Google Cloud Free Trial vs Free Tier: What New Users Should Know
Compare the Google Cloud free trial and Free Tier, including eligibility, trial restrictions, monthly allowances and what happens to your resources when credit ends.
New Google Cloud users often hear about “free credit” and “always free” and assume they are the same offer. They are not: the Google Cloud free trial is a time-limited credit for new customers, while the Free Tier is a set of monthly usage allowances that continue indefinitely. Knowing which one covers a given resource helps you avoid both surprise charges and resources that stop without warning.
The short version #
| Free trial | Free Tier | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Promotional credit to spend on most Google Cloud services | Monthly usage limits on specific products at no charge |
| Who gets it | Eligible new customers, once | All customers, including those still in the trial |
| How long | A fixed period or until the credit is used, whichever comes first | Ongoing, subject to Google changing the program |
| What happens at the end | Resources stop unless you upgrade to a paid account | Usage above the limits is billed on paid accounts |
At the time of writing, the trial is widely documented as $300 in credit valid for 90 days. Google adjusts these programs from time to time, so confirm the current terms on the official Google Cloud free program page before planning around them.
How the free trial works #
Eligibility and sign-up
The trial is intended for customers who have not previously been paying Google Cloud customers or used an earlier trial. Sign-up requires creating a Cloud Billing account and adding a payment method. Google uses the payment method to verify identity and help prevent abuse; the trial documentation states that you are not charged during the trial unless you choose to upgrade.
Complete the process exactly as the official sign-up asks. Verification steps such as payment method checks exist for fraud prevention, and the only supported path is to go through them honestly with your own details. If verification fails, the Cloud Billing support channels are the right place to resolve it.
What the credit covers
Trial credit can be spent on most Google Cloud products, including Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, BigQuery, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL and Vertex AI. It is applied automatically to eligible usage, and you can track the remaining balance and days left on the Billing overview page.
Restrictions during the trial
Trial accounts have extra limits designed to prevent misuse. At the time of writing, Google’s documentation lists restrictions including:
- A cap on the number of vCPUs running at the same time across the account.
- No GPUs attached to VM instances.
- No quota increase requests.
- Some products, such as certain Marketplace offerings and premium operating system images, may be unavailable or excluded from credit.
If your project needs GPUs, more vCPUs or higher quotas, the supported route is to upgrade to a paid Cloud Billing account and then request quota increases through the console. Unused trial credit carries over when you upgrade, until the original trial end date.
How the Free Tier works #
The Free Tier provides limited monthly usage of selected products without charge. Allowances reset each month and are measured per billing account (for most products), not per project. They apply whether you are on the trial or a paid account.
At the time of writing, the official list includes allowances such as the following. Treat these as examples and verify the specifics, including eligible Regions and machine types, on the Free Tier documentation page.
- Compute Engine: one e2-micro VM per month in specific US Regions, with a limited amount of standard persistent disk.
- Cloud Storage: a small monthly allowance of regional storage in specific US Regions.
- BigQuery: a monthly allowance of query processing and storage.
- Cloud Run: a monthly allowance of requests plus CPU and memory time.
- Firestore, Pub/Sub, Cloud Build and others: smaller monthly allowances for operations, messages or build minutes.
What happens when the trial ends #
The trial ends when the credit is used up or the time period expires. What follows depends on whether you upgraded.
- If you upgraded to a paid account: nothing stops. Remaining trial credit expires at the original end date, and from then on usage above Free Tier limits is billed to your payment method.
- If you did not upgrade: Google stops resources that incur charges. According to the trial documentation at the time of writing, you have a limited grace period (30 days) to upgrade and recover your resources before they may be deleted.
- Free Tier allowances remain available only on an active billing account, so if you intend to keep running free-tier resources after the trial, you will generally need to upgrade.
Google sends email reminders as the trial nears its end, but relying on those alone is risky. Put the end date in your calendar and decide in advance which resources should survive it.
Which one covers my workload? Three scenarios #
Learning and experimenting
You are working through tutorials, spinning up a few VMs, trying BigQuery and Cloud Run. The trial credit covers this comfortably, and the trial restrictions rarely get in the way. Delete resources when you finish each experiment so the credit lasts.
A small personal project you want to keep running
A hobby API on Cloud Run with a small Firestore database may fit within Free Tier allowances indefinitely. Build it during the trial, watch the billing reports to confirm which charges appear, then upgrade before the trial ends so it keeps running. Set a small budget alert to catch drift.
Evaluating Google Cloud for a startup or team
The trial gives you room to prototype, but GPU and quota restrictions can block realistic load testing or AI work. Upgrading early is often simpler. If you qualify, Google also runs a separate startup program with its own credits and application process; apply for it through the official Google for Startups site rather than any third party.
Mistakes to avoid #
- Assuming credit means no bill ever. After upgrading, charges start as soon as credit runs out.
- Creating free-tier resources in the wrong Region. Region-specific allowances do not apply elsewhere.
- Skipping budgets. A budget with alerts at several thresholds costs nothing and is the best early warning available. Remember that budgets notify you; they do not stop usage.
- Leaving forgotten projects linked to billing. Shut down or unlink projects you are no longer using.
- Using someone else’s account or trial. Trials are for the individual or organization that signs up. Sharing or reusing accounts breaks the terms of service and puts your data at risk.
To understand how billing accounts, projects and budgets connect behind the scenes, read our guide to Google Cloud projects and billing accounts. If you are comparing free programs across providers, Oracle Cloud’s Always Free offer works differently and is worth a look. The Google Cloud overview covers the platform more broadly, and the Cloud Billing documentation explains budgets and reports.
Google Cloud free trial: frequently asked questions #
Will I be charged automatically when my free trial ends?
Not unless you upgraded to a paid account. Without an upgrade, Google stops billable resources at the end of the trial rather than charging your payment method.
Can I use the Free Tier without the free trial?
Yes. Free Tier allowances apply to eligible usage on paid Cloud Billing accounts too, whether or not you ever used the trial.
Does the Free Tier apply per project?
For most products, allowances are counted per billing account, so several projects linked to the same billing account share one set of limits. Check each product’s terms for exceptions.
Why can’t I request a GPU or quota increase during the trial?
These are documented trial restrictions intended to limit abuse. Upgrading to a paid account removes the trial restrictions, after which you can request quota increases through the Quotas page in the console.
