Starter Tier provides a no-cost, Google-managed project that lets you build and deploy web apps and use select Google Cloud and Google products. If you sign in with an eligible Google Account, Google provisions a Starter Tier project on your behalf without requiring a payment method or Cloud Billing account.
This document explains how Starter Tier projects work, who is eligible, where Starter Tier is supported, and how to upgrade your project.
How Starter Tier projects work
If you're eligible, Google automatically provisions your resources in a Google-managed Google Cloud project when you use a product or tool that supports Starter Tier. This project is called a Starter Tier project. Google manages the project and its underlying infrastructure on your behalf, so you can build and deploy apps or use certain Google products without providing billing information.
Because Google manages the underlying infrastructure, a Starter Tier project requires no manual setup and differs from user-managed Google Cloud projects in the following ways:
- No Cloud Billing account or trial period: You don't need to provide a payment method or set up a Cloud Billing account. A Starter Tier project has no fixed expiration period. If a service reaches its no-cost quota limit, usage pauses until the quota resets or you upgrade your project.
- Preconfigured project and usage limits: Google limits each eligible Google Account to one Starter Tier project per supported product and manages the available regions, Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles, resource quotas, organization policies, and API enablements.
- Separate Terms of Service: Your Starter Tier resources aren't standard Google Cloud services and aren't governed by the Google Cloud Terms of Service. Instead, your resources are governed by the Starter Tier Additional Terms of Service, which also cover Google Workspace APIs. Depending on the services that you use, you might also need to accept the Google Maps Platform Demo API Key Terms of Service and the Firebase Terms of Service.
Starter Tier eligibility
Starter Tier is available to individual Google Accounts that meet all of the following criteria:
- Personal Google Account: Your account isn't associated with a Google Workspace organization. Accounts in paid or free Google Workspace, Google Workspace for Education, or Google Workspace for Nonprofits aren't eligible.
- No paid Cloud Billing history: Your account doesn't have an active or prior paid Cloud Billing account.
- Account activity and supported location: Your account has sufficient account activity and is located in a supported territory.
What happens if your account isn't eligible
If your account doesn't qualify for Starter Tier, you can still use the supported services in a user-managed Google Cloud project:
- Services that don't require billing: You can use many services in a user-managed project within their no-cost limits without a Cloud Billing account, such as Firebase Authentication, Firestore, and Google Workspace APIs.
- Services that require billing: To use services that require a Cloud Billing account in a user-managed project, such as deploying a live web app to Cloud Run or provisioning a Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL (developer edition) instance, you must set up or link a Cloud Billing account. Both Cloud Run and Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL (developer edition) include monthly no-cost usage limits on eligible user-managed Google Cloud projects.
Supported services
You can use Starter Tier to build and deploy full-stack web apps from Google AI Studio by using a curated set of Google Cloud and Google services. For step-by-step deployment instructions and project limits, see Deploy from Google AI Studio.
The following table describes the services (offered with limited functionality and quotas) included in your Starter Tier project when you build and deploy web apps from Google AI Studio:
| Service | Use case |
|---|---|
| Cloud Run |
Host your live web app and backend from your code, with no servers to manage and automatic scaling when traffic grows or drops to zero. |
| Firebase Authentication |
Add user sign-in and authentication to your app with Google Sign-In, email and password, or anonymous authentication. |
| Firestore |
Store and sync your app's data in a NoSQL document database with automated auditing of security rules to help keep your app's data secure. |
| Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL (developer edition) |
Provision a relational PostgreSQL database that automatically pauses and scales to zero when there are no active connections. For details on scale-to-zero behavior and pricing after upgrading, see Starter Tier and pricing. |
| Google Maps Platform |
Add interactive maps, Places search, address lookup, and directions to location-aware apps at no cost by using auto-provisioned Demo API Keys. |
| Google Workspace APIs |
Connect your web app to a user's Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Forms, Google Tasks, and Google Picker with built-in Google sign-in permissions. |
Upgrade your Starter Tier project
After you've tried services in your Starter Tier project, you might need higher quotas, more compute resources, custom domains, additional regions, or access to other Google Cloud services. To unlock these capabilities, you can upgrade your Google-managed Starter Tier project to a user-managed Google Cloud project.
Upgrading converts your Starter Tier project in place, so you don't need to create a new project or manually migrate your resources, databases, API keys, or web app URLs.
Where to initiate an upgrade
You can initiate a one-step upgrade from Google AI Studio, the Firebase console, or the Google Cloud console. To upgrade and convert your Starter Tier project to a user-managed Google Cloud project, you must accept the Google Cloud Terms of Service and link or create a Cloud Billing account by using in-product Cloud Billing setup.
What happens when you upgrade
During the upgrade process, your project transitions in place to a user-managed Google Cloud project:
- Your running apps experience no downtime.
- Your app state, databases, API keys, and web app URLs are preserved.
- You gain full IAM control and ownership of the project.
- You can enable any Google Cloud API.
- If you're a first-time Google Cloud user, you might qualify for the $300 Google Cloud Free Trial credit or an in-product welcome credit, as well as monthly Free Tier usage limits.
After you upgrade to a user-managed project, your resources are billed at standard rates against your linked Cloud Billing account. The upgraded project is governed by the Google Cloud Terms of Service.