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What Is Google Cloud?

Google Cloud Platform is cloud-based service that allows you to create anything from simple websites to complex applications for businesses of all sizes in all industries. Google Cloud Platform offers a scalable data warehouse powered by cloud storage and machine learning, as well as relational databases for transactions, complex queries, and more.

New customers get $300 in free credits during the first 90 days after exhausting free usage which is available across 20+ different products.

Who Uses Google Cloud?

Developers, ITDMs, customers and businesses of all sizes.

Google Cloud Software - Google Cloud Platform Free programs
Google Cloud Software - Google Cloud Platform project information
Google Cloud Software - Google Cloud Platform dashboard
Google Cloud Software - Google Cloud Platform deployment details

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Reviews of Google Cloud

Average score

Overall
4.7
Ease of Use
4.5
Customer Service
4.3
Features
4.6
Value for Money
4.4

Reviews by company size (employees)

  • <50
  • 51-200
  • 201-1,000
  • >1,001
Ashley
Ashley
Affiliate in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Marketing & Advertising, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Love Google Cloud

5.0 last month New

Comments: My experience has been great so far, it's really easy to navigate through the site.

Pros:

I love that I can upload everything on my phone to Google Cloud and never have to worry about losing my precious pictures of my son!

Cons:

I didn't find anything I don't care about on Google Cloud.

Jose Enrique
Cloud Architect in Spain
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Google Cloud offering portfolio and services

5.0 2 months ago New

Comments: Based on my experience with Google Cloud, I have had the opportunity to see how it has evolved over the last 7 years. Without a doubt I can say that Google Cloud offers a complete portfolio for computing, networking, data, data streaming, data ingestion, container-based applications, following all cloud models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS). I believe that Google Cloud's main strength today lies in its offering of data management, AI, BigData, Business Intelligence and Infrastructure for database services.

Pros:

Google is one of the top 5 cloud providers. In terms of network it has the largest stretch of undersea cables in the world, meaning its cloud services can be offered literately everywhere. The main strength in term of cloud services is the data portfolio, which makes companies of all sizes (startup, small, mid and large) transition into a data-driven model easily and following known best practices.

Cons:

The main disadvantage of Google Cloud is the native tools and services for DevOps capabilities, which do not really offer a mature environment for developing continuous integration and continuous delivery strategies. However, Google Cloud integrates with open source tools, such as Terraform, Github Actions, among many other community tools and services. In fact, almost all existing DevOps-oriented tools and services are compatible with Google Cloud.

Sausha
Barista in US
Food & Beverages, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

I think the cloud is just ok

3.0 last month New

Comments: I would give it a 5 out of a 10 wit 10 being bestest and 1 the worse

Pros:

It saves pictures and it backs phone up gives you sum storage and saves messages from phone you dont want to lose

Cons:

Runs out of space or storage quickly and asks for more money to get more storage

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Entertainment, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Google Cloud Keeps My Docs With Me

5.0 3 months ago

Comments: My experience with Google Cloud has been great. I love being able to access all my documents anywhere I go with an internet connection.

Pros:

I love the synchronicity across all my devices.

Cons:

The only con is that I have to pay for it, but the cost is so minimal that I really don't mind.

Amanda
Founder and freelancer in UK
Marketing & Advertising, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

A Solid Cloud Service Choice

5.0 3 weeks ago New

Comments: I love using Google Cloud and rely on it frequently. I recommend it to friends and colleagues. As many companies now use Google Cloud, it is much easier for me as a freelancer to access and share documents smoothly.

Pros:

Google Cloud is user-friendly, reliable, and highly scalable. It offers a seamless experience, especially for businesses needing a flexible cloud environment. I love its intuitive interface and robust tools. Most of my clients use it too.

Cons:

Although I use free versions, or those included with my Gmail accounts, or provided by my clients, I imagine Google Cloud can be pricey, especially for smaller businesses. Accessing specific drives can be tricky, with challenges in navigating folders and locating shared files. Managing permission rights can also be confusing, making it hard to control who can view or edit certain documents.

Vidya
Cloud engineer in US
Information Technology & Services, 5,001–10,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Google cloud the 3rd most cloud leader works in parts

5.0 2 months ago New

Comments: Overall services like dataproc vertex Ai and bigquery are very efficient to get the things done for data processing

Pros:

Big query, Ai/ML tools are sophisticated and stand out with performance throughput

Cons:

Still lacking services and usability when compared to AWS and Azure

Daria
Office Manager in US
Information Technology & Services, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Solid and easy-to-use platform

5.0 3 weeks ago New

Comments: Google Cloud has been reliable and powerful, with great features once you get past the initial learning curve.

Pros:

Google Cloud is super reliable and easy to scale, which is great for handling big projects. I love how smoothly it works with other Google services, and the security features make me feel good about storing important stuff there.

Cons:

Sometimes the pricing can be a bit confusing, especially if you're not keeping a close eye on usage. I also wish there were more straightforward tutorials for some of the advanced features—it can feel a little overwhelming at first.

Nicholas
Sales Manager in US
Retail, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Google Cloud- Never worry about losing your important stuff, again!

5.0 2 months ago New

Comments: I've been using Google cloud for a very long time, and its alwayd nice having that peace of mind knowing that all of your stuff is safe!

Pros:

As long as you know your password, or you have access to the devices that you're signed into the cloud with, you'll NEVER have to worry about losing any of your most important photos, contacts, apps, etc.

Cons:

You only get 15 GB for free, and after you've used all of that, you're required to purchase additional storage. I currently pay $1.99 for an additional 200 GB of storage, which is really nice, but I don't like having to pay for it.

Khaled
Software Engineer in US
Information Technology & Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

No tension for scaling my business.

5.0 2 weeks ago New

Comments: Through Google Cloud I was able to scale up the business in a horizontal way without facing any jeopardy with time consumption and money. It's given me the framework and resources to adapt, expand and remain at the forefront.

Pros:

Reliable and strong infrastructure that fits my business needs. I like the variety of services you have, from compute and storage to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Its pay-as-you-go pricing model and its scalability enable me to adjust if there are changes in demand, without overspending.

Cons:

The interface is more friendly than that of many competitors, but the dizzying array of services and configurations can feel daunting.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

cloud solution made simple and secure

4.0 last month New

Pros:

I like the free credits given by gcloud to new users to play around different services in google cloud to familiarize different compute, storage, and security services. I mainly use Google cloud to spin up a instance of any flavor(OS) that I want for my pentesting or red team engagements.

Cons:

The dashboard looks quite complex, sometimes overwhelming for me to find a specific thing I want.

infant
infant
Lead vmware / cloud admin in India
Verified LinkedIn User
Media Production, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

GCP Review

4.0 3 years ago

Comments: Overall migration experience is very bad , but new versions made it easier. Other than that GCP monitoring tool is not that much user friendly , the guys with limited knowledge about cloud are suffering to get metrics or monitoring details. For example : to check the GCP Bucket growth , it's not a direct thing to check. We need to query it to get the info.

Pros:

Ease of use. I like the most as a admin when compared to other cloud providers the spec can be customizable & the new cpu type N2d which gives better performance with less price. Easy to deploy vm's.

Cons:

Oh! The dislike which comes to my mind is the Migration tool. google's M4ce migration engine version 4 is very difficult to setup , such a complex setup. One good relief is M4ce version 5 which supports migration from vmware which setup is so simple & i have migrated workloads easily. But struggled a lot with version 4.

Robson Jean
Robson Jean
CTO in Brazil
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Google Cloud Platform the best Cloud Platform on the Market

5.0 4 years ago

Comments: The best platform for Cloud Computing, very robust, with all services that you need for you application

Pros:

First, that GCP accept the Brazilian Real for payments. Second, GCP have a lot of products for serverless apps, like Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, App Engine. Third, I never had to talk with the GCP Support, I never had problems with they.

Cons:

I think that I'dont have any complain about GCP, the price is not too high, I think is cheaper then AWS.

Patrick
Photo Editor in US
Design, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Speed Up You're Website!

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: I do website design and work with a lot of images and videos on customer sites so having a platform i can utilize to my the site more responsive is something my clients love as well as the visitors. lets face it, when you go to a site and it lagging you usually end up leaving and looking somewhere else and your client looses money. Having Google Cloud keeps people connected.

Pros:

Website speed is crucial of business as well as personal. With Google cloud you don't have to store those large files, video files and images all on your site which slows it down a lot. You can easily add it to google cloud and just copy and paste the links into your website so the load time of your site is improved up to about 80%.

Cons:

Google cloud offers a free version but you are limited to the amount of data and bandwidth and if you need a lot more space and bandwidth you could easy be paying well over $100 a month.

Zuhairah
Zuhairah
Marketing Communications Specialist in Malaysia
Verified LinkedIn User
Internet, 5,001–10,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Manage multiple clud storage form one platform

5.0 3 years ago

Pros:

I'm delighted to use Google Cloud at work to create my documentation most quickly and straightforwardly possible. This process doesn't depend on my Computers operating framework, so I can be assured that this information will be saved and not lost. It's straightforward and accessible to anybody. I believe it is ideal for group planning or business-related tasks. I also love the fact that anybody may make changes to the archive.

Cons:

What I dislike the most about this software is that report are regularly lost by accident. Searching for some of my records may be incredibly difficult. It is usually challenging to use initially to persuade others to do so. I believe it took some time for me to become indeed known.

Harmony
Pastor in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

What my thoughts are about google cloud platform.

4.0 4 years ago

Comments: I solve data storage problems and help scale back the amount of human error. At the same time, I am able to run data smoothly and efficiently in a beat and orderly fashion.

Pros:

I like the fact that you can store an unlimited amount of space as an online back up. If your computer has a major power surge and fries, your work and documents are saved and you have not lost everything.

Cons:

I think that there should be an option where you can make the background and fonts a more laid back description instead of always having it professional. I really also don’t really care for how everything is connected to the google—-everything branches out from it.

Kamal
Technical Support in US
Computer Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Cloud computing made easy

5.0 4 years ago

Comments: It's the best cloud computing platform I've used.

Pros:

The GCP has made the deployment of development practices easy. Creating and Launching virtual instances is very fast. You are billed only when instances are running. The free trial credit makes it superb and standout among others.

Cons:

The only disadvantage is that it assigns a USA IP address for every instance created. Even if the location of the instance is India, London, South Africa, you'll be given a USA IP.

Sébastien
Sébastien
Directeur in Mexico
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

An Idea Solution for Students, Autodidacts and Professionals for Anything Cloud Related

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: The most direct and consistent way I have been interacting with Google Cloud Platform was when I took the course "Google IT Support Professional Certificate". This course frequently makes use of GCP to explain real-life situations and I learnt a ton thanks to the doors that GCP open for you. It is possible to set up modified instances, which makes it a perfect learning platform for many different backgrounds in technology, including topics such as technical support, data analysis, data visualization, machine learning, security, etc. I have benefited tremendously from its many features and I expect to solve more complex problems in the near future with new skills under my belt. I loved how simple it was to set up instances, get them running, working with them for a while and then how they can easily be discarded or modified on the fly.

Pros:

In the context of education, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is wonderfully accessible, powerful and useful. Connecting to virtual instances is simple when deploying both Linux and Windows. The instances can be accessed through SSH and there is even a Chrome extension (Chrome RDP) that facilitates connections to Windows under any operating system in use. The platform is extremely well integrated with courses that the same company offers as part of their MOOCs. Instances are responsive and allow to really dig deep without the fear of breaking anything for real. They each get their own IP address accessible publicly so it is a breeze to launch background services and servers inside an instance and test functionality from the outside world. I am not personally familiar with all the tools available, but I know I can count on the platform to support any future development I might do with big data and machine learning. Because Google also offers open source libraries such as TensorFlow which are an integral part of the platform, I know I will not be limited with scalability issues anytime soon when relying on this service.

Cons:

Like any software of comparable complexity, the hardest part is always getting started, because everything feels so overwhelming. When opening the dashboard for the first time, you can click on the menu to access an impressive long list of available products. Since there are so many aspects to learn, I would find it very useful to have a shortcut next to each item that goes directly to the most relevant documentation page on the subject. I have also been annoyed once or twice in a MOOC connected to a virtual instance on Google Cloud Platform when I was informed that the instance was ready but in reality I would still need to wait longer for all tools to be properly loaded, hence some confusion was generated from the fact that I would have to close and re-open the instance to see a new file appear or something similar. I wish the communication between GCP and the information available from a course connected to the platform could be more accurate. Knowing this little pitfall and knowing there is a very good documentation available with many tutorials does help to get pass those initial hurdles.

Debbie
Manager in New Zealand
Health, Wellness & Fitness, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Google Cloud from a Person who is not techie

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: ProblemsGoogle Cloud provides a range of solutions for storing, managing, and analyzing large amounts of data, including data warehouses, data lakes, and Big Data services. Google Cloud offers backup and disaster recovery solutions that help businesses protect their data and quickly recover from unexpected events.Google Cloud provides a platform for developing, testing, and deploying applications, enabling businesses to quickly bring new products and services to market. Google Cloud offers collaboration tools, such as Google Workspace, that help teams work more efficiently and effectively together.By leveraging Google Cloud's scalable infrastructure, businesses can reduce costs associated with hardware, software, and maintenance.BenefitsGoogle Cloud can scale to meet the changing needs of a business, providing resources when and where they're needed.Google invests heavily in security, ensuring that customer data is protected through encryption, access controls, and other security measures. Google has data centers and infrastructure located in multiple regions around the world, providing low latency and high performance for customers.Strong partner ecosystem: Google Cloud has a large and growing ecosystem of partners and integrators, providing customers with a wide range of services and solutions to meet their needs. Google Cloud offers a range of AI and machine learning services that can help customers gain insights and make better decisions. Innovation

Pros:

Scalability: Google Cloud offers a highly scalable infrastructure that can adapt to the changing needs of a business.Security: Google invests heavily in security, ensuring that customer data is protected through encryption, access controls, and other security measures.Global presence: Google has data centers and infrastructure located in multiple regions around the world, providing low latency and high performance for customers.Strong partner ecosystem: Google Cloud has a large and growing ecosystem of partners and integrators, providing customers with a wide range of services and solutions to meet their needs.AI and Machine Learning capabilities: Google Cloud offers a range of AI and machine learning services that can help customers gain insights and make better decisions.

Cons:

Steep learning curve: Some customers may find the breadth and depth of Google Cloud's offerings challenging to understand and navigate.Cost: Google Cloud's services can be more expensive than those of some other cloud providers, particularly for smaller customers or those with less complex needs.Limited adoption in certain industries: Google Cloud is still not as widely adopted as some other cloud providers, which can limit the availability of expertise and best practices in certain industries.

Richard
Richard
Chief Door Stop in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Fantastic Cloud Tools with Fast Deployment

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: I've enjoy using this product. It makes development time faster and it integrates very well with a wide range of Google Cloud / API products.

Pros:

The Google Cloud Platform is an assortment cloud development tools - in my case, for web development. I utilize their Compute Engine, SQL, Storage, a number of their networking tools. I've found getting these different tools to work together has been very easy. One of the things I love about using Google Cloud is how easy it is to launch additional tools, create separate operating environments for testing, and bringing in 'tested' environments into production status. For the most part, I've found the Google Cloud Platform tools deploy very quickly, so there isn't much downtime as you want to ramp up additional resources. I've also found their billing platform one of the best if you have clients you're setting these resources as you can create independent billing accounts like you might in Google Adwords.

Cons:

My gripe isn't unique to the Google Cloud Platform - it may simply be the reality of the billing model used by most cloud providers I've used - costs can sneak up quickly if you're not paying attention. Since the costs associated with the cloud platform are all variable expenses based on items such as time in use, storage fees, or network thru-put, it often takes a few days for Google to properly offer up the estimated monthly expense. I've had a few painful surprises over the years so watch your billing estimates carefully. My next gripe is both positive and negative: Google Cloud is always improving their service offerings (this is positive), but often their improvements roll out as a different product with no clear way to migrate from say Compute Engine (older product) to their Kubernetes Engine (new product).

Hillary
Administrative Assistant in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

The Google Cloud is Peace of Mind

5.0 3 years ago

Comments: Overall, I have had only good experiences with the cloud. I haven't noticed any glitches, crashes or problems with hackers. I feel that my data, workload and memories are all safe and secure and I feel that I have control over what happens to them. I would never switch to a different product - I love the cloud!

Pros:

I really value the ease of use, peace of mind and organizational aspects of the cloud. First of all, it is incredibly easy to use and easy to teach others how to use. I have several volunteers that I work with and it isn't difficult for me to explain to them how to use the cloud. It saves me time that the product itself is accessible and understandable for people of all ages and skill level. Secondly, it provides peace of mind. When we store things on the cloud - whether they are documents, financial records, pictures, etc. we know they will always be there. We can access them from one device to another and if a device is broken or destroyed, we don't have to worry that everything on it was also destroyed. Lastly, I love how organized I can be with the cloud. Not only is it a simple design, but it's so customizable - I can organize things how I want within the cloud to make them easy to find later.

Cons:

The only downfall to this product, which is hardly a downfall, is that the options for organization are sometimes overwhelming. I am glad to have so many options for organizing the cloud, but sometimes it's easy to forget about certain tools because there are so many. Other than that, I have no complaints!

Ruhid
Ruhid
We are here to help everyone quickly! in Azerbaijan
Verified LinkedIn User
Motion Pictures & Film, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

in a confused mind - Google Cloud

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

It's a very useful system for developers. Along with its good aspects such as registration with google, many maps services, verification systems for your website or application, many necessary systems in the same place and no additional charges for development, which allows you to access everything whether on websites or in terms of application developers. it helps you to have a lot of experience.

Cons:

First of all, I need to talk about the confusion, for example, for the site developer or application developers to have all of them in one place, sometimes it takes a lot of time to search for something on the site and find something on the site, which is a situation we do not like about the site, although it is good on the google cloud storage side, the money issue is a bit excessive. It has been made more difficult to request more than platforms that provide the same service, such as yandex.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Construction, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Office tools in Google cloud

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: I have been using Google Cloud on daily basis for like 4 years. Alot has improved over time with their individual programs like Word, Slides, Excel, etc. But some tools like Draw is still not able to compete with something Inkscape.

Pros:

The Office tools in Google Cloud are much better than Microsoft 365. The best part of G suit in Google Cloud is real time synchronization. When I work on reports with my remotely located colleagues, I can see them editing specific sections of a document in a real time. This helps alot in not repeating the work on the same section. Google Cloud shows all of this in form of different colors and small icons on top left of the document. When you click on the icon, the document jumps to the point where that person is working on. Other good feature is version control. In case if I am not happy with the new edits, I can revert the document to an older version.

Cons:

The only part which I dont like is their slow evolution. Google is very slow in adding features in their G Suit which means at the moment, it is unable to compete with the Desktop based MS Office. But I can see it coming very quickly and very soon, people may stop using Microsoft Office on their computers.. They may only use the online tools like Google Office. Another part where Google need to improve is their slides which is like Power Point from Microsoft. The slides from Google are still at their very early stage and need to improve.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Marketing & Advertising, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Google Cloud Platform is a good suite of tools most suited to infrastructure-as-a-service

5.0 3 years ago

Comments: Experience has been good, it all works, it's a very stable service and it is reasonably priced.

Pros:

My organisation mostly uses Google Compute Engine to host all our websites and applications on Google infrastructure. It is a fairly reasonably priced service and very stable, bosting excellent and reliable uptime. You can run a number of officially supported Linux distributions, so you can most likely install what you know. It is all quite easy to setup and manage your servers, though the UI is Google style - so it's not the prettiest - quite minimalist.

Cons:

It can start to get expensive once you need to scale, so make sure you look at what that would cost before buy in at the entry level. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the interface, it's a very simple and ugly - but it all works perfectly so it's not a big deal.

Yash
Yash
Project Engineer in India
Verified LinkedIn User
E-Learning, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Cost-Effective Solutions for Large-Scale Projects

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: Overall, my experience with Google Cloud has been excellent, and I am completely satisfied with the product.

Pros:

It provides an extensive range of services that address every aspect of cloud computing, from computation and storage to databases, networking, and analytics. The worldwide network infrastructure of Google Cloud guarantees high-performance, low-latency communication across many areas.

Cons:

The quality of regular assistance may not be sufficient for all firms, especially those who need quick response times, and premium support solutions can be costly.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Google cloud is a winner for me

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: Overall, it solves my business's problems of having our infrastructure managed in a cloud platform well.

Pros:

Integrating with google cloud is very straightforward and it's fantastically easy to use compared to competitors such as AWS. The capabilities are comparable with the biggest players in the space but google cloud is much easier to use.

Cons:

Something to be wary of is pricing as it can ramp up quickly depending on which services you utilize. The customer support is also not quite where it should be for a company of this size.