Google Cloud egress pricing: Premium vs Standard tier
GCP is the most expensive hyperscaler at headline rate, but cheaper than both AWS and Azure if you choose Standard Tier networking and use GCP's free cross-zone traffic. Most comparisons miss this, getting Standard Tier pricing right matters.
Premium: $0.12/GB first 1 TB. Standard: $0.085/GB. Source →
Premium tier (default)
Google backbonePremium entry rate
10 TB band
high-volume
Standard tier (opt-in)
public internetStandard entry rate
10 TB band
high-volume
[01]Calculate your GCP egress
Calculator uses Premium Tier rates by default. Standard Tier rates are 30-40% lower across all bands.
[02]Premium or Standard tier?
Premium uses Google's private backbone. Standard exits via public internet from the source region. The choice is per-region or per-load-balancer.
Use Premium
- · User-facing APIs serving global traffic
- · Real-time interactive applications (gaming, finance, video calls)
- · Workloads needing global anycast IPs and intelligent routing
- · Anywhere consistent low-latency matters
Use Standard
- · Batch processing, ETL, data analytics pipelines
- · Backups, archives, log shipping
- · Internal APIs and machine-to-machine traffic
- · Anywhere latency-tolerant traffic dominates volume
Hybrid setups are common: Premium for the front door, Standard for backend data movement. Configure per-region or per-load-balancer.
Free cross-zone traffic within a region
GCP is the only major hyperscaler that does not charge for traffic between zones in the same region. AWS charges $0.01/GB each way for cross-AZ. Azure charges $0.01/GB each way for cross-zone. GCP charges nothing.
For multi-zone HA architectures (databases with replicas across zones, services load-balanced across zones, queue traffic between workers), this single difference can save thousands of dollars per month. A workload doing 50 TB / month of internal cross-zone traffic saves $1,000/month on GCP versus AWS, just from the absence of cross-zone fees.
[03]Per-service notes
Compute Engine
Standard internet egress tiers. Premium Tier default; Standard configurable.
Cloud Storage
Same internet pricing. Cloud CDN integration cheaper than direct egress.
Cloud CDN
Tier-based. Cache fill from origin within same region is free.
Dedicated Interconnect
$1,700-$13,500/mo per port (10-100 Gbps) plus $0.02/GB egress.
Partner Interconnect
Variable upfront cost with similar per-GB rates to Dedicated.
Cloud VPN
Per-tunnel hourly + standard outbound egress.
GKE / Cloud Run
Standard egress tiers. Cross-zone within region is free, unique advantage.
GCP vs AWS vs Azure
Premium is the most expensive hyperscaler. Standard undercuts both AWS and Azure. Free cross-zone makes GCP cheapest overall for many multi-zone architectures. Compare your specific volume.
[04]Frequently asked
Q.01How much does Google Cloud charge for egress?
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GCP charges $0.12/GB for the first 1TB of internet egress at Premium Tier, dropping to $0.11/GB for 1-10 TB and $0.08/GB above 10 TB. Standard Tier is cheaper at $0.085/GB for the first 1 TB, $0.075/GB for 1-10 TB, and $0.05/GB above 10 TB. The first 100 GB per month is free. GCP also includes free cross-zone traffic within the same region, a unique advantage over AWS and Azure.
Q.02What is the difference between GCP Premium and Standard Tier?
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Premium Tier routes traffic over Google's private global backbone, providing lower latency, higher reliability, and faster failover. It is the default and what most workloads use. Standard Tier routes through public internet ISPs from the source region, which costs less but has higher latency and less consistent performance. Standard Tier is suitable for backups, batch processing, internal APIs, and any workload that is not latency-sensitive. Choose Standard Tier per-region or per-load-balancer.
Q.03Is GCP cheaper than AWS for egress?
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GCP Premium Tier is more expensive than AWS at all volume levels ($0.12/GB vs $0.09/GB starting). However, GCP Standard Tier at $0.085/GB is slightly cheaper than AWS for non-latency-sensitive workloads. The bigger GCP advantage is free cross-zone traffic within the same region: AWS charges $0.01/GB each way for cross-AZ traffic, GCP charges nothing. For multi-zone HA architectures with heavy internal traffic, GCP can be cheaper overall despite higher internet egress rates.
Q.04Does GCP charge for cross-zone traffic?
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No. Traffic between zones within the same GCP region is free. This is a major differentiator from AWS, which charges $0.01/GB each way for cross-AZ traffic. For multi-zone architectures (databases with replicas across zones, services load-balanced across zones, etc.), this can save hundreds to thousands of dollars per month compared to equivalent AWS workloads. GCP only charges for traffic between regions or to the internet.
Q.05What is the GCP free tier for data transfer?
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GCP provides 100 GB per month of free outbound data transfer to the internet, aggregated across all services. This is always-free and not part of the 90-day trial. GCP also includes free cross-zone traffic within the same region (no equivalent free tier needed because there is no charge). Cloud CDN does not have a separate free tier. The Always Free programme also includes 5 GB/month of free Cloud Storage with 1 GB/month of free egress from North America.
Q.06What is GCP Cloud Interconnect pricing?
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Dedicated Interconnect costs $1,700-$13,500/month per port (10 Gbps to 100 Gbps) plus $0.02/GB for egress through the interconnect. Partner Interconnect is variable based on the partner but typically lower upfront cost with similar per-GB rates. For high-volume hybrid workloads (>20 TB/mo egress), Interconnect is significantly cheaper than internet egress. Cloud Router charges may also apply for BGP sessions.