Short answer
As of October 23, 2026, Google Cloud Compute Engine sells 9 VPS plans from $6.11/month (e2-micro: 2 vCPU, 1 GB RAM) in 41 locations. It ranks #87 of 160 providers overall and #2 of 27 for Free VPS. Trustpilot rates it 1.4 from 43 reviews.
Key takeaways
- Cheapest plan: e2-micro at $6.11/month (2 vCPU, 1 GB RAM).
- Windows Server from $6.11/month (e2-micro, licence fee extra (not published)).
- 41 data-center locations in 27 countries: Ashburn, Berlin, Changhua County, Columbus, Council Bluffs, Dallas and 35 more.
- Always free tier: $300 welcome credit valid for 90 days for new customers (card verification via temporary hold); plus Always Free e2-micro (1 per month in Oregon, Iowa or South Carolina,….
- Ranks #87 of 160 overall; best placing #2 of 27 for Free VPS.
Key facts
| Website | cloud.google.com |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Mountain View, United States |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Cheapest plan | e2-micro, $6.11/month |
| Price per GB RAM (median) | $6.12 |
| Data centers | 41 locations in 27 countries (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America) |
| Virtualization | KVM-based hypervisor |
| Billing | Per-second (hourly), monthly invoice, 1-year commitment, 3-year commitment |
| Windows Server | Yes Windows Server images are available with a per-vCPU license surcharge on top of the Linux rate; not priced here. e2-micro/f1-style shared-core types have restrictions on Windows. |
| Operating systems | Debian, Ubuntu, Rocky Linux, CentOS Stream, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (premium), SUSE Linux Enterprise (premium), Windows Server (premium), Container-Optimized OS |
| Storage | Yes NVMe (Persistent Disk (billed separately)) |
| DDoS protection | — |
| Backups / snapshots | Paid backups; snapshots: Yes |
| IPv4 / IPv6 | IPv4 included: No; IPv6: Yes |
| API | Yes |
| Dedicated CPU plans | Yes |
| Payment methods | Card |
| Trial or credit | $300 welcome credit valid for 90 days for new customers (card verification via temporary hold); plus Always Free e2-micro (1 per month in Oregon, Iowa or South Carolina, 30 GB-month standard disk, 1 GB NA egress). |
| Money-back | Not published |
| Support | — |
| Email / port 25 | No email rule published |
| Uptime SLA | Not published |
| Trustpilot | 1.4 / 5 from 43 reviews (profile) |
Plans and prices
9 plans recorded across 3 lines. Monthly list prices in US dollars; the highlighted row is the cheapest.
| Plan | Line | CPU | vCPU | RAM | Storage | Traffic | $/month | $/GB RAM | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e2-micro | E2 shared-core | Shared | 2 | 1 GB | — | — | $6.11 | $6.11 | 2 shared vCPUs with a 0.25 vCPU baseline. One e2-micro per month is free in us-west1, us-central1 or us-east1 (30 GB standard disk and 1 GB NA egress included). Compute only; disk, IPv4 and egress extra. |
| e2-small | E2 shared-core | Shared | 2 | 2 GB | — | — | $12.23 | $6.12 | 0.5 vCPU baseline, burstable to 2 vCPUs. Compute only. |
| e2-medium | E2 shared-core | Shared | 2 | 4 GB | — | — | $24.46 | $6.12 | 1 vCPU baseline, burstable to 2 vCPUs. Compute only. |
| e2-highcpu-2 | E2 standard | Shared | 2 | 2 GB | — | — | $36.11 | $18.05 | Full (non-burst) vCPUs on cost-optimised E2 hosts, high-CPU memory ratio. Compute only. |
| e2-standard-2 | E2 standard | Shared | 2 | 8 GB | — | — | $48.92 | $6.12 | Compute only; sustained-use discount may apply automatically over a full month. |
| e2-standard-4 | E2 standard | Shared | 4 | 16 GB | — | — | $97.84 | $6.12 | Compute only. |
| e2-standard-8 | E2 standard | Shared | 8 | 32 GB | — | — | $195.67 | $6.11 | Compute only. |
| t2a-standard-1 | Tau T2A (Arm, Ampere Altra) | Dedicated | 1 | 4 GB | — | — | $28.11 | $7.03 | Arm64 instance where each vCPU is a full physical core. Available only in selected regions/zones. Compute only. |
| t2a-standard-2 | Tau T2A (Arm, Ampere Altra) | Dedicated | 2 | 8 GB | — | — | $56.21 | $7.03 | Arm64; each vCPU is a physical core. Compute only. |
Native currency USD; no conversion needed. Monthly = hourly x 730. Hourly figures read from a Google Compute price mirror (gcloud-compute.com), because Google's own pricing tables render dynamically; verify against the official Compute Engine price list or Pricing Calculator.
Google Cloud Windows VPS prices
Plans that can run Windows Server, with the monthly licence fee added where Google Cloud charges one.
| Plan | vCPU | RAM | Storage | $/month | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e2-micro | 2 | 1 GB | — | $6.11 | licence fee extra (not published) |
| e2-small | 2 | 2 GB | — | $12.23 | licence fee extra (not published) |
| e2-medium | 2 | 4 GB | — | $24.46 | licence fee extra (not published) |
| t2a-standard-1 | 1 | 4 GB | — | $28.11 | licence fee extra (not published) |
| e2-highcpu-2 | 2 | 2 GB | — | $36.11 | licence fee extra (not published) |
| e2-standard-2 | 2 | 8 GB | — | $48.92 | licence fee extra (not published) |
Data-center locations
Google Cloud Compute Engine lets you deploy in 41 locations: 13 in Europe, 12 in Asia, 11 in North America, 2 in South America, 2 in Oceania and 1 in Africa. Countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel and 15 more.
Map of Google Cloud Compute Engine locations
Click a marker to see which providers sell servers there. Marker size reflects the number of providers in that city.
- Melbourne (Australia)
- Sydney (Australia)
- St. Ghislain (Belgium)
- Sao Paulo (Brazil)
- Montreal (Canada)
- Toronto (Canada)
- Santiago (Chile)
- Hamina (Finland)
- Paris (France)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Frankfurt (Germany)
- Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
- Delhi (India)
- Mumbai (India)
- Jakarta (Indonesia)
- Tel Aviv (Israel)
- Milan (Italy)
- Turin (Italy)
- Osaka (Japan)
- Tokyo (Japan)
- Eemshaven (Netherlands)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Doha (Qatar)
- Dammam (Saudi Arabia)
- Singapore (Singapore)
- Johannesburg (South Africa)
- Seoul (South Korea)
- Madrid (Spain)
- Stockholm (Sweden)
- Zurich (Switzerland)
- Changhua County (Taiwan)
- London (United Kingdom)
- Ashburn (United States)
- Columbus (United States)
- Council Bluffs (United States)
- Dallas (United States)
- Las Vegas (United States)
- Los Angeles (United States)
- Moncks Corner (United States)
- Salt Lake City (United States)
- The Dalles (United States)
Pros and cons
Strengths
- Always-free e2-micro plus a $300 / 90-day credit makes it easy to trial
- 40+ regions across six continents, including South America, Africa and the Middle East
- Arm (T2A) and shared-core to 8-vCPU choices with per-second billing and no minimum term
Limitations
- Compute is only part of the bill: disk, external IPv4 and internet egress are all extra, so small VPS workloads cost far more than flat-rate hosts
- Burstable e2-micro/small/medium share CPU with a low baseline
- Trustpilot reviews are few and negative, typically around billing and account suspensions
Where Google Cloud ranks
Positions in the rankings on this site, based on the data above.
- Free VPS #2 of 27
- Windows VPS Hosting #18 of 77
- Best Forex VPS #18 of 76
- Best SEO VPS #23 of 76
- Best VPS in Qatar #1 of 3
- Best VPS in South Africa #5 of 15
- Best VPS in Africa #6 of 18
- Best RDP VPS (Windows Remote Desktop) #26 of 76
- Best VPS in South Korea #6 of 17
- Best Trading VPS #26 of 73
- Best VPS in South America #9 of 25
- Cheap Windows VPS #24 of 65
- VPS for PBN Hosting #59 of 157
- Best VPS for GSA Search Engine Ranker #29 of 76
- Best VPS for Developers #60 of 157
- Best VPS in Johannesburg #5 of 13
- Best VPS in Asia #33 of 84
- Best VPS in India #14 of 35
- Best VPS in Singapore #26 of 64
- Best MySQL and Database VPS #64 of 157
- Best NinjaTrader VPS #30 of 73
- Best VPS in Hong Kong #12 of 29
- Best VPS in Brazil #10 of 24
- Best VPS in Japan #20 of 48
Alternatives to Google Cloud
Providers closest to Google Cloud Compute Engine by region, price and features. LikeVPS, Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines (B-series) and Contabo are the nearest matches.
| # | Provider | Plan | $/month | RAM | $/GB RAM | Locations | Windows | Trustpilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lite 2.0 | $10.00 | 2 GB | $5.00 | 26 | Yes | — | |
| 2 | Standard_B2ats_v2 | $6.86 | 1 GB | $6.86 | 48 | Yes | 1.4 (57) | |
| 3 | Cloud VPS 4 | $6.16 | 8 GB | $0.77 | 10 | Yes | 4.6 (11,470) | |
| 4 | VM-0.5 | $2.99 | 512 MB | $5.98 | 17 | Yes | — | |
| 5 | VPS-1 | $4.54 | 4 GB | $1.14 | 11 | Yes | 3.8 (8,843) | |
| 6 | Regular Performance 1 vCPU / 0.5 GB (vc2-1c-0.5gb) | $2.50 | 512 MB | $5.00 | 32 | Yes | 1.6 (585) |
Frequently asked questions
How much does Google Cloud Compute Engine VPS cost?
Plans start at $6.11 per month for e2-micro (2 vCPU, 1 GB RAM); 2 shared vCPUs with a 0.25 vCPU baseline. One e2-micro per month is free in us-west1, us-central1 or us-east1 (30 GB standard disk and 1 GB NA egress included). Compute only; disk, IPv4 and egress extra. Across its published plans the median price is $6.12 per GB of RAM.
Where are Google Cloud Compute Engine's data centers?
Google Cloud Compute Engine lets you deploy in 41 locations: 13 in Europe, 12 in Asia, 11 in North America, 2 in South America, 2 in Oceania and 1 in Africa. Countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel and 15 more.
Does Google Cloud Compute Engine offer Windows VPS?
Windows Server images are available with a per-vCPU license surcharge on top of the Linux rate; not priced here. e2-micro/f1-style shared-core types have restrictions on Windows. Cheapest Windows-capable plan: e2-micro at $6.11/month.
Does Google Cloud Compute Engine have hourly billing?
No; billing is per-second (hourly), monthly invoice, 1-year commitment or 3-year commitment.
Is Google Cloud Compute Engine good?
As of October 23, 2026, Google Cloud Compute Engine sells 9 VPS plans from $6.11/month (e2-micro: 2 vCPU, 1 GB RAM) in 41 locations. It ranks #87 of 160 providers overall and #2 of 27 for Free VPS. Trustpilot rates it 1.4 from 43 reviews. Strengths: always-free e2-micro plus a $300 / 90-day credit makes it easy to trial and 40+ regions across six continents, including south america, africa and the middle east. Limitations: compute is only part of the bill: disk, external ipv4 and internet egress are all extra, so small vps workloads cost far more than flat-rate hosts and burstable e2-micro/small/medium share cpu with a low baseline.
Sources
Data was read from these pages (provider data checked October 15, 2026; rankings updated October 23, 2026). Prices change; check the provider's site before buying.
- https://cloud.google.com/compute/all-pricing
- https://cloud.google.com/products/compute/pricing/general-purpose
- https://cloud.google.com/about/locations
- https://docs.cloud.google.com/free/docs/free-cloud-features
- https://gcloud-compute.com/e2-micro.html
- https://gcloud-compute.com/e2-small.html
- https://gcloud-compute.com/e2-medium.html
- https://gcloud-compute.com/e2-highcpu-2.html
- https://gcloud-compute.com/e2-standard-2.html
- https://gcloud-compute.com/e2-standard-4.html
- https://gcloud-compute.com/e2-standard-8.html
- https://gcloud-compute.com/t2a-standard-1.html
- https://gcloud-compute.com/t2a-standard-2.html
- https://www.trustpilot.com/review/cloud.google.com