What is Google Compute Engine used for?

Google Compute Engine provides virtual machines on Google Cloud, with preset or custom machine types for web servers, databases and AI workloads. It is a good fit for hosting web and database servers, running AI and compute-heavy workloads, and lifting existing servers into the cloud.

How much does Google Compute Engine cost?

Google Compute Engine is a paid product with no free plan.

Is Google Compute Engine open source?

No. Google Compute Engine is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Google Compute Engine include Apache CloudStack, KubeVirt and Incus.

What are some alternatives to Google Compute Engine?

Google Compute Engine competes with Amazon EC2, Azure Virtual Machines and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Google Compute Engine alternatives.

Google Compute Engine: features, pricing and alternatives

About Google Compute Engine

Compute Engine is Google Cloud's infrastructure service for creating and running virtual machines. Customers choose from preset or custom machine types and use the machines for tasks such as hosting web servers, running databases or handling AI workloads.

The product page text available for this entry was mostly stylesheet code, so the description relies on the vendor's summary. Compute Engine is the core compute building block of Google Cloud and sits next to services for networking, storage and managed Kubernetes, which build on virtual machines or complement them.

It is a proprietary, cloud-hosted service. Costs follow Google Cloud's usage-based billing, and the vendor publishes overall pricing information on its pricing pages.

Key features

On-demand virtual machines
Preset and custom machine types
Hosting for web servers and databases
Machine types suited to AI workloads
Integration with Google Cloud services

Good fit for

→Hosting web and database servers
→Running AI and compute-heavy workloads
→Lifting existing servers into the cloud

Tags: virtual-machines; iaas; google-cloud; compute; cloud; managed-service

Google Compute Engine: questions and answers

What is Google Compute Engine used for?: Google Compute Engine provides virtual machines on Google Cloud, with preset or custom machine types for web servers, databases and AI workloads. It is a good fit for hosting web and database servers, running AI and compute-heavy workloads, and lifting existing servers into the cloud.
How much does Google Compute Engine cost?: Google Compute Engine is a paid product with no free plan.
Is Google Compute Engine open source?: No. Google Compute Engine is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Google Compute Engine include Apache CloudStack, KubeVirt and Incus.
What are some alternatives to Google Compute Engine?: Google Compute Engine competes with Amazon EC2, Azure Virtual Machines and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Google Compute Engine alternatives.