Cloud bills can sneak up on you, right? Whether you’re running a handful of VMs for a startup or powering thousands of instances for an enterprise, you want to get the best value.
In this post, we’ll break down google cloud vs aws pricing so you can compare rates, discounts, and fees in plain English. You’ll walk away with a clear comparison of compute, storage, and network charges, plus pro tips to optimize your cloud spend.
Understand pricing models
Need predictable costs? Both providers offer on-demand billing and deeper discounts when you commit to longer-term usage.
On-demand versus pay-as-you-go
- Google Cloud bills per second across all VM types, so you pay only for the exact runtime.
- AWS bills Linux/Unix VMs per second and Windows VMs per hour.
Committed use versus reserved instances
- Google Cloud committed use discounts lock in up to 57 percent off for 1- or 3-year agreements.
- AWS reserved instances and Savings Plans can cut costs by up to 72 percent when you commit to a specific family or spend level.
Compare compute costs
Running compute-heavy workloads? Here’s a high-level look at list prices for on-demand, reserved, and spot/preemptible instances in the US region.
| Metric | Google Cloud | AWS |
|---|---|---|
| On-demand vCPU cost (USD/hour) | 0.095 | 0.096 |
| Maximum preemptible/Spot discount | up to 80 percent off | up to 90 percent off |
| Maximum committed/reserved discount | up to 57 percent off | up to 72 percent off |
Note that actual rates vary by region and instance family. Always check current pricing pages before you commit.
Evaluate storage pricing
Wondering how much storage will set you back? Both Google Cloud and AWS charge by gigabyte-month and add retrieval or early-delete fees for archive tiers.
- Standard object storage
- Google Cloud Standard: ~$0.02 per GB-month
- AWS S3 Standard: ~$0.023 per GB-month
- Infrequent access tiers
- Google Cloud Nearline: ~$0.01 per GB-month
- AWS S3 IA: ~$0.0125 per GB-month
- Archive tiers
- Google Cloud Coldline: ~$0.007 per GB-month
- AWS Glacier: ~$0.004 per GB-month
For use cases like large dataset storage in ML pipelines, check out our comparison of Google Cloud vs AWS for machine learning.
Assess network fees
Worried about unexpected data transfer fees? Egress charges can add up fast if you move data across regions or out to the internet.
- Data egress
- Google Cloud: $0.12 per GB after the first free gigabyte each month
- AWS: $0.085 per GB up to 10 TB, then volume tiers
- Load balancing and transit
- Google Cloud HTTP(S) load balancer: $0.025 per hour plus $0.008 per GB processed
- AWS Elastic Load Balancer: $0.0225 per hour plus $0.008 per GB processed
If security and compliance matter as much as costs, take a look at our guide on AWS vs Google Cloud security.
Plan with discounts
Looking to lock in lower rates? Both platforms reward steady or committed usage with deeper cuts than you get from on-demand alone.
- Sustained use discounts (Google Cloud)
- Automatic up to 30 percent off for VMs that run most of the billing month
- Committed use discounts (Google Cloud)
- 1- or 3-year terms, up to 57 percent off
- Savings Plans (AWS)
- Flexible commitments based on compute spend, up to 66 percent off
- Reserved instances (AWS)
- Standard or convertible, up to 72 percent off for specific instance families
Review key takeaways
- Both providers offer pay-as-you-go billing, with per-second granularity on Google Cloud for all VMs.
- Google Cloud preemptible VMs max out at around 80 percent off, while AWS Spot offers up to 90 percent discounts.
- Storage costs vary by tier—GCP tends to be slightly cheaper for standard and nearline, AWS shines in archival pricing.
- Network egress fees differ by volume and region; always map your data flows before choosing.
- Commit to longer terms or spend levels to score major discounts on both platforms.
Try out these pointers when you estimate your next cloud bill, and you’ll dodge surprise charges. Got a pricing tip of your own? Share it in the comments below so everyone can benefit.
