GCP Artifact Registry cost: storage plus egress, like ECR

Quick answer

Artifact Registry charges about $0.10 per GB-month of storage (first 0.5 GB free) plus network egress for downloads. Pulls to Google compute in the same region are cheap; cross-region and internet pulls add transfer. As with ECR, storage is small and egress plus topology is where the bill grows.

Artifact Registry stores container images and language packages on Google Cloud. Its pricing is the same shape as AWS ECR: cheap per-gigabyte storage plus network egress for downloads, so topology decides most of the bill.

Storage is small

Storage is about $0.10 per GB-month, with the first 0.5 GB free. Even a large registry is modest to store, so storage is rarely the concern. As with any registry, it creeps upward if nothing prunes old versions.

Egress and topology

Dimension	Rate (approximate)
Storage	~$0.10 / GB-month (first 0.5 GB free)
Pull within region to Google compute	Low or free
Cross-region / internet pull	Standard egress

Pulls to Google compute in the same region are cheap, while cross-region and internet pulls incur egress. A CI runner outside GCP or nodes in another region pulling large images repeatedly is where transfer cost appears, exactly like ECR.

Reducing Artifact Registry cost

Keep pulls in-region by hosting the registry where you deploy, cache base layers in CI so builds do not re-pull every run, and apply cleanup policies to expire old and untagged versions so storage stays flat. The storage line is small; the levers that matter are keeping transfer local and pruning versions.

FAQ

How is GCP Artifact Registry priced?

About $0.10 per GB-month of storage, with the first 0.5 GB free, plus network egress for downloads. Pulls to Google compute in the same region are cheap; cross-region and internet pulls add transfer. Storage is small; egress and topology drive the bill.

How do I reduce Artifact Registry cost?

Does Artifact Registry charge for pulls?

Pulls to Google compute in the same region are low cost or free. Cross-region pulls and pulls to the internet (external CI, on-prem) incur standard network egress, which is where most of the transfer cost comes from.

How do I stop Artifact Registry storage from growing?

Apply cleanup policies that expire untagged images and cap the number of versions kept per repository, so storage stays flat as every build pushes new artifacts. At about $0.10 per GB-month, storage is usually small, but cleanup keeps it that way.

Is Artifact Registry like ECR?

Yes, in pricing shape: cheap per-gigabyte storage plus network egress for downloads, with in-region pulls to cloud compute being cheap. The optimization on both is keeping transfer local and pruning old versions.

Does C3X estimate Artifact Registry cost?

C3X prices the google_artifact_registry_repository resource from your Terraform, so the storage component appears before deploy. Egress depends on pull volume and topology, which you provide as a usage assumption.

What to do next

Price your registry before you deploy. C3X reads your Terraform and prices Artifact Registry and the rest of your stack against a live catalog. Start with the quickstart.