Google Cloud SQL: pricing, free tier and alternatives (2026)

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Overview

Cloud SQL is Google Cloud's managed service for PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQL Server. Google handles backups, replication, patching, encryption and automatic storage increases, and instances connect privately to Compute Engine, Cloud Run and GKE through VPC or Private Service Connect. Backups support point-in-time recovery with up to 35 days of retention.

There are two editions. Enterprise is the lower-cost option with a 99.95% SLA and includes the shared-core db-f1-micro and db-g1-small machines, the cheapest way to run a small database (from $0.0105/hr for db-f1-micro). Enterprise Plus charges about 30% more per vCPU and GiB, adds a data cache, sub-second maintenance downtime and a 99.99% SLA. Dedicated-core instances are priced per vCPU-hour and GiB-hour, so you size CPU and memory separately.

Costs add up from compute, storage, backups, network egress and high availability, which doubles the compute charge. Committed use discounts of one or three years reduce compute substantially. There is no always-free Cloud SQL instance; use the $300 new-customer credit or the 30-day trial instance to evaluate it.

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Pricing and plans

Plan	Price	What you get
Shared core db-f1-micro	$0.0105/hr	Shared vCPU, 0.6 GiB RAM; $0.021/hr with HA; Enterprise edition only
Shared core db-g1-small	$0.035/hr	Shared vCPU, 1.7 GiB RAM; $0.07/hr with HA
Enterprise (dedicated core)	$0.0413 per vCPU-hour + $0.007 per GiB-hour	us-central1 rates; up to 96 vCPUs and 624 GiB; HA doubles the rate; 99.95% SLA
Enterprise Plus	$0.0537 per vCPU-hour + $0.0091 per GiB-hour	us-central1 N2 rates; up to 128 vCPUs and 864 GiB; data cache; 99.99% SLA
Committed use discounts	Custom	1-year and 3-year commitments; e.g. Enterprise vCPU $0.030975 (1 yr) or $0.019824 (3 yr) per hour

Rates shown are for Iowa (us-central1) and vary by region. Dedicated-core instances are billed per vCPU and per GiB of memory; read replicas and failover replicas cost the same as stand-alone instances, and high availability doubles the compute rate. Storage, backup storage, outbound network traffic and SQL Server licences are billed separately; their per-GB rates were not captured from the page read. Google's own pricing example puts a shared-core test instance (0.6 GB, 10 GB storage, no backups, us-central1) at $9.37/mo. There is no permanent free tier: new Google Cloud customers get $300 in credits and Cloud SQL offers a 30-day free trial instance. Extended support for end-of-life engine versions is charged extra.

Source: cloud.google.com/sql/pricing · prices as published, excluding tax.

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What it does

Three engines: PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQL Server, with extension and flag support, including pgvector for vector search.
Two editions: Enterprise with a 99.95% SLA, or Enterprise Plus with a 99.99% SLA, data cache and near-zero maintenance downtime.
High availability: Regional instances fail over automatically across zones; read replicas can span regions.
Backups and PITR: Automated backups with point-in-time recovery up to 35 days; enhanced backups add immutable copies.
Custom machine sizes: Pick vCPUs and memory independently, up to 128 vCPUs and 864 GiB on Enterprise Plus.
Google Cloud integration: Works with Cloud Run, GKE, IAM, BigQuery federated queries and Datastream change data capture.

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Strengths and limitations

Strengths

Over 40 regions, including many in Europe
Very small shared-core instances for low-traffic apps
Fine-grained CPU and memory sizing
Point-in-time recovery up to 35 days
Stated ISO 27001, PCI DSS and HIPAA support

Limitations

No permanent free tier, only credits and a 30-day trial instance
High availability doubles the compute price
Storage, backups and egress are billed on top of compute
Shared-core machines are Enterprise edition only and are not covered by the higher SLA

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Who it suits

Good for

Apps on Cloud Run, GKE or Compute Engine
Teams needing data residency in a specific Google Cloud region
Production PostgreSQL or MySQL with a 99.95-99.99% SLA
SQL Server workloads moving to a managed service

Look elsewhere if

Hobby projects that want a free database
Workloads that should scale to zero when idle

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Alternatives to Google Cloud SQL

Tool	From	Free option
Aiven Managed open-source data platform (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Kafka, Valkey, OpenSearch, ClickHouse)	$5/mo	Free tier
Clever Cloud European managed PaaS	€6/mo	Trial
Convex Reactive backend and document database	$25/mo	Free tier
Crunchy Bridge Managed PostgreSQL on AWS, Azure and GCP	$9/mo	Paid
Dragonfly Cloud Managed Redis-compatible in-memory data store	$36/mo	Trial
Firebase Backend platform with document and realtime databases	Usage-based	Free tier

All managed databases →

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Questions

Does Google Cloud SQL have a free tier?

No always-free tier. New Google Cloud customers get $300 in credits, and Cloud SQL offers a 30-day free trial instance.

What is the cheapest Cloud SQL instance?

db-f1-micro, a shared-core machine with 0.6 GiB RAM at $0.0105 per hour in us-central1, plus storage; Google's example test instance costs $9.37/mo.

What is the difference between Cloud SQL Enterprise and Enterprise Plus?

Enterprise has a 99.95% SLA and lower prices; Enterprise Plus costs more per vCPU and GiB but adds a data cache, larger machines, sub-second maintenance downtime and a 99.99% SLA.

How long does Cloud SQL keep backups?

Point-in-time recovery can be configured with a retention period of up to 35 days.

Does high availability cost extra on Cloud SQL?

Yes. HA vCPU and memory are priced at double the standard rate, and replicas cost the same as stand-alone instances.

Sources read for this page