What is Google Cloud Functions used for?

Google Cloud Functions, now branded Cloud Run functions, is a pay-as-you-go serverless service that runs code in response to events. It is a good fit for running small backend tasks on cloud events, and building webhooks and API endpoints.

How much does Google Cloud Functions cost?

Google Cloud Functions is a paid product with no free plan.

Is Google Cloud Functions open source?

No. Google Cloud Functions is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Google Cloud Functions include OpenFaaS and Tau.

What are some alternatives to Google Cloud Functions?

Google Cloud Functions competes with AWS Lambda, Azure Functions and Cloudflare Workers. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Google Cloud Functions alternatives.

Google Cloud Functions: features, pricing and alternatives

About Google Cloud Functions

Google Cloud Functions is a function-as-a-service offering on Google Cloud. Developers write small pieces of code that run in response to events, such as HTTP requests, messages or changes in cloud storage, without provisioning or managing servers.

The product page now carries the name Cloud Run functions, reflecting its alignment with Google's Cloud Run service. It is described as a scalable, pay-as-you-go service with zero server management, so capacity adjusts to the number of events and billing follows usage.

It is a commercial managed cloud service available only through Google Cloud rather than something to self-host, and its pricing is covered by Google Cloud's general pricing pages, where per-invocation and compute rates are published.

Key features

Event-driven serverless function execution
Automatic scaling with no servers to manage
HTTP and cloud event triggers
Pay-as-you-go billing by usage
Integration with Google Cloud services

Good fit for

→Running small backend tasks on cloud events
→Building webhooks and API endpoints

Tags: serverless; faas; google-cloud; event-driven; functions; cloud-run; paas

Google Cloud Functions: questions and answers

What is Google Cloud Functions used for?: Google Cloud Functions, now branded Cloud Run functions, is a pay-as-you-go serverless service that runs code in response to events. It is a good fit for running small backend tasks on cloud events, and building webhooks and API endpoints.
How much does Google Cloud Functions cost?: Google Cloud Functions is a paid product with no free plan.
Is Google Cloud Functions open source?: No. Google Cloud Functions is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Google Cloud Functions include OpenFaaS and Tau.
What are some alternatives to Google Cloud Functions?: Google Cloud Functions competes with AWS Lambda, Azure Functions and Cloudflare Workers. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Google Cloud Functions alternatives.