Announcement of pricing changes for Backup for GKE

This page contains pricing updates which will roll out in late February 2026.

The pricing model for Backup for GKE is being updated to align more closely with customer value and provide better predictability. The management fee is moving from a pod-based model to a namespace-based model, and backup storage rates are being adjusted. The updated pricing model is described in the tables below.

The existing pricing is as follows:

SKU	Pricing model	Meter	List price (us-central1)
Backup Management	Usage-based	Per Pod-month	$1.00 / Pod-month
Backup Storage	Usage-based	Per GiB-month	$0.028 / GiB-month

SKU

Pricing model

Meter

List price (us-central1)

Backup Management

Usage-based

Per Pod-month

$1.00 / Pod-month

Backup Storage

Usage-based

Per GiB-month

$0.028 / GiB-month

The new pricing is as follows:

SKU	Pricing model	Meter	List price (us-central1)
Backup Management	Usage-based	Per Namespace-month	$9.00 / Namespace-month
Backup Storage	Usage-based	Per GiB-month	$0.045 / GiB-month

SKU

Pricing model

Meter

List price (us-central1)

Backup Management

Usage-based

Per Namespace-month

$9.00 / Namespace-month

Backup Storage

Usage-based

Per GiB-month

$0.045 / GiB-month

Note: Network Outbound Data Transfer charges remain unchanged. The prices listed above are for the base region of Iowa (us-central1); pricing in other regions may vary due to regional multipliers.

The backup management fee is calculated based on the number of non-system namespaces included in the most recent successful backup for a given backup plan.

Billing example

Below is an example that demonstrates the billing process under the new pricing model:

As an example, a customer with a single backup plan in Iowa (us-central1) configured to backup all namespaces, which includes 8 non-system namespaces during a month, storing 200GiB of backup storage data in Iowa, would be charged $81 in fees. This $81 would include:

$72 for the month for GKE backup management (8 x $9.00 / namespace-month)
$9 for backup storage (200 x $0.045 / GiB-month)

Note: The backup management fee excludes system namespaces, such as kube-system, kube-public, gke-connect, kube-node-lease, and others reserved by GKE.

Effective date and transition details

Starting late February 2026, the revised pricing will apply as follows:

New customers: Customers that sign up after this change goes into effect will be charged under the new pricing model for both backup management and backup storage.
Existing customers without Backup for GKE Committed Use Discounts (CUDs): Existing customers without CUDs will transition to the new pricing model for both backup management and backup storage.
Existing customers with Backup for GKE Committed Use Discounts (CUDs): For customers with active CUDs, the backup management fee will continue to be calculated based on the number of pods backed up until the commitment period concludes. However, they will incur charges based on the new backup storage pricing.

Note on CUDs: New backup management CUDs based on namespace-based pricing will be offered at a later date.

If you have additional questions or need assistance, drop an email at gke-backup-pricing@google.com.

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