Google Cloud Free Trial - $300 Credits
Source: https://cloud.google.com/free
Description
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+ 1 New Google Cloud customers get $300 in free credits valid for 91 days to explore virtually all GCP services — including Vertex AI, Gemini API, Compute Engine, BigQuery, and Cloud Storage. Your billing account auto-closes when credits run out or the 91 days expire. You will not be charged unless you manually upgrade to a paid account. Credit card required for identity verification only (temporary $0–$1 hold, released within days).
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+ 7 1. Go to console.cloud.google.com or cloud.google.com/free
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+ 8 2. Sign in with any Google account (personal Gmail works fine)
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+ 9 3. Click "Start free" or "Get started for free"
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+ 10 4. Select your country and accept the Terms of Service
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+ 11 5. Credit card verification — enter a valid credit or debit card. Google places a temporary authorization hold of $0–$1 USD (not a charge; released within a few days to a month depending on your bank). Prepaid cards may not work. Make sure your card allows automatic payments — some banks (especially in India due to RBI regulations) block recurring authorizations and your signup will fail
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+ 12 6. Done — your Free Trial billing account is created with $300 in Welcome credits
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+ 13
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+ 14 Important:
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+ 15 • One free trial per person/organization — if you've previously been a paying customer of Google Cloud, Google Maps Platform, or Firebase, you don't qualify
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+ 16 • Multiple users within the same organization can each sign up for their own free trial
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+ 17 • Personal credit cards are fine; corporate cards are not required
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+ 18 • The 91-day clock starts at signup, not at first usage
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+ 24 During the free trial, you cannot:
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+ 25 • Add GPUs to VM instances (GPUs unlock only after upgrading to paid)
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+ 26 • Use Google Cloud Marketplace products
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+ 27 • Request a quota increase
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+ 28 • Access third-party generative AI models (model-as-a-service partners)
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+ 29 • Create Windows Server VM instances
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+ 30 • Use more than 8 concurrent Compute Engine CPU cores
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+ 31 • Create Google Cloud VMware Engine resources
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+ 33 These restrictions lift immediately when you upgrade to a paid account. You keep any remaining credits after upgrading.
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+ 41 The Gemini API has its own permanent free tier through Google AI Studio that is independent of the $300 trial. Free tier models include:
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+ 42
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+ 43 ModelFree TierNotes
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+ 44 Gemini 3 Flash PreviewFree of chargeLatest model
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+ 45 Gemini 2.5 FlashFree of chargeProduction-ready
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+ 46 Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteFree of chargeLightweight
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+ 47 Gemini 2.5 Flash Native AudioFree of chargeAudio processing
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+ 48 Gemini 2.5 Flash TTSFree of chargeText-to-speech
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+ 49 Gemini 2.0 FlashFree of chargeRetiring March 2026
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+ 50 Gemma 3 / Gemma 3nFree of chargeOpen models
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+ 51 Gemini EmbeddingFree of chargeText embeddings
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+ 52
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+ 53 Free tier rate limits are approximately 5–15 RPM (requests/minute) and up to 1,000 RPD (requests/day) depending on model. Limits apply per Google Cloud project, not per API key. The free tier allows commercial use.
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+ 57 • Vertex AI Studio — prompt design, model tuning, and testing with Gemini models
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+ 58 • Vertex AI Express Mode — simplified signup for @gmail.com accounts, separate 90-day free tier with limited quotas (up to 10 agent engines). This is separate from the $300 trial
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+ 59 • Vertex AI Search — 10,000 queries/month free
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+ 60 • Vertex AI Pipelines, TensorBoard — free while in preview
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+ 61 • Services in preview have 100% discounted pricing (free), but may transition to paid without much notice
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+ 62
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+ 63 Note: GPUs on Vertex AI are not available during the free trial. You must upgrade to a paid account first.
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+ 69 These are perpetual monthly limits that don't consume your $300 credit and persist even after the trial ends:
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+ 70
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+ 71 ServiceMonthly Free Limit
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+ 72 Cloud Natural Language API5,000 units
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+ 73 Cloud Vision API1,000 units
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+ 74 Speech-to-Text60 minutes
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+ 75 Video Intelligence API1,000 units
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+ 76 Cloud Translation500,000 characters
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+ 77 Vertex AI VizierFirst 100 trials (RANDOM_SEARCH/GRID_SEARCH)
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+ 83 These also persist after the trial and don't consume credits:
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+ 84
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+ 85 ServiceMonthly Free Limit
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+ 86 Compute Engine1 e2-micro VM (us-east1, us-west1, us-central1 only), 30 GB disk
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+ 87 Cloud Storage5 GB regional (US regions), 100 GB egress
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+ 88 BigQuery1 TB queries, 10 GB storage
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+ 89 Cloud Run2M requests, 360K GB-seconds
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+ 90 Cloud Functions2M invocations, 400K GB-seconds
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+ 91 Firestore1 GB storage, 50K reads/day
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+ 92 App Engine28 instance-hours/day
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+ 93 Pub/Sub10 GB messages
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+ 94 Cloud Shell5 GB persistent storage
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+ 95 Cloud Build120 build-minutes/day
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+ 101 1. If you don't upgrade: Your billing account auto-closes. All running workloads are stopped (not deleted immediately). You have a 30-day grace period to upgrade and recover your resources. After 30 days, workloads are permanently deleted.
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+ 102 2. If you upgrade to paid: You keep any remaining credits until the 91-day expiration. You continue to get always-free tier usage. All trial restrictions (GPUs, Marketplace, etc.) are lifted. You only pay for usage beyond free tier limits.
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+ 103 3. Always-free services continue regardless — they don't require a paid account.
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+ 106
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+ 109 • Gemini API via AI Studio vs. Vertex AI — these are separate platforms with different billing, rate limits, and model access. AI Studio is free and doesn't require GCP billing. Vertex AI requires a GCP project with billing enabled (even if using free credits)
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+ 110 • Google for Startups Cloud Program — if you're building a startup, you can get up to $200K in credits (up to $350K for AI startups) through the startup program
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+ 111 • Google Cloud Teaching Credits — faculty can apply for $50–$100/semester per student for coursework
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+ 112 • Google Cloud Research Credits — up to $5,000 for faculty/postdocs, $1,000 for PhD students
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+ 113 • Region matters — always-free compute and storage are limited to US regions (us-east1, us-west1, us-central1)
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+ 114 • Set budget alerts — if you upgrade to paid, set up budget alerts in the Billing console to avoid surprise charges. Google Cloud has no spending caps by default
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+ 115 • Gemini 2.0 Flash retirement — models are being retired March 3, 2026. Migrate to Gemini 2.5 Flash or newer
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+ 118
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+ 119 Sources:
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+ 120 • Google Cloud Free Program
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+ 121 • Google Cloud Free Features Documentation
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+ 122 • Google Cloud Free Trial FAQs
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+ 123 • Google Cloud Free Trial Terms
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+ 124 • Billing During Free Trial
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+ 125 • Gemini API Pricing
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+ 126 • Gemini API Rate Limits
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+ 127 • Vertex AI Express Mode
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+ 128 • Vertex AI Pricing
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