Free Ubuntu VPS Hosting
The Google Cloud example costs $6.37 for 30 days before credits and tax. Check its assumptions, change usage and record what remains after shutdown.
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A free allowance is only part of the budget
Still choosing a provider? The free programme comparison covers Oracle, Google, AWS and Azure routes. Here, check a Google configuration’s costs and exit plan. The separate Ubuntu setup walkthrough covers Oracle AMD micro and SSH.
Record whether your account uses trial credit or paid billing. Credit can temporarily cover usage outside an allowance; on a paid account that usage can become a bill. The example below assumes no remaining trial credit.
Work out the full example cost
The example uses an eligible, paid Google billing account with no trial credit: one non-preemptible e2-micro in us-central1, ordinary Ubuntu and a 25 GiB pd-standard disk. Compute and disk fit the remaining allowances. Other account usage can change that.
For 30 days (720 hours) in one calendar month. Before credits, discounts and tax; other services excluded. Full compute/disk allowance is assumed.
No chargeable IPv4 does not guarantee public reachability. Check SSH and visitor connectivity. IPv6-only access will not serve every client; a proxy, NAT gateway or load balancer can introduce a separate cost.
| Item | Calculation | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible VM compute | Covered by the assumed remaining allowance | $0.00 |
| 25 GiB standard disk | Covered by the assumed remaining allowance | $0.00 |
| External IPv4 | 720 hours × $0.005 | $3.60 |
| Premium transfer to US | 19 GiB above remaining allowance × $0.12 | $2.28 |
| Regional standard snapshot | 10 billed GiB × 720 hours × $0.000068493 | $0.49 |
Google uses GiB for these charges. Rates checked 2026-10-13: IPv4 $0.005/hour; eligible Premium transfer above the remaining allowance $0.12/GiB; standard regional snapshots $0.000068493/GiB-hour. The original 31-day example is $6.51. Totals use unrounded amounts; displayed lines may differ by a cent when added. This is a planning estimate, not a measured bill.
What still costs money after stop or delete?
These are ordinary Compute Engine VM states. A free allowance may cover eligible retained usage; stopping a VM does not release every resource.
| Resource | VM running | VM stopped | VM deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| VM compute | Eligible hours consume the remaining compute allowance. | VM CPU and RAM usage stops. | VM CPU and RAM usage stops. |
| Persistent disks | Disk allocation counts towards its class-specific allowance or bill. | Disks remain allocated; their normal billing rules continue. | Only disks selected for deletion are removed. Retained disks remain allocated. |
| Ephemeral external IPv4 | Standard VM address: $0.005/hour. | Released; its address charge ends. Restart can assign a different IP. | Released; its address charge ends. |
| Reserved static external IPv4 | Associated with this standard VM: $0.005/hour. | Still associated: $0.005/hour, even though the VM is stopped. | If the reservation remains unused: $0.01/hour until released or reassigned. |
| Standard snapshots | Stored independently of the VM. | Storage and applicable retention charges continue. | VM deletion does not remove snapshots. Check each copy and any recovery/retention policy. |
| Other services | Check NAT, load balancers, buckets and other allocations separately. | A VM stop does not automatically stop these services. | A VM deletion does not automatically remove these services. |
Address-only example: a reserved static IPv4 left unused for 720 hours costs $7.20, before credits and tax. Releasing an address can break DNS or another service. Confirm its dependencies first; record any intentionally retained resources below.
Trace an unexpected charge
In Cloud Billing Reports, select the relevant charge period (formerly usage date), filter to the project and group by service or SKU. Compare usage cost, credits and the resulting net cost. Project-only permissions may hide other usage sharing the account allowance.
| Charge category | Check | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| External IP | Address assignment, static reservation and the hours billed. | Release only an unused address with no remaining dependencies. Stopping a VM does not free its static reservation. |
| Disk storage | Disk class, allocated size, retained disks and shared allowance. | Review pd-balanced/SSD or retained disks separately. Export needed data before changing or deleting storage. |
| Network transfer | Source/destination, Premium or Standard Tier, volume and remaining allowance. | Identify the transfer source and review the applicable route. A different tier or destination needs its own estimate. |
| Snapshot storage / transfer | Billed stored GiB, location, copies and retention policy. | Keep required recovery points; remove only obsolete copies. Cross-region storage or restore can add transfer charges. |
| Image licence | Exact image and any Ubuntu Pro or Marketplace licence. | Confirm whether the paid image is required. Plan a supported migration; changing a label does not remove a licence charge. |
| Compute or exhausted credit | Machine/region eligibility, combined eligible hours, other projects and credit expiry. | Reconcile account usage and paid-account status. Stop unneeded compute or budget for it; do not assume expired credit renews. |
Match the usage period to your action timestamps: a later report can include earlier usage. If a line remains unexplained, save its project, SKU, usage period and resource evidence for billing support. There is no promise of immediate zero billing or a refund.
Keep a resource record
Review the exact project and resource identifiers in your cloud console. Mark removal only after checking it there. Record retained items and their estimated cost for the next 30 days; this fixed review period is separate from the running example above.
5 resource groups not checked. This record describes your decisions; it does not inspect or remove cloud resources.
Nothing is saved until you choose Save on this device or download a record. Saving keeps these entries in this browser.
Set alerts and decide who responds
Create a project-scoped budget and verify its recipient. Check how credits and discounts affect its calculation. Inspect actual usage after deployment and after changing the machine, storage, network or backup schedule.
An alerts-only Google Cloud budget does not stop spending. Google's separate spend-cap feature covers selected services and does not pause ongoing charges from persistent compute and storage resources. Do not assume that either feature will shut down this VM and its disks at your chosen amount.
Assign someone to investigate unexpected usage, reduce optional resources, or export and close the experiment. An automatic account-wide shutdown is not a substitute for identifying this project's resources.
Close this experiment without deleting unrelated work
Stopping a Compute Engine VM can leave chargeable storage and other allocated resources. Deleting the VM also requires a decision about attached disks. Review the exact project and identifiers in your inventory before taking either action.
Before cleanup, test recovery of an independent file copy. That exercise covers static files and configuration, not an active database or the entire cloud environment.
- Export the application's data and configuration to a location outside the resources scheduled for removal. Restore a sample and check that you can use it.
- Stop new writes and scheduled jobs for this experiment. Record any final data export you need.
- Open the specific VM in the recorded project and review its attached disks and deletion settings. Confirm each disk's keep-or-remove decision.
- Remove only the identified VM and unneeded resources belonging to this experiment through their individual management screens.
- Review retained disks, reserved addresses, snapshots and optional services. Check dependencies before releasing an address or deleting a backup.
- Inspect any applicable retention or recovery area and its billing conditions. Keep required recovery copies deliberately.
- Record completion times and review subsequent usage reports for this project and the relevant resource types.
A report can contain usage incurred before deletion. Compare timestamps and resource identifiers instead of assuming every later line means a resource is still running. Investigate continuing allocations against the inventory. Do not close a shared billing account or delete a whole project merely to clean up one VM.
Make a clear decision before signup
Proceed when every required component has an explained allowance or an acceptable cost, you know how the account transitions out of a trial, and you can restore and remove the experiment. Reconsider when public connectivity, backup retention or the target region depends on a cost you have not accepted.
If you choose Oracle, the public Ubuntu VPS setup walkthrough covers an AMD micro instance and SSH access. Carry the resource-inventory method across, but use Oracle's own allowances rather than the Google figures above. For a public service whose requirements exceed the allowance, compare the complete operating cost using the hosting checklist.
Cost and cleanup questions
Is free Ubuntu VPS hosting completely free?
A compute allowance covers only eligible usage. Public IPv4, storage, transfer, backups or software licences can still add charges. This page checks a specific Google example; use the programme comparison to choose between free allowances and temporary credit.
Does stopping a Google VM stop the whole bill?
No. CPU and RAM usage stops, but retained disks and snapshots keep their normal billing rules. A static external IP still assigned to a stopped standard VM remains chargeable. An ephemeral IP is released.
Does the estimate apply to Ubuntu Pro?
No. It assumes ordinary Ubuntu without a paid image licence. Premium Ubuntu Pro images on Google Cloud have additional licensing costs.
Why might the bill differ from this estimate?
Your account may have less free allowance left, a different network tier or destination, additional resources or storage in another location. Credits, discounts, taxes and billing periods also change the result. Inspect the actual service and SKU, usage period and resource settings.
Documentation and scope
Published Google Cloud documentation checked on : Free Program conditions; VPC network and external IP pricing; Compute Engine disk, snapshot and image pricing; stopping and deleting instances; Cloud Billing Reports, budgets and spend caps.
The figures are a worked planning example. No cloud account, invoice, signup approval or resource state has been verified for you. Confirm the current settings and rates before creating or retiring resources.