Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7 budget

Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by ReptileMan on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @01:14PM (#47866405)

That is quite hostile to their consumers, no matter how they spin it. If you put a budget on something it should be capped.

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by dpoloncsak on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @02:07PM (#47867127)

I am the last person to defend Google Cloud and it's awful UX.

With that said, when you go to set a budget it warns you "Setting a budget does not cap resource or API consumption. Learn more." with a hyperlink to https://docs.cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets?_g...

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by Telaneo on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @02:19PM (#47867283)

The only way I can read that is 'setting a cap does nothing' but reading that tells me that it only turns on email notifications. Not any better really. It's simply not a cap. It's an alarm.

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by dpoloncsak on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @03:46PM (#47868350)

Agreed. I don't agree with the underlying design decisions either, but you literally set a "Budget Alert" on Google Cloud. It's designed to be an alarm, not a cap. I was just trying to point that out

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by danny_codes on Thursday April 23, 2026 @12:46AM (#47872337)

IMO it’s deceptive to market it as a cap. It’s genuinely confusing.

The service page should read “we can charge you an unlimited amount at any time if you make a technical mistake”

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by sunaookami on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @02:22PM (#47867305)

Yes, there is no way to set a budget for Google Cloud. And alarms are delayed up to two hours (!)

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by ReptileMan on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @04:15PM (#47868721)

I am fairly sure that this is antipattern on purpose. If you ask a thousand people on the street what a budget means - they will coalesce on - the money I am willing to spend on something.

The fact that google redefine what budget means and put a warning doesn't make it ok.

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by torvoborvo on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @06:16PM (#47870012)

Even if US clouds will make more money per capita in the US it has more total income and political advantage from the other 95% of people. US law will be as pro-consumer as Delaware law. (And it will be as restricted to the jurisdiction that decides it as IP law.)

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by 7bit on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @02:23PM (#47867325)

Click here to let the puppy life*

* By clicking here you agree to kill it

And you're defending that?

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by dpoloncsak on Wednesday April 22, 2026 @03:45PM (#47868341)

No, I think Google should provide easy tools to actually cap spending, instead of recommending you set quota limits on your APIs.

The article, and the comment I was replying to, make it seem like an error in the Google Budget system. I'm simply trying to say this system is working as designed and documented.

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Re:Google Cloud customer wakes up to $18,000 bill despite $7... by stevenicr on Thursday April 23, 2026 @11:38AM (#47877058)

Whoa! What?!

I recently turned a couple things on in google cloud and I was under the impression that the budget was a hard limit, not an email notify system.

If this is true I must seriously rethink my plan for marketing, and throttle on my own website somehow.

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