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.
No direct affiliate route on this product. Use alternatives and comparisons to keep researching.
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
Affiliate link — you pay the same price
Compare Google BigQuery with
Amazon Redshift Compare with Competitors
See how Google BigQuery pricing stacks up against other data warehouse & analytics engine products.
Building Your Business Stack?
Decision-makers comparing tools often need more than one category. Here are related comparisons:
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.