GCP: Free-tier until it is not¶

Based on this pipeline (so just a starter pipeline): Foundation for a secure GCP deployment pipeline , these are guesstimates for comparison.

Best case – Small team, Cloud Run magic, some self-restraint¶

€130/month

• Cloud Run builds, Cloud Build: €25

• Storage (Multi-region Coldline): €10

• Egress (moderate traffic): €20

• BigQuery (used once properly): €15

• Monitoring: €10

• IAM, Pub/Sub, Functions: €50 (you’re thrifty)

You’re billed by the micrometre. Every part is fine. Until it’s not.

Worst case – CI logs and runaway BigQuery¶

€310/month

• GKE cluster from a demo never destroyed: €80

• Coldline storage turned into hot blob: €35

• Egress from preview deploys + logs: €55

• BigQuery: €45 (accidental “SELECT *” on prod)

• Monitoring (Ops team dumped everything): €50

• Zombie projects from hackathon days: €45

Every GCP bill contains at least one line you can’t explain.