What Is GCP?
Author: Domeny.ForSale editorial team Published
In brief: GCP, or Google Cloud Platform, is Google’s cloud services platform: it provides computing power, databases, file storage, and analytics and artificial intelligence tools over the internet. Instead of buying your own servers, you provision the resources you need on Google’s infrastructure and pay according to the terms of your chosen services. GCP offers more capabilities than typical website hosting, but also requires greater control over configuration, security and costs.
What does GCP stand for, and how does Google’s cloud work?
Cloud computing is a way of using IT resources over a network without having to own and maintain physical hardware. In GCP, you can rent a virtual machine, a computer defined through software, or choose a managed service in which Google handles more of the infrastructure operations.
The basic unit for organising resources is a project. This is where you enable services, assign permissions and run applications. A project can be linked to a billing account, and costs can be analysed by project and service. This makes it easier to separate the test environment from the production environment—the one used by real users.
For many resources, you choose a region: the geographical area in which the infrastructure operates. Location affects factors such as connection latency, service availability and how data-related requirements are met. Not every service is available in every region, and choosing a location requires checking the documentation for the specific product.
GCP is not the same as Google Workspace. Workspace includes work tools such as Gmail, Docs and Meet; GCP is primarily used to build and maintain IT systems.
What are the main GCP services used for?
The platform consists of many products that can be used separately or combined into a single system. To start with, it is enough to distinguish a few basic uses:
| Service | What it is used for | Example use case |
|---|---|---|
| Compute Engine | Running virtual machines | A server for an application that requires its own system configuration |
| Cloud Run | Running containerised applications without managing servers | A web application’s backend |
| Cloud Storage | Storing objects, such as files and backups | Product photos for an online shop |
| Cloud SQL | A managed relational database | Customer and order data |
| BigQuery | A data warehouse for analytics | Combining sales and marketing data |
| Vertex AI | Tools for working with AI models | Building features that use generative models |
A container is a package containing an application and the dependencies it needs to run. Cloud Run lets you run such a package without administering the server’s operating system yourself. However, you remain responsible for the code, application settings and its access to data.
BigQuery is primarily used to analyse large datasets, rather than as a direct replacement for a database that handles a shop’s day-to-day transactions. Cloud Storage, in turn, stores files as objects—it is not a conventional server disk or an equivalent of Google Drive for employees.
GCP or conventional hosting: which should you choose?
For a simple business website or a standard WordPress site, managed hosting can be more practical. It usually provides a ready-to-use environment, an administration panel and a more predictable subscription fee. You can run a similar site on GCP, but you need to make deliberate choices about deployment, backups, security and monitoring.
GCP makes sense when you need a custom application, analysis of data from multiple sources, or independent scaling of different parts of a system. Scaling means adjusting resources to match the load, for example by increasing the number of running application instances as traffic grows. Not all services do this automatically, and a heavier load may increase your bill.
For example, a company has a website presenting its services and a contact form. Simply moving the website to GCP may not bring any significant benefit. However, if the company builds a customer portal that processes uploaded photos, it could use Cloud Run to run the application, Cloud Storage to store files and Cloud SQL to save user information.
It is best to start the decision with the application’s requirements and the team’s skills, rather than the number of products available on the platform.
How much does GCP cost, and what should you watch out for?
GCP does not have a single subscription price for the entire platform. Charges may depend on how long resources run, the number of requests, the amount of data stored or processed, and network data transfer. Individual products have different billing models.
An unused application does not always mean zero cost. Running databases, disks, backups or other resources left in place may still incur charges. Automatic scaling is no substitute for controlling spending, either.
Before deployment, check the product’s current pricing, the Google Cloud pricing calculator, and the terms of any free usage allowances and trial credits. Prepare an estimate for normal traffic and for periods of increased load, accounting for data transfer and storage.
Set a budget and spending notifications. A budget alert is not, in itself, a hard limit and does not automatically stop charges from accruing. If you need additional restrictions, check the resource limits and scaling settings available for the service in question.
How can you get started with GCP safely?
Google secures the cloud infrastructure, but the customer remains responsible for areas including permissions, configuration and application data. The scope of this division depends on the service: with a virtual machine, you have more administrative responsibilities than with a managed service.
Run your first test in a separate project, without customer data:
- Secure your account with multifactor authentication.
- Configure billing, a budget and cost alerts.
- Choose one service that meets a specific need.
- Grant users and applications only the permissions they need through IAM, the identity and access management system.
- After the test, check the costs and delete unnecessary resources, including disks and copies of data.
The best first step is a small prototype: it will let you assess how difficult the platform is to use and how charges are calculated before entrusting it with a live system.
See also: What Is AWS?
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