Announcing 200 GB free Standard Tier internet data transfer per month

Seamless, scalable and secure internet connectivity between applications and users is top of mind for all businesses as they adopt cloud. Starting October 1st, 2023, all new and existing customers of Google Cloud Networking Standard Tier will be eligible for 200 GB of free internet data transfer every month. This offer is available independently in each region where customers operate. Standard Tier is available in 28+ Google Cloud regions, amounting to roughly 6 TB of potential data transfer at no charge every month. This makes it easier for startups and small businesses as they evaluate Google Cloud.

Understanding Google Cloud internet data transfer

Google Cloud offers customers two Network Service Tiers with which to connect their resources to the internet: Standard and Premium Tier.

Standard Tier is a secure, reliable and performant way to connect VMs to the internet. By primarily leveraging the public internet to route traffic, Standard Tier offers customers the opportunity to transfer data between their VMs and internet end-points, without traversing Google Cloud’s network backbone. 

As shown below, when a VM connects to an internet end-point over Standard Tier, traffic exits Google at the nearest PoP (Point of Presence) to that Google Cloud region i.e., travels the shortest distance within our network. The traffic then routes over the public internet via BGP to reach its destination.

In addition to 200 GB of free monthly data transfer, we are excited to announce that Standard Tier is now fully integrated with key Google Cloud networking services like Cloud NAT and Regional external Application Load Balancer on GKE.

In contrast, Premium Tier networking carries traffic over Google Cloud’s global network backbone to the edge PoP nearest to the end-user. As a result, the traffic benefits from the premium performance, reliability and security offered by Google's private network; this is especially appealing to customers with applications that have these requirements. 

Comparing Standard vs. Premium Tier

This table compares the two offerings:

Pricing

Each Standard Tier SKU corresponds to a single region, as listed here. This offer is available separately for each region. After exhausting the 200 GB within a month in a given region, regular tiered rates apply to the traffic until the meter resets on the first of the next month. No action is required from customers and the changes will automatically be reflected starting from the October billing statement.

By providing Standard Tier customers with 200 GB of internet data transfer per region, per month, we are enabling more customers to run their apps and transform with  Google Cloud. To learn more about Standard Tier Networking and how it might fit your needs, please refer to this page.