To use Google Cloud services, you must have a valid Cloud Billing account linked to your projects. You must have a valid Cloud Billing account even if you are in your free trial period or if you choose to only use Google Cloud resources that are covered by the Always Free program.
You also need a Cloud Billing account to pay for your use of the Google Maps Platform APIs.
You can configure Cloud Billing on Google Cloud in a variety of ways to meet different needs:
- The onboarding checklist contains best practice guidance for configuring your Google Cloud resources and Cloud Billing.
- The how-to guides contain information such as setting up and managing your Cloud Billing account, monitoring and analyzing your costs, and paying your invoices.
- Cloud Billing Support specialists are available to respond to any questions about your Cloud Billing account such as settings, invoices, and payments.
Several Cloud Billing APIs are also available:
- The Cloud Billing Account API provides methods that you can use to programmatically manage Cloud Billing for your projects.
- The Cloud Billing Catalog API provides programmatic access to the entire public Google Cloud catalog consisting of billable SKUs, public pricing, and relevant metadata.
- The Cloud Billing Budget API provides methods to view, create, and manage Cloud Billing budgets programmatically at scale.