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Google Cloud Monitoring
What Google Cloud Monitoring is
Google Cloud Monitoring is a cloud service for viewing the performance, availability, and health of applications and infrastructure. It collects metrics automatically for Google Cloud services and supports hybrid and multicloud environments. Teams can combine metrics and uptime monitoring with custom dashboards and alerts, including policies with multiple conditions. Service-level objectives can be inferred automatically or defined by users, with alerts for violations. Script-based synthetic monitors test web application and API performance and can flag faulty behavior. For Kubernetes workloads, Managed Service for Prometheus supports managed and self-deployed metric collection. On supported Linux and Windows virtual machines, the Ops Agent collects logs and metrics and includes third-party application integrations. Alerts can be sent through email, Slack, PagerDuty, Pub/Sub, SMS, webhooks, or the Cloud Mobile App. Cloud Monitoring API v3 offers programmatic access to metrics scopes, dashboards, and alerting policies. Access is controlled through Google Cloud IAM roles and permissions. Charges can depend on ingested data, returned time series, and monitor executions; free monthly allotments apply to several meters. The Ops Agent is not supported on Amazon EC2 instances or on-premises machines.
Who it suits
It suits teams monitoring applications and infrastructure across Google Cloud, hybrid, or multicloud environments, including Kubernetes workloads and supported Linux or Windows virtual machines.
What it does well
- Automatic metrics for Google Cloud services.
- Custom dashboards and multi-condition alerts.
- Synthetic tests cover web apps and APIs.
- Alerts reach several listed services and channels.
- API v3 supports programmatic access.
What to know first
- Ops Agent excludes Amazon EC2 and on-premises machines.
- Charges vary by data and monitor usage.
- The service is cloud deployed.
Limits
Free monthly allotments apply to several usage meters. Charges can depend on ingested data, returned time series, uptime-check executions, and synthetic-monitor executions; the listed Managed Service for Prometheus metrics rate has no free allotment.
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Managed Service for Prometheus metrics | $0.06/million samples for first 0–50 billion; rates decrease by volume tier · No free allotment listed | $0.06 a month |
| Pay-as-you-go Cloud Monitoring | Usage-based; $0.2580/MiB for first 150–100,000 MiB, then $0.1510/MiB for next 100,000–250,000 MiB and $0.0610/MiB above 250,000 MiB · All non-chargeable Google Cloud metrics · First 150 MiB per billing account for metrics charged by bytes ingested | $0.26 a month |
| Uptime check executions | $0.30/1,000 executions · 1 million executions per Google Cloud project included | $0.30 a month |
| Monitoring API read calls | $0.50/million time series returned; write API calls have no charge · First 1 million time series returned per billing account included | $0.50 a month |
| Synthetic monitor executions | $1.20/1,000 executions · 100 executions per billing account included | $1.20 a month |
As cloud.google.com lists them, read 8 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Getting started
- Visit https://cloud.google.com/monitoring.
- Choose a paid plan or begin with the free plan or free trial.
- Use Google Cloud IAM roles and permissions to control access.
- Connect supported environments and configure metrics, dashboards, and alert policies.
- Use the Cloud Monitoring API v3 for programmatic access if needed.
Verdict
Google Cloud Monitoring brings metrics, uptime checks, dashboards, and alerting into a cloud service with support for hybrid and multicloud environments. Review its usage-based charges and the Ops Agent's environment limits when assessing fit.
Questions
Is Google Cloud Monitoring free?
A free plan and free trial are available. Free monthly allotments apply to several usage meters, while charges can depend on usage.
How is it priced?
It is a paid service with usage-based charges. Listed rates include $0.30/1,000 uptime-check executions and $0.50/million time series returned for Monitoring API read calls; some monthly free allotments apply.
Which platforms does it support?
The listed platforms are API, Linux, web, and Windows. The Ops Agent collects logs and metrics on supported Linux and Windows virtual machines.
Can it monitor Kubernetes?
Yes. Managed Service for Prometheus supports managed and self-deployed metric collection for Kubernetes workloads.
Where can monitoring alerts be sent?
Supported destinations include email, Slack, PagerDuty, Pub/Sub, SMS, webhooks, and the Cloud Mobile App.
Who makes Google Cloud Monitoring?
Google Cloud provides the service. Its headquarters are in Mountain View, California, United States.
Facts from Google Cloud Monitoring's own pages
- API
- Cloud Monitoring API v3 provides programmatic access to features including alerting policies, custom dashboards, and metrics scopes. · docs.cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Compliance
- Google Cloud states that its services are independently audited for ISO/IEC 27001, and Cloud Monitoring is listed among covered software services. · cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Dashboards and alerts
- The service combines metrics, uptime monitoring, dashboards, and alerts, and supports custom dashboards and multi-condition alerting policies. · cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Headquarters
- Mountain View, California, United States · cloud.google.com, 28 Sept 2026
- Hybrid and multicloud
- It provides automatic metric collection dashboards for Google Cloud services and supports hybrid and multicloud environments. · cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Monitoring alerts can be sent through email, Slack, PagerDuty, Pub/Sub, SMS, webhooks, and the Cloud Mobile App. · docs.cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Kubernetes and Prometheus
- Managed Service for Prometheus supports managed and self-deployed metric collection for Kubernetes workloads. · cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Cloud Monitoring provides visibility into the performance, availability, and health of applications and infrastructure. · cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Security and access
- Access to Cloud Monitoring is controlled through Google Cloud IAM roles and permissions. · docs.cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- SLOs
- Users can automatically infer or custom define service-level objectives and receive alerts when violations occur. · cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Supported environments
- The Ops Agent is not supported on Amazon EC2 instances or on-premises machines. · docs.cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Synthetic monitoring
- Synthetic monitors run automated script-based tests to track web application and API performance and can alert on faulty behavior. · cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- Usage limits and charges
- Monitoring charges can depend on ingested data, returned time series, uptime-check executions, and synthetic-monitor executions; free monthly allotments apply to several meters. · cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
- VM agents
- The Ops Agent collects logs and metrics on supported Linux and Windows virtual machines and includes integrations for third-party applications. · docs.cloud.google.com, 8 Oct 2026
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