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Google Cloud Monitoring

cloud.google.com

From $0.06/mo Free trial WebWindowsLinuxAPI
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Spec score 8.3 #8 of 31 in Cloud Monitoring

What it is

Google Cloud Monitoring provides visibility into the performance, availability, and health of applications and infrastructure. It automatically collects metrics for Google Cloud services and also supports hybrid and multicloud environments. The service brings together metrics, uptime checks, dashboards, and alerts; users can build custom dashboards and multi-condition alert policies. Service-level objectives can be inferred automatically or defined by users, with alerts for violations. Script-based synthetic monitors test web applications and APIs. For Kubernetes, Managed Service for Prometheus handles managed or 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. It runs in the cloud and lists API, Linux, web, and Windows platforms. Pricing is usage-based, with free monthly allotments on several meters; charges can depend on ingested data, time series returned, and check executions.

Spec sheet

Purpose
Cloud Monitoring provides visibility into the performance, availability, and health of applications and infrastructure.Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
API
Cloud Monitoring API v3 provides programmatic access to features including alerting policies, custom dashboards, and metrics scopes.Read 8 Oct 2026 · docs.cloud.google.com
Integrations
Monitoring alerts can be sent through email, Slack, PagerDuty, Pub/Sub, SMS, webhooks, and the Cloud Mobile App.Read 8 Oct 2026 · docs.cloud.google.com
Compliance
Google Cloud states that its services are independently audited for ISO/IEC 27001, and Cloud Monitoring is listed among covered software services.Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Headquarters
Mountain View, California, United StatesRead 28 Sep 2026 · cloud.google.com
Dashboards and alerts
The service combines metrics, uptime monitoring, dashboards, and alerts, and supports custom dashboards and multi-condition alerting policies.Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Hybrid and multicloud
It provides automatic metric collection dashboards for Google Cloud services and supports hybrid and multicloud environments.Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Kubernetes and Prometheus
Managed Service for Prometheus supports managed and self-deployed metric collection for Kubernetes workloads.Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Security and access
Access to Cloud Monitoring is controlled through Google Cloud IAM roles and permissions.Read 8 Oct 2026 · docs.cloud.google.com
SLOs
Users can automatically infer or custom define service-level objectives and receive alerts when violations occur.Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Supported environments
The Ops Agent is not supported on Amazon EC2 instances or on-premises machines.Read 8 Oct 2026 · docs.cloud.google.com
Synthetic monitoring
Synthetic monitors run automated script-based tests to track web application and API performance and can alert on faulty behavior.Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
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.Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
VM agents
The Ops Agent collects logs and metrics on supported Linux and Windows virtual machines and includes integrations for third-party applications.Read 8 Oct 2026 · docs.cloud.google.com

Plans and prices

Managed Service for Prometheus metrics $0.06 a month $0.06/million samples for first 0–50 billion; rates decrease by volume tier No free allotment listed Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Pay-as-you-go Cloud Monitoring $0.26 a month 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 Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Uptime check executions $0.30 a month $0.30/1,000 executions 1 million executions per Google Cloud project included Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Monitoring API read calls $0.50 a month $0.50/million time series returned; write API calls have no charge First 1 million time series returned per billing account included Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com
Synthetic monitor executions $1.20 a month $1.20/1,000 executions 100 executions per billing account included Read 8 Oct 2026 · cloud.google.com

Every Google Cloud Monitoring plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Automatic metrics for Google Cloud services
  • Custom dashboards and multi-condition alerting
  • Scripted synthetic checks for web and APIs
  • Prometheus collection support for Kubernetes workloads
  • Several alert notification channels

Limits

  • Ops Agent excludes Amazon EC2 and on-premises machines
  • Charges vary by usage meter and volume
  • Pricing includes multiple separate usage rates

Who it suits

It suits teams monitoring applications, infrastructure, Kubernetes workloads, or services across Google Cloud and hybrid or multicloud environments. Users who need custom alerting, SLO tracking, or programmatic access can use its listed dashboards, policies, and API.

Verdict

Cloud Monitoring combines metrics, uptime checks, dashboards, alerts, SLOs, and synthetic monitoring in one cloud service. Buyers should account for usage-based charges and note the Ops Agent's environment limits.

Where Specifiction places it

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