Google Cloud missed its SLA. Here is how to collect.
When Google Cloud falls below its 99.99% uptime commitment, you are owed service credits. Here is exactly how the Compute Engine (Instance / Region) schedule works, and how to claim what you are due.
- Uptime SLA
- 99.99%
- Downtime budget
- 4 min/mo
- Claim window
- 30 days
- Max credit
- 100%
GCP credit schedule
Service credits are calculated against your monthly bill for the affected service, based on its Monthly Uptime Percentage.
| Monthly uptime | Equivalent downtime | Service credit |
|---|---|---|
| 99.0% – < 99.99% | 4 min/mo – 7.2 hrs/mo | 10% |
| 95.0% – < 99.0% | 7.2 hrs/mo – 36 hrs/mo | 25% |
| Below 95.0% | 36 hrs/mo – 720 hrs/mo | 100% |
Do you qualify for a GCP credit?
GCP credits are not automatic, and not every outage counts. Check each condition below before you spend time building a claim.
Your instances span multiple zones
Compute Engine reaches 99.99% only with instances across two or more zones in a Region. A single instance is covered at 99.9%. Confirm which Monthly Uptime Percentage applies to your layout before measuring.
Monthly Uptime Percentage dropped below the target
Google measures Downtime as a period of one or more consecutive minutes of unavailability, then totals it across the billing month. Isolated sub-minute errors generally do not register.
The outage is Google's responsibility
Downtime from your software, your network, or factors outside Google's reasonable control is excluded from the Monthly Uptime Percentage calculation.
You request within 30 days of becoming eligible
The GCP window is the tightest of the three majors. The clock starts when you become eligible, effectively when the outage occurs, so act fast.
How to claim your GCP credit
Credits are not automatic. You have 30 days to file. Follow these steps.
Locate the impacted service
Find which Google Cloud service (Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, GKE) dropped below its Monthly Uptime Percentage using Cloud Monitoring and the Service Health dashboard.
Pull supporting metrics
Capture Cloud Monitoring uptime checks, error logs, and the precise downtime intervals. Google requires the dates and times of each incident.
File a Financial Credit request
Submit the request to Google Cloud Support within 30 days of becoming eligible, including all supporting documentation of the downtime.
Credit applied to a future cycle
Financial Credits are issued as a percentage of the monthly bill for the affected service and applied to a future billing cycle.
- Financial Credits must be requested within 30 days of becoming eligible.
- Credits are your sole and exclusive remedy for any SLA non-compliance.
- Downtime from factors outside Google's reasonable control is excluded.
Estimate your GCP credit
Enter your spend and downtime to see what GCP owes you.
Gather your GCP claim evidence
A complete evidence pack is the single biggest factor in getting a credit approved on the first pass. Tick each item off as you collect it, then export the list for your ticket.
Gather every item below before you file. Complete evidence is the single biggest factor in getting a credit approved on the first pass.
Draft your GCP claim email
Fill in your incident details and we will write a claim email in GCP's own terms, with the credit math already worked out. Copy it, attach your evidence, and send.
Review before sending. Figures are estimates based on GCP's flagship compute SLA. Attach your evidence and verify against your current agreement.
GCP SLA credit FAQ
- What is GCP's uptime SLA?
- Google Cloud commits to 99.99% Monthly Uptime Percentage for Compute Engine (Instance / Region). Falling below that threshold makes you eligible for service credits on a sliding scale, up to 100% of your monthly bill for the affected service.
- How long do I have to claim a GCP SLA credit?
- You must file your claim within 30 days of the incident (or of becoming eligible). Miss the window and the credit is forfeited, and GCP does not issue credits automatically.
- Are GCP SLA credits paid as cash?
- No. Credits are applied against a future monthly invoice for the affected service, not refunded as cash, and they are capped at that service's monthly charge.
- What evidence do I need to claim a credit?
- Provide the dates and times of each downtime window plus supporting monitoring data (error rates, failed requests, uptime checks). Detailed logs make approval far more likely.
Go deeper on the concepts
Short, cited explainers that make every step above easier to execute.
See what your GCP downtime is worth
Run your spend and downtime through the calculator, then use this guide to file inside the window.