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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Compute Engine

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Compute Engine is an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) product from Google Cloud. It provides virtual machines with carbon-neutral infrastructure which run on the same data centers that Google itself uses.

    $0

    per month GB

    Kubernetes

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/AKubernetes is an open-source container cluster manager.N/A
    Pricing
    Google Compute EngineKubernetes
    Editions & Modules
    Preemptible Price - Predefined Memory
    0.000892 / GB
    Hour
    Three-year commitment price - Predefined Memory
    $0.001907 / GB
    Hour
    One-year commitment price - Predefined Memory
    $0.002669 / GB
    Hour
    On-demand price - Predefined Memory
    $0.004237 / GB
    Hour
    Preemptible Price - Predefined vCPUs
    0.006655 / vCPU
    Hour
    Three-year commitment price - Predefined vCPUS
    $0.014225 / CPU
    Hour
    One-year commitment price - Predefined vCPUS
    $0.019915 / vCPU
    Hour
    On-demand price - Predefined vCPUS
    $0.031611 / vCPU
    Hour
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google Compute EngineKubernetes
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPrices vary according to region (i.e US central, east, & west time zones). Google Compute Engine also offers a discounted rate for a 1 & 3 year commitment.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google Compute EngineKubernetes
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    The perfect blend of setup flexibility, costing and trust of Google could be my answer to the comparison. This being a server backed service so, ruling out the functions. The Setup flexibility and speed set the GCE apart from Kubernetes. Compliance, regulation and the security …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    We have tried using DigitalOcean Droplets for some of our minor and non critical VMs. In our experience, Google Compute Engine fares well in comparison the DigitalOcean Droplets as they provide better availability, better support and in general, a better experience.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    When configuring Amazon ECS, it is a bit confusing as you are not able to find the actual issue. You need to enable Additional AppInsights to get detailed level info, which is not a concern when configuring on the Instance Level. Moreover, Azure VM does not provide an …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    Google Compute Engine is a different animal than GKE, used for different purposes. Compares 1:1 with ECS, and is an equivalent product.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    Ec2 has much more compatibility with different tech stacks than Google Compute Engine.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    Google was easy to start with in terms of ease of use and support access.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    Google Compute Engine is better than other in terms of the pricing and the performance. But when it comes to ease of use i would prefer Azure Virtual Machines. Other than this I find GCE very competitive with these other solutions
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    Similar in capabilities, slightly slicker APIs and CLIs. More observability in the default UI and the CLIs. Easier to setup, the google console is slick. Azure has a good user interface as well with lots of documentation to help. CLI is slightly less intuitive, but decent. AWS …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    The best GCP products - GKE for containerization workload fit to the VM machines specified for different application type (monolithic). These services can be easily integrated with each other with additional benefits.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    AWS's UI could use a lot of work, and their API documentation was much worse compared to Google's, which was already tough to read and figure out. Google's free trial of their services through a platform credit (which AWS doesn't offer), also helped us test their compute …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    GCE was an easy choice for us after evaluating our options. We needed something that was dynamic enough to handle our specialized stack, but easy enough that our engineers weren't spending too much time configuring and launching. We found AWS's offering to be similar but …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    AWS has a ton of options in terms of tools that you can use. It's pricing model is hit or miss (some offerings are simply unaffordable). Some of the API design is questionable at best and frustrating at worst.
    Microsoft Azure is a newcomer in the market with focus on enterprise …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Compute Engine
    We ultimately chose Google Compute for the price difference as compared to other providers. Google's pricing for Windows servers is even lower than Microsoft's own cloud service, Azure. The terminology used across Google Compute is much easier to understand than the …
    Incentivized
    Kubernetes
    Chose Kubernetes
    When planning our latest product we tried out many hosted container service and a few local tools. These included services run by Google, Microsoft, and Amazon and tools from companies like Docker and Apache. We ended up selecting Kubernetes because it was compatible with all …
    Incentivized
    Chose Kubernetes
    With AWS ECS, you have to provision the virtual hardware, then use that hardware as a pool for your container service. Each service has to be built out and scaled independently. Kubernetes allows us to use a cluster of machines like a big pool of resources, scaling and shipping …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    44 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    9 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    31 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    41 Answers
    75%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    Features
    Google Compute EngineKubernetes
    Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
    Comparison of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) features of Google Compute Engine and Kubernetes
    Feature
    Google Compute Engine
    8.0
    65 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Kubernetes
    -
    Ratings
    Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime8.125 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dynamic scaling7.860 Ratings00 Ratings
    Elastic load balancing9.353 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pre-configured templates9.562 Ratings00 Ratings
    Monitoring tools3.026 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pre-defined machine images9.464 Ratings00 Ratings
    Operating system support8.365 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security controls9.163 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automation7.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Container Management
    Comparison of Container Management features of Google Compute Engine and Kubernetes
    Feature
    Google Compute Engine
    -
    Ratings
    Kubernetes
    9.2
    4 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Security and Isolation00 Ratings9.34 Ratings
    Container Orchestration00 Ratings9.84 Ratings
    Cluster Management00 Ratings9.84 Ratings
    Storage Management00 Ratings8.64 Ratings
    Resource Allocation and Optimization00 Ratings8.84 Ratings
    Discovery Tools00 Ratings9.34 Ratings
    Update Rollouts and Rollbacks00 Ratings9.34 Ratings
    Self-Healing and Recovery00 Ratings9.33 Ratings
    Analytics, Monitoring, and Logging00 Ratings9.14 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google Compute EngineKubernetes
    Small Businesses
    IBM Cloud Object Storage
    Score9 out of 10
    Mirantis Kubernetes Engine
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS)
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SAP on IBM Cloud
    Score9 out of 10
    SUSE Rancher
    Score9.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google Compute EngineKubernetes
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (65 ratings)
    8.7
    (19 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    6.9
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (9 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    9.6
    (28 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (28 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (10 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google Compute EngineKubernetes
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    You can use Google Cloud Compute Engine as an option to configure your Gitlab, GitHub, and Azure DevOps self-hosted runners. This allows full control and management of your runners rather than using the default runners, which you cannot manage. Additionally, they can be used as a workspace, which you can provide to the employees, where they can test their workloads or use them as a local host and then deploy to the actual production-grade instance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    K8s should be avoided - If your application works well without being converted into microservices-based architecture & fits correctly in a VM, needs less scaling, have a fixed traffic pattern then it is better to keep away from Kubernetes. Otherwise, the operational challenges & technical expertise will add a lot to the OPEX. Also, if you're the one who thinks that containers consume fewer resources as compared to VMs then this is not true. As soon as you convert your application to a microservice-based architecture, a lot of components will add up, shooting your resource consumption even higher than VMs so, please beware. Kubernetes is a good choice - When the application needs quick scaling, is already in microservice-based architecture, has no fixed traffic pattern, most of the employees already have desired skills.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Scaling - whether it's traffic spikes or just steady growth, Google Compute Engine's auto-scaling makes sure we've got the compute power we need without any manual juggling acts
    • Load balancing - Keeping things smooth with that load balancing across multiple VMs, so our users don't have to deal with slow load times or downtime even when things get crazy busy
    • Customizability - Mix and match configs for CPU, RAM, storage and whatnot to suit our specific app needs
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    • Complex cluster management can be done with simple commands with strong authentication and authorization schemes
    • Exhaustive documentation and open community smoothens the learning process
    • As a user a few concepts like pod, deployment and service are sufficient to go a long way
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • Built-in monitoring via Stackdriver is quite expensive for what it provides.
    • Initially provided quotas (ie. max compute units one can use) are very low and it took several requests to get an appropriate amount.
    • Support on GCE is limited to their knowledge base and forums. For more hands-on support provided by Google, you must pay for their Premium services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    • Local development, Kubernetes does tend to be a bit complicated and unnecessary in environments where all development is done locally.
    • The need for add-ons, Helm is almost required when running Kubernetes. This brings a whole new tool to manage and learn before a developer can really start to use Kubernetes effectively.
    • Finicy configmap schemes. Kubernetes configmaps often have environment breaking hangups. The fail safes surrounding configmaps are sadly lacking.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    Its pretty good, easy and good performance. Also, interface is very good for starters compared to competitors. Infra as Code (IaC) using Terraform even added easiness for creation, management and deletion of compute Virtual Machines (VM). Overall, very good and very easy cloud based compute platform which simplified infrastructure, very much recommend.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    The Kubernetes is going to be highly likely renewed as the technologies that will be placed on top of it are long term as of planning. There shouldn't be any last minute changes in the adoption and I do not anticipate sudden change of the core underlying technology. It is just that the slow process of technology adoption that makes it hard to switch to something else.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    Having interacted with several cloud services, GCE stands out to me as more usable than most. The naming and locating of features is a little more intuitive than most I've interacted with, and hinting is also quite helpful. Getting staff up to speed has proven to be overall less painful than others.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    It is an eminently usable platform. However, its popularity is overshadowed by its complexity. To properly leverage the capabilities and possibilities of Kubernetes as a platform, you need to have excellent understanding of your use case, even better understanding of whether you even need Kubernetes, and if yes - be ready to invest in good engineering support for the platform itself
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    Google Compute Engine works well for cloud project with lesser geographical audience. It sometimes gives error while everything is set up perfectly. We also keep on check any updates available because that's one reason of site getting down. Google Compute Engine is ultimately a top solution to build an app and publish it online within a few minutes
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Google
    It works great all the time except for occasional issues, but overall, I am very happy with the performance. It delivers on the promise it makes and as per the SLAs provided. Networking is great with a premium network, and AZs are also widespread across geographies. Overall, it is a great infra item to have, which you can scale as you want.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Google
    • The documentation needs to be better for intermediate users - There are first steps that one can easily follow, but after that, the documentation is often spotty or not in a form where one can follow the steps and accomplish the task. Also, the documentation and the product often go out of sync, where the commands from the documentation do not work with the current version of the product.
    • Google support was great and their presence on site was very helpful in dealing with various issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    Google Compute Engine provides a one stop solution for all the complex features and the UI is better than Amazon's EC2 and Azure Machine Learning for ease of usability. It's always good to have an eco-system of products from Google as it's one of the most used search engine and IoT services provider, which helps with ease of integration and updates in the future.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    Most of the required features for any orchestration tool or framework, which is provided by Kubernetes. After understanding all modules and features of the K8S, it is the best fit for us as compared with others out there.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    It works really well with other Google Cloud services, making it easy to build scalable solutions across different teams and locations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • With Google Compute we don't have the overhead of managing our own data centers reducing costs and reducing the staff needed to manage systems.
    • As I said earlier, Google's costs are ~1/2 of AWS, so we are able to see a ROI much faster.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Kubernetes
    • Because of microservices, Kubernetes makes it easy to find the cost of each application easily.
    • Like every new technology, initially, it took more resources to educate ourselves but over a period of time, I believe it's going to be worth it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Google Compute Engine Screenshots

    Screenshot of How to choose the right VM
With thousands of applications, each with different requirements, which VM is right for you?Screenshot of documentation, guides, and reference architectures
Migration Center is Google Cloud's unified migration platform with features like cloud spend estimation, asset discovery, and a variety of tooling for different migration scenarios.