrastructure. It is a core component of Google Cloud's services, providing scalable and flexible computing resources. The video mentions that Compute Engine offers per-second billing and sustained-use discounts, which are significant for users looking to optimize their cloud spending.

💡Sustained-use discounts

Sustained-use discounts are automatic discounts applied to Google Cloud services when a resource, such as a VM instance, is used for a significant portion of the billing month. If a user runs an instance for more than 25% of a month, they receive a discount for every additional minute of usage. This concept is integral to the video's discussion on cost management, as it demonstrates how Google Cloud incentivizes long-term usage of resources.

💡Custom virtual machine types

Custom virtual machine types allow users to configure VMs with specific amounts of vCPU and memory tailored to their applications' needs. This customization enables users to optimize their pricing and resource allocation, ensuring that they only pay for what they need. The video emphasizes the importance of this feature in managing and reducing cloud costs.

💡Google Kubernetes Engine

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a managed service that enables users to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications using Google's infrastructure. It is mentioned in the video as one of the services that now offers per-second billing, highlighting Google Cloud's commitment to providing flexible and cost-effective solutions for container orchestration.

💡Dataproc

Dataproc is Google Cloud's fully managed service for running Apache Spark and Apache Hadoop jobs. It simplifies the process of working with big data by abstracting away the complexity of cluster management. The video notes that Dataproc also benefits from per-second billing, making it a cost-effective option for big data processing tasks.

💡App Engine flexible environment VMs

App Engine flexible environment VMs refer to the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering within Google Cloud's App Engine, which allows users to run their applications on Google's infrastructure without managing the underlying servers. The video mentions that these VMs now support per-second billing, providing users with a more cost-efficient option for application deployment.

💡Budgets

Budgets in Google Cloud are set to control and monitor spending. They can be defined at the billing account level or at the project level and can be fixed or tied to a metric like a percentage of the previous month's spend. The video explains how budgets help users manage their cloud expenses and avoid unexpected costs, which is crucial for financial planning and cost control.

💡Alerts

Alerts in Google Cloud are notifications that inform users when their costs approach a predefined budget limit. They can be set at various thresholds, such as 50%, 90%, and 100%, and are customizable. The video uses the example of a $20,000 budget with an alert at 90%, which would trigger a notification at $18,000, to illustrate how alerts help users stay within their spending limits.

💡Reports

Reports in Google Cloud Console is a visual tool that allows users to monitor their expenditure based on projects or services. It provides insights into how resources are being used and where costs are being incurred. The video highlights the importance of this tool for keeping track of spending and making informed decisions about resource allocation.

💡Quotas

Quotas in Google Cloud are limits set on the usage of resources to prevent over-consumption due to errors or malicious attacks. There are two types mentioned in the video: rate quotas, which reset after a specific time, and allocation quotas, which govern the total number of resources. Quotas protect both account owners and the broader Google Cloud community by ensuring responsible resource usage.

Highlights

Google Cloud was the first major cloud provider to offer per-second billing for its infrastructure-as-a-service (Compute Engine).

Per-second billing is available for Google Kubernetes Engine, Dataproc, and App Engine flexible environment VMs.

Compute Engine provides sustained-use discounts automatically when a virtual machine instance runs for more than 25% of the billing month.

Custom virtual machine types in Compute Engine allow fine-tuning with optimal vCPU and memory configurations for specific workloads.

Google Cloud offers an online pricing calculator to estimate costs for various services.

Users can define budgets at both the billing account and project levels to manage expenses effectively.

Budgets can be fixed or tied to other metrics, such as a percentage of the previous month's spend.

Users can set up alerts to notify them when costs approach their budget limits, typically at 50%, 90%, and 100% thresholds.

The Google Cloud Console's Reports tool allows users to monitor expenditure by project or service.

Google Cloud implements quotas to prevent the over-consumption of resources due to errors or malicious activities.

There are two types of quotas: rate quotas, which reset after a specific time, and allocation quotas, which govern the number of resources in a project.

For example, the Google Kubernetes Engine service has a rate quota of 3,000 API calls per project every 100 seconds.

Allocation quotas, such as the default limit of 15 Virtual Private Cloud networks per project, can be modified by requesting an increase from Google Cloud Support.

Google Cloud’s pricing structure includes various tools and features to help users manage and control their spending effectively.

Quotas and budget alerts are essential tools for avoiding unexpected charges and managing resources efficiently on Google Cloud.

Transcripts

To round off this section of the course, let’s take a brief look at Google Cloud’s pricing

structure.

Google was the first major cloud provider to deliver per-second billing for its infrastructure-as-a-service

compute offering, Compute Engine.

In addition, per-second billing is now also offered for users of Google Kubernetes Engine

(our container infrastructure as a service), Dataproc (which is the equivalent of the big

data system Hadoop, but operating as a service), and App Engine flexible environment VMs (a

platform as a service).

Compute Engine offers automatically applied sustained-use discounts, which are automatic

discounts that you get for running a virtual machine instance for a significant portion

of the billing month.

Specifically, when you run an instance for more than 25% of a month, Compute Engine automatically

gives you a discount for every incremental minute you use for that instance.

Custom virtual machine types allow Compute Engine virtual machines to be fine-tuned with

optimal amounts of vCPU and memory for their applications so that you can tailor your pricing

for your workloads.

Our online pricing calculator can help estimate your costs.

Visit cloud.google.com/products/calculator to try it out.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “How can I make sure I don’t accidentally run up

a big Google Cloud bill?”

You can define budgets at the billing account level or at the project level.

A budget can be a fixed limit, or it can be tied to another metric; for example, a percentage

of the previous month’s spend.

To be notified when costs approach your budget limit, you can create an alert.

For example, with a budget limit of $20,000 and an alert set at 90%, you’ll receive

a notification alert when your expenses reach $18,000.

Alerts are generally set at 50%, 90% and 100%, but can also be customized.

Reports is a visual tool in the Google Cloud Console that allows you to monitor expenditure

based on a project or services.

Finally, Google Cloud also implements quotas, which are designed to prevent the over-consumption

of resources because of an error or a malicious attack, protecting both account owners and

the Google Cloud community as a whole.

There are two types of quotas: rate quotas and allocation quotas.

Both are applied at the project level.

Rate quotas reset after a specific time.

For example, by default, the GKE service implements a quota of 3,000 calls to its API from each

Google Cloud project every 100 seconds.

After that 100 seconds, the limit is reset.

Allocation quotas govern the number of resources you can have in your projects.

For example, by default, each Google Cloud project has a quota allowing it no more than

15 Virtual Private Cloud networks.

Although projects all start with the same quotas, you can change some of them by requesting

an increase from Google Cloud Support.