Google Compute Engine VPS Review
Google Compute Engine was founded in 2008.
It is headquartered in the USA.
It offers VPS, Database, Storage and Networking hosting products.
- Australia
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- Finland
- Germany
- Hong Kong
- India
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Netherlands
- Qatar
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- United Kingdom
- United States
Features included with VPS
Features not included in the VPS price are marked as missing below.
| Feature | Value | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly Billing | Yes | |
| DDOS Protection | Yes | GCE uses the Andromeda network stack which features DDOS protection. |
| Backups | No | Snapshots and Images are available but are charged extra as storage ($0.026 per GB per month as of 5/8/2016). |
| Control Panel | Builtin | |
| SSH Keys Setup | Yes | |
| Total Number of Datacenters | 20 | |
| Number of Datacenter Continents | 4 | |
| Monitoring Charts | Yes | CPU, disk and network utilization. |
| Admin REST API | Yes | |
| Upgrade VPS from admin console | No | |
| Mobile Friendly UI | No | |
| Reverse DNS | No | |
| Accepted Forms of Payment | Credit Cards | |
| Hidden CPU Model | Yes | |
| Affiliate Program | No | |
| Firewall | No | |
| Shelving | Yes | "A stopped instance does not incur charges, but all of the resources that are attached to the instance continue to incur charges.": https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/stop-start-instance |
Pros and Cons
Strengths
- Large catalog of available features.
- Datacenter locations all over the world.
Weaknesses
- Disk IO is throttled on small storage volumes.
Google Compute Engine Extra Services
In addition to features included in the VPS plan, Google Compute Engine also offers the following services (possibly for a fee):
| Backups | Block storage | Object storage | Load balancer | Floating IP addresses |
| Team Management | Managed databases | Serverless | DDoS protection | Kubernetes |
| GPU instances |
CPUs
These are all the CPU types we have seen in Google Compute Engine instances per plan and time period.
Google Compute Engine CPUsVPS Instance Provisioning Time
For each Google Compute Engine VPS trial, we measured how long it took to provision the server.
See also VPS provisioning times for all providers.
| Average Provisioning Time | Min Provisioning Time | Max Provisioning Time | Number of VPS Samples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19s | 12s | 30s | 9 |
Admin UI Screenshots
Cloud Storage Prices
For a comparison of storage features and prices from all providers, please check the Cloud Storage Prices page.
| Storage Type | Price / GB / month | Restriction | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block | $0.170 | SSD Provisioned space |
Called "Persistent Disk" at Google. Also available in Standard form on HDD at $0.04/GB/month. https://cloud.google.com/persistent-disk/ |
| Object | $0.020 | Standard Storage. First 5GB free. |
Object storage is called "Cloud Storage" at Google. Nearline and Coldline storage are also available at lower prices and speeds. Data transfer and operation fees are extra. https://cloud.google.com/storage/pricing |
| Snapshots | $0.020 |
GCE snapshots are incremental and stored in "Cloud Storage" (object storage)
https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/snapshots?hl=en |
Compare all Google Compute Engine plans in the Screener
The Screener shows all Google Compute Engine plans side by side with their grades in 5 categories.
Google Compute Engine Plans
Plan Specifications
| URL | https://developers.google.com/compute/pricing#machinetype |
|---|---|
| Price per month |
$13.13
Warning: storage costs are not included in this price.
Warning: network bandwidth costs are not included in this price.
|
| Discount or Surcharge for long or short term use |
Surcharge The on-demand price for this plan is $18.50/month, which is 40% more expensive than the monthly price. The surcharge does not apply if the VPS is used for 30 days or more. |
| Disk GB | 10 |
| Num Cores | 1 |
| Memory GB | 1.7 |
| Hourly Billing | Yes |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| Data Transfer GB | 100 |
| Burstable CPU | Per core CPU allocation: 50% |
| Dedicated CPU | No |
Plan Grades
Screen Google Compute Engine VPS Plans
Grades are calculated by combining results from web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Grade A is best, grade F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
More details about grades calculation
Overall Score: 34
| Web Performance | Raw CPU Power | Performance Stability | Disk IO Performance | Network Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | E | C | E | E |
Note: A low grade on a low price VPS does not necessarily mean the VPS is underperforming, the server may still perform better than other servers at the same price. Use the Price Weighted Grades or the Best VPS 2021 rankings to find the best VPS in each price range.
Performance Test Results
We conducted 4 different types of tests during the latest trial for Google Compute Engine - g1-small. Review the results and compare this plan to its competitors.
| Web Runs | Network Transfers | Sysbench | Endurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review | Review | Review | Review |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
Performance trials run on the g1-small plan
This plan was tested 18 times at vpsbenchmarks.com. The table below shows all trials run on the g1-small plan with its grade and CPU type.
| Start of Trial | CPU | Datacenter | Overall Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 21 2020 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | Iowa, USA | D |
| Mar 28 2019 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | Iowa, USA | E |
| Aug 16 2018 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.50GHz | us-central1-f | D |
| Feb 11 2018 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | us-east1-d | D |
| Apr 30 2017 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | us-east1-c | |
| Oct 02 2016 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | us-east1-c | |
| May 08 2016 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | us-east1-c | |
| Jan 04 2016 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | us-east1-b | |
| Jul 27 2015 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.60GHz | us-central1-a | |
| Feb 23 2015 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.50GHz | us-central1-f | |
| Feb 15 2015 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.50GHz | us-central1-f | |
| Sep 22 2014 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.60GHz | ||
| Sep 15 2014 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.60GHz | ||
| Apr 21 2014 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.60GHz | ||
| Apr 15 2014 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.60GHz | ||
| Apr 08 2014 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.60GHz | ||
| Apr 07 2014 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.60GHz | ||
| Mar 31 2014 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.60GHz |
Plan Specifications
| URL | https://cloud.google.com/compute/vm-instance-pricing#e2_sharedcore_machine_types |
|---|---|
| Price per month |
$24.46
Warning: storage costs are not included in this price.
Warning: network bandwidth costs are not included in this price.
|
| Discount or Surcharge for long or short term use |
No |
| Disk GB | 40 |
| Num Cores | 2 |
| Memory GB | 4.0 |
| Hourly Billing | Yes |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| Data Transfer GB | 0 |
| Burstable CPU | Per core CPU allocation: 50% |
| Dedicated CPU | No |
Plan Grades
Screen Google Compute Engine VPS Plans
Grades are calculated by combining results from web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Grade A is best, grade F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
More details about grades calculation
Overall Score: 49
Performance Test Results
We conducted 6 different types of tests during the latest trial for Google Compute Engine - e2-medium. Review the results and compare this plan to its competitors.
| Web Runs | Live Web | Network Transfers | Remote Timings | Sysbench | Endurance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review | Review | Review | Review | Review | Review |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
Performance trials run on the e2-medium plan
This plan was tested 1 times at vpsbenchmarks.com. The table below shows all trials run on the e2-medium plan with its grade and CPU type.
| Start of Trial | CPU | Datacenter | Overall Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 14 2020 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | Iowa, USA | D |
Plan Specifications
| URL | https://cloud.google.com/compute/pricing#predefined_machine_types |
|---|---|
| Price per month |
$27.67
Warning: network bandwidth costs are not included in this price.
|
| Discount or Surcharge for long or short term use |
No |
| Disk GB | 20 |
| Num Cores | 1 |
| Memory GB | 3.75 |
| Hourly Billing | Yes |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| Data Transfer GB | 0 |
| Burstable CPU | No |
| Dedicated CPU | No |
Plan Grades
Screen Google Compute Engine VPS Plans
Grades are calculated by combining results from web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Grade A is best, grade F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
More details about grades calculation
Overall Score: 38
Performance Test Results
We conducted 4 different types of tests during the latest trial for Google Compute Engine - n1-standard-1. Review the results and compare this plan to its competitors.
| Web Runs | Network Transfers | Sysbench | Endurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review | Review | Review | Review |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
Performance trials run on the n1-standard-1 plan
This plan was tested 5 times at vpsbenchmarks.com. The table below shows all trials run on the n1-standard-1 plan with its grade and CPU type.
| Start of Trial | CPU | Datacenter | Overall Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 04 2021 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | D | |
| Oct 28 2019 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.20GHz | us-east4-c | D |
| Nov 07 2018 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.50GHz | us-central1-f | D |
| Jan 07 2018 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | us-east1-c | C |
| Apr 02 2017 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | us-east1-c |
Plan Specifications
| URL | https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/machine-types |
|---|---|
| Price per month |
$36.11
Warning: storage costs are not included in this price.
Warning: network bandwidth costs are not included in this price.
|
| Discount or Surcharge for long or short term use |
No |
| Disk GB | 0 |
| Num Cores | 2 |
| Memory GB | 2.0 |
| Hourly Billing | Yes |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| Data Transfer GB | 0 |
| Burstable CPU | No |
| Dedicated CPU | No |
Plan Grades
Screen Google Compute Engine VPS Plans
Grades are calculated by combining results from web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Grade A is best, grade F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
More details about grades calculation
Overall Score: 40
Performance Test Results
We conducted 4 different types of tests during the latest trial for Google Compute Engine - e2-highcpu-2. Review the results and compare this plan to its competitors.
| Web Runs | Network Transfers | Sysbench | Endurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review | Review | Review | Review |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
Performance trials run on the e2-highcpu-2 plan
This plan was tested 2 times at vpsbenchmarks.com. The table below shows all trials run on the e2-highcpu-2 plan with its grade and CPU type.
| Start of Trial | CPU | Datacenter | Overall Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 24 2021 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | Iowa, USA | D |
| Dec 30 2019 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | Iowa, USA | C |
Plan Specifications
| URL | https://cloud.google.com/compute/pricing#predefined |
|---|---|
| Price per month |
$36.23
Warning: storage costs are not included in this price.
Warning: network bandwidth costs are not included in this price.
|
| Discount or Surcharge for long or short term use |
Surcharge The on-demand price for this plan is $51.05/month, which is 40% more expensive than the monthly price. The surcharge does not apply if the VPS is used for 30 days or more. |
| Disk GB | 20 |
| Num Cores | 2 |
| Memory GB | 1.8 |
| Hourly Billing | Yes |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| Data Transfer GB | 100 |
| Burstable CPU | No |
| Dedicated CPU | No |
Performance Test Results
We conducted 5 different types of tests during the latest trial for Google Compute Engine - n1-highcpu-2. Review the results and compare this plan to its competitors.
| Live Web | Remote Timings | Network Transfers | Sysbench | Endurance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review | Review | Review | Review | Review |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
Performance trials run on the n1-highcpu-2 plan
This plan was tested 1 times at vpsbenchmarks.com. The table below shows all trials run on the n1-highcpu-2 plan with its grade and CPU type.
| Start of Trial | CPU | Datacenter | Overall Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 31 2019 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.00GHz | us-east1-b | C |
Plan Specifications
| URL | https://cloud.google.com/compute/vm-instance-pricing#n2_machine_types |
|---|---|
| Price per month |
$41.87
Warning: storage costs are not included in this price.
Warning: network bandwidth costs are not included in this price.
|
| Discount or Surcharge for long or short term use |
Surcharge The on-demand price for this plan is $51.62/month, which is 23% more expensive than the monthly price. The surcharge does not apply if the VPS is used for 30 days or more. |
| Disk GB | 0 |
| Num Cores | 2 |
| Memory GB | 2.0 |
| Hourly Billing | Yes |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| Data Transfer GB | 0 |
| Burstable CPU | No |
| Dedicated CPU | No |
Plan Grades
Screen Google Compute Engine VPS Plans
Grades are calculated by combining results from web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Grade A is best, grade F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
More details about grades calculation
Overall Score: 60
Performance Test Results
We conducted 4 different types of tests during the latest trial for Google Compute Engine - n2-highcpu-2. Review the results and compare this plan to its competitors.
| Web Runs | Network Transfers | Sysbench | Endurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review | Review | Review | Review |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
Performance trials run on the n2-highcpu-2 plan
This plan was tested 2 times at vpsbenchmarks.com. The table below shows all trials run on the n2-highcpu-2 plan with its grade and CPU type.
| Start of Trial | CPU | Datacenter | Overall Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 23 2020 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU | Iowa, USA | C |
| Aug 12 2019 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU | Iowa, USA | C |
Plan Specifications
| URL | https://cloud.google.com/compute/pricing#predefined_machine_types |
|---|---|
| Price per month |
$48.55
Warning: storage costs are not included in this price.
Warning: network bandwidth costs are not included in this price.
|
| Discount or Surcharge for long or short term use |
Surcharge The on-demand price for this plan is $68.40/month, which is 40% more expensive than the monthly price. The surcharge does not apply if the VPS is used for 30 days or more. |
| Disk GB | 10 |
| Num Cores | 2 |
| Memory GB | 7.5 |
| Hourly Billing | Yes |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| Data Transfer GB | 100 |
| Burstable CPU | No |
| Dedicated CPU | No |
Plan Grades
Screen Google Compute Engine VPS Plans
Grades are calculated by combining results from web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Grade A is best, grade F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
More details about grades calculation
Overall Score: 47
Performance Test Results
We conducted 6 different types of tests during the latest trial for Google Compute Engine - n1-standard-2. Review the results and compare this plan to its competitors.
| Web Runs | Live Web | Network Transfers | Remote Timings | Sysbench | Endurance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review | Review | Review | Review | Review | Review |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
Performance trials run on the n1-standard-2 plan
This plan was tested 3 times at vpsbenchmarks.com. The table below shows all trials run on the n1-standard-2 plan with its grade and CPU type.
| Start of Trial | CPU | Datacenter | Overall Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 20 2020 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | Virginia, USA | D |
| Jan 27 2019 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.50GHz | us-central1-f | C |
| Jul 05 2018 | Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU @ 2.30GHz | us-central-1c (Iowa) | C |
Plan Specifications
| URL | https://cloud.google.com/compute/vm-instance-pricing#n2d_machine_types |
|---|---|
| Price per month |
$56.14
Warning: network bandwidth costs are not included in this price.
|
| Discount or Surcharge for long or short term use |
No |
| Disk GB | 40 |
| Num Cores | 2 |
| Memory GB | 8.0 |
| Hourly Billing | Yes |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| Data Transfer GB | 0 |
| Burstable CPU | No |
| Dedicated CPU | No |
Plan Grades
Screen Google Compute Engine VPS Plans
Grades are calculated by combining results from web, sysbench, endurance and remote timing tests. Grade A is best, grade F is worst.
Follow the letter links to find the test results backing the grade.
More details about grades calculation
Overall Score: 31
Performance Test Results
We conducted 4 different types of tests during the latest trial for Google Compute Engine - n2d-standard-2. Review the results and compare this plan to its competitors.
| Web Runs | Network Transfers | Sysbench | Endurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review | Review | Review | Review |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
Performance trials run on the n2d-standard-2 plan
This plan was tested 1 times at vpsbenchmarks.com. The table below shows all trials run on the n2d-standard-2 plan with its grade and CPU type.
| Start of Trial | CPU | Datacenter | Overall Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 14 2020 | AMD EPYC 7B12 | Iowa, USA | E |
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