How Much Does
Google BigQuery Cost in 2026?
Google BigQuery is the serverless data warehouse on Google Cloud. Free tier: 1 TiB scanned + 10 GiB storage monthly. On-demand pricing at $6.25/TiB scanned (cached queries free, errors free). Capacity pricing: Standard $0.04/slot-hour, Enterprise $0.06, Enterprise Plus $0.10 (50-slot minimum). Active storage $23.55/TiB/month, long-term 50% discount after 90 days unchanged.
Prices in USD, verified from the United States. Regional pricing may vary.
Plans & Pricing
Free Tier
- queryScannedMonthly 1 TiB
- storage 10 GiB
- batchLoading Free (via shared pool)
- dataExport Free (via shared pool)
- scope Monthly limits — resets each month
On-Demand Query
- perTiBScanned 6.25
- scope Pay per byte scanned. Cached queries free. Error queries free. Minimum 10 MB per query.
Capacity — Standard Edition (Slot-Hour)
- payAsYouGoPerSlotHour 0.04
- oneYearCUDPerSlotHour 0.036
- threeYearCUDPerSlotHour 0.032
- minimum 50 slots in 50-slot increments
Capacity — Enterprise Edition (Slot-Hour)
- payAsYouGoPerSlotHour 0.06
- oneYearCUDPerSlotHour 0.054
- threeYearCUDPerSlotHour 0.048
Capacity — Enterprise Plus Edition (Slot-Hour)
- payAsYouGoPerSlotHour 0.1
- oneYearCUDPerSlotHour 0.09
- threeYearCUDPerSlotHour 0.08
Active Storage (Logical)
- perGiBHour 0.000031507
- approximatePerTiBMonth 23.55
- scope First 10 GiB per month free
Long-Term Storage (90+ days unchanged)
- perGiBHour 0.000021918
- approximatePerTiBMonth 16.38
- scope ~50% discount vs active storage
BI Engine Cache
- perGiBHour 0.0416
- approximatePerGiBMonth 31.2
- scope Bundled free with editions: 100 slots = 5 GiB, 1,000 slots = 50 GiB
From the StackScored blog
Features
Our Verdict
BigQuery's competitive differentiation is serverless architecture — no infrastructure management whatsoever. You don't configure clusters, don't manage compute resources, don't size instances. Write SQL, run query, pay for bytes scanned. Free tier at 1 TiB scanned + 10 GiB storage per month is genuinely useful — many small analytics teams run entirely on free tier indefinitely. On-demand pricing at $6.25 per TiB scanned is transparent but requires query optimization discipline: SELECT * on a 1 TiB table = $6.25. Partitioning + clustering + column pruning can reduce scanned bytes 10-100x. Capacity pricing for predictable workloads: Standard edition at $0.04/slot-hour pay-as-you-go ($0.032/hour at 3-year CUD) is the cheapest option for consistent usage. Enterprise at $0.06/slot-hour adds row-level security, column-level security, materialized views, BigQuery Omni. Enterprise Plus at $0.10/slot-hour adds CMEK customer-managed encryption keys, BigQuery Omni for AWS/Azure. 50-slot minimum in 50-slot increments. Storage: active at $23.55/TiB/month (first 10 GiB free), long-term at ~$16/TiB/month (50% discount after 90 days unchanged). Streaming inserts $0.01/200 MiB add up fast for high-volume event pipelines — use Batch Loading (free) when latency allows. Storage Write API $0.025/GiB/month with first 2 TiB free. Storage Read API $1.10/TiB with first 300 TiB/month free. BI Engine cache $0.0416/GiB-hour (~$31/GiB/month) for sub-second BI queries. BigQuery ML trains linear/logistic regression, K-means, DNN, boosted trees directly in SQL. Gemini integration enables natural language queries. Iceberg support (added 2024) enables open lakehouse architecture. Where BigQuery wins: serverless architecture eliminates infrastructure management, free tier (1 TiB query + 10 GiB storage/month) is genuinely generous, long-term storage 50% discount after 90 days saves for archival data, BI Engine cache for sub-second BI queries, transparent on-demand pricing at $6.25/TiB scanned. Where it loses: on-demand pricing requires query optimization discipline (SELECT * surprises), streaming inserts ($0.01/200 MiB) compound for event-heavy workloads, GCP lock-in (data egress + integration with Google-specific tools), 50-slot minimum on capacity pricing excludes very small teams, BigQuery ML at $312.50/TiB for advanced models (linear reg, k-means) is expensive.
Pros
- Serverless architecture eliminates infrastructure management entirely
- Free tier (1 TiB query + 10 GiB storage/month) is genuinely generous
- Long-term storage 50% discount after 90 days saves for archival data
- BI Engine cache enables sub-second BI dashboard queries
- Transparent on-demand pricing at $6.25/TiB scanned is category's most predictable
Cons
- On-demand pricing requires query optimization discipline — SELECT * can scan TBs unexpectedly
- Streaming inserts ($0.01/200 MiB) compound quickly for event-heavy workloads
- GCP lock-in (data egress + Google-specific tool integration)
- 50-slot minimum on capacity pricing excludes very small teams
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Google BigQuery offer a free trial?
- Yes, Google BigQuery offers a free trial for 90 days. No credit card is typically required to start.
- Does Google BigQuery have a free plan?
- Yes, Google BigQuery offers a free plan. See the feature comparison above for what's included and the limits.