True or false: GCP doesn't charge for virtual machine instance hours.

True or false: GCP doesn't charge for virtual machine instance hours.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Sometimes
• D. Only in certain regions

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is how cloud VM usage is billed. When you run a virtual machine on Google Cloud, you pay for the time the instance is running. Compute Engine bills by the second (with a minimum charge per instance in many cases), based on the machine type, the region, and any attached resources like disks and network egress. So the statement that Google Cloud doesn’t charge for VM instance hours isn’t true. There are ways to lower costs, such as the Always Free tier for small instances in selected regions, trial credits, sustained use discounts that kick in the more you run, preemptible instances for short-lived workloads, and committed-use contracts for predictable workloads. But in general, VM hours are billable.

The key idea here is how cloud VM usage is billed. When you run a virtual machine on Google Cloud, you pay for the time the instance is running. Compute Engine bills by the second (with a minimum charge per instance in many cases), based on the machine type, the region, and any attached resources like disks and network egress. So the statement that Google Cloud doesn’t charge for VM instance hours isn’t true.

There are ways to lower costs, such as the Always Free tier for small instances in selected regions, trial credits, sustained use discounts that kick in the more you run, preemptible instances for short-lived workloads, and committed-use contracts for predictable workloads. But in general, VM hours are billable.