I stopped a Google Compute Engine VM because I assumed that stopping the VM would also stop most of the related charges.
However, I noticed that my Google Cloud bill was still increasing.
From what I understand, stopping a Compute Engine VM stops the VM’s compute usage, but other resources may remain allocated and continue to generate charges.
For example:
- Persistent Disk
- Static external IP addresses
- Snapshots
- Cloud Load Balancing
- Cloud NAT
- Cloud Storage
I would like to better understand how billing works for these resources after a VM is stopped.
Specifically:
- Does a Persistent Disk continue to incur charges while the VM is stopped?
- Does a static external IP address continue to incur charges?
- Do snapshots continue to be billed independently of the VM?
- Can Cloud Load Balancing or Cloud NAT continue generating charges even when the VM is stopped?
- Is there a recommended way to identify all billable resources that remain after stopping a Compute Engine VM?
My use case is mainly temporary development and test environments, and I want to make sure that unused resources are not left behind and generating unexpected costs.
My current understanding is:
Stopping a VM stops the compute workload, but it does not necessarily stop billing for all related resources.
Is this the correct way to think about Google Cloud billing?
What resources should I normally check when shutting down a temporary Compute Engine environment?