Credits
Last checked:Google Cloud free credits: $300
creditsgoogle-cloudgcp
The hyperscale cloud with a $300 Welcome credit for new customers over 90 days, plus an always-free tier that stays available after the trial ends. Official site
Google Cloud signup credit, the facts
| Amount | $300 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | One-time signup credit |
| Expiry | 90 days after signup (terms also say 3 months) |
| Payment method required | Yes |
| Withdrawable as cash | No |
| What I ran on it | Not tested yet |
Good for
- Running the full GCP portfolio on credit: Compute Engine, Cloud Run, Vertex AI, BigQuery
- Evaluating Google Cloud for a production migration with a real budget
- GPU workloads only after upgrading to a paid account (remaining credit still applies, quota permitting)
Not for
- Sign-up-and-forget: the credit expires in 90 days or when spent, whichever comes first
- Avoiding a payment method: Google requires a valid card or other payment method at signup and places a temporary authorization hold
Google Cloud offers new customers a $300 Welcome credit to spend over 90 days on Google Cloud products, and you are not billed during the trial. A valid credit card or other payment method is required at signup, and Google places a temporary authorization hold rather than a charge. These figures come from Google Cloud’s free-trial marketing page, program docs, and legal terms, all checked on 2026-08-24.
Screenshot: Google Cloud free program page
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What the credit covers
The docs say the Free Trial “gets you a $300 Welcome credit to spend over 90 days on various Google Cloud products.” The marketing page frames the same credit as money “to try Google Cloud products and build a proof of concept.” That is the full official statement of scope: the credit applies to Google Cloud products during the trial. The docs do not publish an itemized list of exactly which services are in or out, so I will not claim coverage for any one product beyond that sentence. The always-free tier described below is a separate program and is not part of this $300.
One documented exception matters for GPU workloads: the free-trial docs state that during the trial you cannot add GPUs to your VM instances and cannot request a quota increase. The documented path to GPUs is upgrading to a paid billing account first; unused trial credit can still be spent after the upgrade, and GPU usage then remains subject to quota. So “run GPUs on the $300” is only true after an upgrade, never during the trial itself.
Screenshot: Google Cloud free trial docs, Free Trial account restrictions
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Does the Google Cloud free trial charge your card?
At signup you “must provide a credit card or other payment method that is valid for the period of the Free Trial.” Your identity and the payment method are verified before the trial starts. Google then places a temporary authorization hold described as “a value between $0.00 and $1.00 USD,” which is a hold, not an actual charge. The marketing page adds that “you won’t be charged until you activate your full paid account.” This is why the entry is marked as requiring a payment method, with the nuance that the required instrument is “a credit card or other payment method,” not a card exclusively.
When it ends
The terms are precise about the three ways the trial can end. It ends on the earliest of: the date your fees for usage exceed the $300 credit; 3 months from the Free Trial start date, on which any unused credit expires; or the date you upgrade to a paid Google Cloud Platform account. Note the terms say “3 months” while the docs and marketing say “90 days”; both are official, so I mirror the pair rather than picking one. One nuance worth keeping: upgrading does not by itself destroy leftover credit. The trial ends on upgrade, but unused credit can still be used after upgrade until the trial expiry.
The always-free tier
Google Cloud has a separate always-free tier that is not the trial. It stays available after the $300 credit is spent or expires. I keep its specific monthly limits off this page because they belong to a different program from the $300 Welcome credit; mixing always-free monthly quotas into the trial figure would be misleading. The point to carry away is that “free” on Google Cloud has two layers: a time-limited $300 credit, and a separate always-free tier that persists after it.
Eligibility
The docs state you are eligible if you have never been a paying user of Google Cloud, Google Maps Platform, or Firebase, and you have not previously signed up for the Free Trial. The terms add that US and/or Mexican federal, state, or local government entities are not eligible unless Google agrees in writing. There is no stated country list for ordinary new customers beyond that government exclusion.
What I have done with it
Not tested yet. I have not personally signed up and spent the $300, so this page reports only what the official pages state.
For other signup credits, see the DigitalOcean free credits and Modal free tier entries, or the guide on choosing between a VPS, GPU cloud, serverless, or a sandbox. Every grant I track is on the credits index.
What changed here
Added Google Cloud: $300.
Plus 2 rechecks that found nothing changed. Every row links to the full record on the changelog, with the official page it was checked against.
Related entries
Sources
Last checked:All numbers on this page come from the official pages above, checked on the date shown. If a figure is not stated there, this page says "Not stated officially" instead of guessing.