What is Google Cloud Build used for?

Google Cloud Build is a fully managed, serverless CI/CD service on Google Cloud that runs automated builds, tests and deployments for teams building on GCP. It is a good fit for CI/CD for teams already on Google Cloud and automated container image builds.

How much does Google Cloud Build cost?

Google Cloud Build is a paid product with no free plan. Billed per build minute by machine type, for example $0.015124 per minute for n2d-standard-4 and $0.030248 for n2d-standard-8. No free allowance is listed in the page text.

Is Google Cloud Build open source?

No. Google Cloud Build is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Google Cloud Build include Concourse CI, Gitea and Harness.

What are some alternatives to Google Cloud Build?

Google Cloud Build competes with AWS CodePipeline, Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Google Cloud Build alternatives.

Google Cloud Build: features, pricing and alternatives

About Google Cloud Build

Google Cloud Build is a managed continuous integration and delivery service that runs on Google Cloud. Teams define build pipelines, and the service executes them without any build servers to provision or maintain, producing artifacts such as container images and packages and deploying them to target environments.

Builds are described in configuration files made up of steps, each of which runs in a container, so any tool distributed as an image can become part of a pipeline. Builds can start from source repository events or be triggered manually, and the results can feed other Google Cloud services such as artifact storage and deployment targets.

It is a proprietary, vendor-hosted service with no self-hosted edition, and usage is billed through a Google Cloud account. It suits teams that are already invested in Google Cloud and want builds integrated with that ecosystem instead of operating their own CI servers.

Key features

Serverless builds with no servers to manage
Container-based build steps defined in config files
Triggers from source repository events
Builds container images and other artifacts
Deployment to Google Cloud targets
Runs entirely on Google Cloud infrastructure

Good fit for

→CI/CD for teams already on Google Cloud
→Automated container image builds

Tags: ci-cd; google-cloud; builds; serverless; containers; devops; managed-service

Google Cloud Build: questions and answers

What is Google Cloud Build used for?: Google Cloud Build is a fully managed, serverless CI/CD service on Google Cloud that runs automated builds, tests and deployments for teams building on GCP. It is a good fit for CI/CD for teams already on Google Cloud and automated container image builds.
How much does Google Cloud Build cost?: Google Cloud Build is a paid product with no free plan. Billed per build minute by machine type, for example $0.015124 per minute for n2d-standard-4 and $0.030248 for n2d-standard-8. No free allowance is listed in the page text.
Is Google Cloud Build open source?: No. Google Cloud Build is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Google Cloud Build include Concourse CI, Gitea and Harness.
What are some alternatives to Google Cloud Build?: Google Cloud Build competes with AWS CodePipeline, Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Google Cloud Build alternatives.