Billed for non-running VM instance?

[Evan McLean]

I have a usage pattern for a few machines that I need to spin up only for a day or two a month for testing.

I'm trying to figure out if I get billed for an allocated VM Instance if it is not running (i.e., in the terminated state). (I understand that I will be billed for storage of the Disk for that VM Instance, which is a separate but lesser charge.)

If I was using another vendor's service, you typically get billed for the allocated VM Instance even if it is not running as the resources are reserved. So typically what I've been doing in that case is have an Image for the VM Instance saved. When I need the test machine I would create a new VM Instance from the Image, attach a persistent Disk to retain any data that needs to be kept between VM Instance instantiations, and then run the tests. Once I'm done, I would need to not only shut-down the VM Instance, but delete it so as not to be billed further for it.

I get the impression with GCE you only get billed for the VM Instance if it is running (minimum 10 minutes). This would remove a couple of steps as then I don't need to worry about an Image and creating/deleting VM Instances. Just start and stop it as I need it, like the crappy old PC you keep under the desk and turn on occasionally. (I probably wouldn't need to worry about a separate persistent Disk either, if the test data all fits.)

Thanks.

E.

[Scott Van Woudenberg]

Hi Evan,

You've got it right. On GCE, you are not charged the hourly VM rate (based on machine type) while your VM is stopped. Each time you start a stopped VM, you pay the 10 minute minimum, as you alluded to. You are also correct that you pay for any PD volumes attached to the stopped VM.

There is one other charge you might see for a stopped VM: we charge $0.01/hr for static, reserved external IP addresses that are not attached to running VMs. So if you have a reserved, static external IP attached to the VM, you will be charged $0.01/hr while that VM is stopped.

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[Dan Bryant]

Evan... one caveat to this is the "Always-Free" promotion.  As part of that promotion, having more than one VM instance (running or not) will disqualify you from the promotion since it applies to "only one" VM.

[Noah Fang]

Dan,  I'm not sure if this is true. Under always free limits, the first f1 micro vm is always free, the rest will be charged. this is the impression i got from the GCP pricing page.

Hope it can be verified by Google.

[Jason]

Hi,

The "Always Free" promotion is only for when someone is using a single f1-micro VM instance. In regards Evan's inquiry, Scott is correct. When you stop a VM instance, a user is not charged for the stopped VM instance except if they were using a reserved IP address.