Cloud Billing documentation
Cloud Billing is a
collection of tools
that help you track and understand your
Google Cloud spending, pay your bill, and optimize your costs.
A Cloud Billing account
defines who pays for a given set of Google Cloud resources. To use Google Cloud
services, you must have a valid Cloud Billing account, and must link it to your
Google Cloud projects. Your project's Google Cloud usage is charged to the linked
Cloud Billing account.
You must have a valid
Cloud Billing account even if you are in your free trial period
or if you only use Google Cloud resources that are covered by the
Google Cloud Free Tier.
You also need a Cloud Billing account to pay for your use of the
Google Maps Platform APIs.
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Manage your billing account
Training
Training and tutorials
Understanding your Google Cloud costs
Learn how to view your invoice, track your Google Cloud costs with Billing reports, analyze your billing data with BigQuery or Google Sheets, and create custom billing dashboards with Looker Studio.
Training
Training and tutorials
Optimizing your Google Cloud costs
Learn about ways to control and optimize your costs, such as setting up budgets and alerts, managing quota limits, and taking advantage of committed use discounts.
Training
Training and tutorials
Beyond your bill: video series
Beyond your bill goes over topics that help you understand, control, and optimize your Google Cloud costs.
Training
Training and tutorials
Cost management: video series
Get best practices for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing your costs with Google Cloud's cost management tools.
Training
Training and tutorials
Financial governance in the cloud
Best practices for understanding, controlling, optimizing, and managing your IT costs to create a path to predictable cloud costs.
Training
Training and tutorials
Using Google Maps Platform APIs requires a Cloud Billing account. Learn how to get started with Google Maps Platform, including setting up your Cloud Billing account, enabling APIs, generating API keys, and optimizing your costs with quotas and budgets.
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eCloud Billing is a suite of tools for tracking, understanding, and optimizing Google Cloud spending, as well as paying your bill.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eA valid Cloud Billing account is essential for using Google Cloud services, even during the free trial or when only using resources covered by the Free Tier.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eCloud Billing accounts define who pays for a given set of Google Cloud resources, and each project must be linked to one.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eCloud Billing is necessary to pay for Google Maps Platform API usage.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Cloud Billing documentation\n===========================\n\n[Read product documentation](/billing/docs/concepts)\nCloud Billing is a\n[collection of tools](/billing/docs/concepts)\nthat help you track and understand your\nGoogle Cloud spending, pay your bill, and optimize your costs.\n\n\nA [Cloud Billing account](/billing/docs/how-to/manage-billing-account)\ndefines who pays for a given set of Google Cloud resources. To use Google Cloud\nservices, you must have a valid Cloud Billing account, and must link it to your\nGoogle Cloud projects. Your project's Google Cloud usage is charged to the linked\nCloud Billing account.\n\n\nYou must have a valid\nCloud Billing account even if you are in your [free trial period](/free/docs/gcp-free-tier#free-trial)\nor if you only use Google Cloud resources that are covered by the\n[Google Cloud Free Tier](/free/docs/gcp-free-tier#free-tier).\n\n\nYou also need a Cloud Billing account to pay for your use of the\n[Google Maps Platform APIs](https://developers.google.com/maps/billing/gmp-billing).\n[Get started for free](https://console.cloud.google.com/freetrial) \n\n#### Start your proof of concept with $300 in free credit\n\n- Get access to Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking\n- Free monthly usage of popular products, including AI APIs and BigQuery\n- No automatic charges, no commitment \n[View free product offers](/free/docs/free-cloud-features#free-tier) \n\n#### Keep exploring with 20+ always-free products\n\n\nAccess 20+ free products for common use cases, including AI APIs, VMs, data warehouses,\nand more.\n\nDocumentation resources\n-----------------------\n\nFind quickstarts and guides, review key references, and get help with common issues. \nfollow_the_signs\n\n### Getting started\n\n-\n\n [Understanding the Google Cloud Free Program](/free/docs/gcp-free-tier)\n\n-\n\n [Beyond your free trial: Cloud Billing onboarding checklist](/billing/docs/onboarding-checklist)\n\n-\n\n [Overview of Cloud Billing concepts](/billing/docs/concepts)\n\n-\n\n [Access control for Cloud Billing](/billing/docs/how-to/billing-access)\n\n-\n\n [Get and redeem education grants](/billing/docs/how-to/edu-grants)\n\n-\n\n [Understand your committed use discounts](/docs/cuds)\n\n-\n\n [Get started with Cloud Billing APIs](/billing/docs/apis)\n\nreceipt_long\n\n### Manage your billing account\n\n-\n\n [Create a Cloud Billing account](/billing/docs/how-to/create-billing-account)\n\n-\n\n [Modify your Cloud Billing account](/billing/docs/how-to/modify-billing-account)\n\n-\n\n [Close or reopen your Cloud Billing account](/billing/docs/how-to/close-or-reopen-billing-account)\n\n-\n\n [View projects linked to your Cloud Billing account](/billing/docs/how-to/view-linked)\n\n-\n\n [Manage your payment methods](/billing/docs/how-to/payment-methods)\n\n-\n\n [Get an invoice, statement, or receipt](/billing/docs/how-to/get-invoice)\n\n-\n\n [Understand your monthly invoice](/billing/docs/how-to/read-invoice)\n\n-\n\n [Pay your invoice](/billing/docs/how-to/pay-invoice)\n\n-\n\n [Resolve Cloud Billing issues](/billing/docs/how-to/resolve-issues)\n\nprice_check\n\n### Cost management tools\n\n-\n\n [Create, edit, or delete a budget](/billing/docs/how-to/budgets)\n\n-\n\n [Manage programmatic budget alert notifications](/billing/docs/how-to/budgets-programmatic-notifications)\n\n-\n\n [View your billing reports and cost trends](/billing/docs/how-to/reports)\n\n-\n\n [Understand your invoice: Cost Table reports](/billing/docs/how-to/cost-table)\n\n-\n\n [Understand your savings: Cost Breakdown reports](/billing/docs/how-to/cost-breakdown)\n\n-\n\n [View and download your price lists](/billing/docs/how-to/pricing-table)\n\n-\n\n [View your committed use discount (CUD) reports](/billing/docs/how-to/cud-analysis)\n\n-\n\n [Export Cloud Billing data to BigQuery](/billing/docs/how-to/export-data-bigquery)\n\nRelated resources\n-----------------\n\nExplore self-paced training, use cases, reference architectures, and code samples with examples of how to use and connect Google Cloud services. Training \nTraining and tutorials\n\n### Understanding your Google Cloud costs\n\n\nLearn how to view your invoice, track your Google Cloud costs with Billing reports, analyze your billing data with BigQuery or Google Sheets, and create custom billing dashboards with Looker Studio.\n\n\n[Learn more](https://www.cloudskillsboost.google/course_templates/775) \nTraining \nTraining and tutorials\n\n### Optimizing your Google Cloud costs\n\n\nLearn about ways to control and optimize your costs, such as setting up budgets and alerts, managing quota limits, and taking advantage of committed use discounts.\n\n\n[Learn more](https://www.cloudskillsboost.google/course_templates/767) \nTraining \nTraining and tutorials\n\n### Beyond your bill: video series\n\n\nBeyond your bill goes over topics that help you understand, control, and optimize your Google Cloud costs.\n\n\n[Learn more](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIivdWyY5sqKJx6FwJMRcsnFIkkNFtsX9) \nTraining \nTraining and tutorials\n\n### Cost management: video series\n\n\nGet best practices for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing your costs with Google Cloud's cost management tools.\n\n\n[Learn more](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIivdWyY5sqKeXavu1XuBNBDLBO31kzM0) \nTraining \nTraining and tutorials\n\n### Financial governance in the cloud\n\n\nBest practices for understanding, controlling, optimizing, and managing your IT costs to create a path to predictable cloud costs.\n\n\n[Learn more](/static/files/guide-to-financial-governance.pdf) \nTraining \nTraining and tutorials\n\n### Billing for Google Maps Platform: video series\n\n\nUsing Google Maps Platform APIs requires a Cloud Billing account. Learn how to get started with Google Maps Platform, including setting up your Cloud Billing account, enabling APIs, generating API keys, and optimizing your costs with quotas and budgets.\n\n\n[Learn more](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2rFahu9sLJ0yio9sC7BclL4a9r76ygHi)\n\nRelated videos\n--------------\n\n### Try Google Cloud for yourself\n\nCreate an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. \nNew customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads. \n[Get started for free](https://console.cloud.google.com/freetrial)"]]
