We all know Google for being the most popular search engine. Everyone uses Google and at least one of their products. Not many people know or use Google’s website hosting. This article will help you understand what it is and how it works.
What is Google Website Hosting?
Google’s web hosting is a part of the Google Cloud Platform, which is a service offered by Google that provides cloud hosting and tools for developers and small businesses. The product that’s mostly used for hosting websites is Computing Engine. It’s cloud VPS hosting that you need to manage yourself. Though technically you can use Compute Engine for hosting other stuff, website hosting is what is usually associated with it.
Is Google’s Web Hosting Free?
In short – no. It’s not free. However, you can get $300 free credits if you’re a new customer. You can use those credits for 12 months. If 12 months pass, the credits expire. After you use up your $300 credits in the first month, they won’t be valid for the next 11 months. And if you’re an existing customer, you can’t use the $300 free credits’ promo. After you spend the credits, the bills can stack up pretty quickly. There’s a free Tier with limitations too. Be careful when using the Free Tier. Read all of their usage policies. If you do not meet their Free Tier criteria, you’ll be billed for your server usage. It may come as a surprise if you don’t know how the Free Tier works.
Google Website Hosting’s Pricing
The pricing of GCP Cloud Compute is billed per second of usage. Depending on what kind of virtual machine you order, the pricing may vary. A server with 3.75GB of RAM and 1 vCPU is $24.2725 per month. Disk space is extra, at $0.040 per GB/month.
There are different plans and pricing for other products at GCP that are closely related to website hosting. Calculating your average monthly pricing can be difficult if you’re a beginner. Considering all the different plans and products they offer, it’s sometimes difficult to calculate and estimate your budget.
Comparing Google’s Cloud Hosting with Copahost
As a comparison, we’ll use Google’s and Copahost’s cheapest VPS offers.
At Copahost, you can get a VPS with 1GB of RAM, 1 vCPU and 20GB Disk Space for €3,59 per month. As opposed to Google’s $24+ per month pricing for their cheapest server. All of Copahost’s plans include a basic server management package, whereas Google’s plans don’t.
Google Hosting Plans List
This is a table of the standard cloud server offers from Google Cloud Compute Engine. The pricing model is monthly. There are more plans to choose from. These are mostly used for website hosting at Google.
| Machine type | vCPUs | RAM | Monthly Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| n1-standard-1 | 1 | 3.75GB | $24.2725 |
| n1-standard-2 | 2 | 7.5GB | $48.5500 |
| n1-standard-4 | 4 | 15GB | $97.0900 |
| n1-standard-8 | 8 | 30GB | $194.1800 |
| n1-standard-16 | 16 | 60GB | $388.3600 |
| n1-standard-32 | 32 | 120GB | $776.7200 |
| n1-standard-64 | 64 | 240GB | $1553.4400 |
You should browse through Google’s GCP pages to find all their hosting plans. You’ll get more details for server resources and pricing.
And these are the Copahost VPS plans.
If the predefined plans at Copahost don’t meet your needs, you can customize a plan. You’ll get to choose specifically how much RAM, Disk Space, vCPUs, and IPs your server will have.
Is Google’s Hosting Compatible with WordPress?
Yes, you can use Google Compute Engine to host WordPress sites. They have a 1-click installation option that can help you at the beginning. The g1-small VM instance with 1 shared vCPU + 1.7 GB RAM costs $13.61 per month.
Google does not offer support for WordPress. It’s not a managed WordPress hosting solution. You can get a managed WordPress hosting plan at Copahost. You’ll get a control panel, 24/7 live tech support, and more. For WordPress hosting, Pricing at Copahost starts at €1,99 per month.
Differences Between Google Drive and Google Website Hosting
Google Drive and the Google Cloud Platform are two completely different products. With Google Drive, you can host your personnel files and photos and share them with other people. With GPC you can host websites, run apps, spin up virtual machines, host databases, and more. The main similarity between the two products is that they are both a Google product.
If you get web hosting from Google or Copahost, you can use Nextcloud. It’s a self-hosted alternative to Google Drive. You’ll be hosting your data and you’ll get all of Google Drive’s features on your server.
There are workarounds where you can use Google Drive to host a static website. It’s in no way an ideal solution and it’s not what Google Drive was intended for.
Are Google Domains Used for Website Hosting?
Not directly. Google Domains is only a domain registrar. You can buy a domain from Google Domains and get web hosting from any other provider. The pricing for .com domains at Google Domains is $12 per year. At Copahost, domain registrations are cheap. If you get a .com domain at Copahost, the pricing is $9 per year. You can also get it for free under certain conditions.
You don’t have to use Google Domains to use their website hosting (Compute Engine).
