Google Cloud (Google Cloud Platform)

Google Cloud (formerly Google Cloud Platform, GCP) is Google’s suite of cloud computing services offering computing, data storage, AI/ML, and networking capabilities. It is the third-largest cloud provider by market share.

Overview

Google Cloud leverages Google’s internal infrastructure and expertise in large-scale distributed systems. It is particularly strong in data analytics, machine learning, and container orchestration (Kubernetes was created by Google). GCP operates in multiple regions and zones worldwide.

Key Services

  • Compute: Compute Engine (VMs), Cloud Run (serverless), GKE (Kubernetes)
  • Storage: Cloud Storage, Persistent Disk, Filestore
  • Databases: Cloud SQL, Firestore, Bigtable, Spanner, BigQuery (data warehouse)
  • Networking: VPC, Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud CDN, Cloud Interconnect
  • AI/ML: Vertex AI, AutoML, TensorFlow integration
  • Developer Tools: Cloud Build, Cloud Source Repositories, Cloud Deploy

Licensing

Google Cloud is a commercial, proprietary cloud platform. Services are billed on a pay-as-you-go or committed use basis. Google offers free tier services and credits for startups and education.

See Google Cloud Pricing for details.

Official Resources