GCP Cloud Scheduler cost: a few cents per job per month

Quick answer

Cloud Scheduler charges per job per month, with the first three jobs free and each additional job about $0.10/month, regardless of how often it runs. It is one of the cheapest managed cron services, so the scheduler itself is a rounding error. The real cost is whatever each scheduled job triggers, a function, a pipeline, a workload, which is where the actual spend is.

Google Cloud Scheduler is a fully-managed cron service that triggers HTTP endpoints, Pub/Sub messages, or App Engine tasks on a schedule. Its pricing is trivially cheap, per job per month regardless of execution frequency, so the scheduler is never a meaningful cost. The thing to watch is what the jobs invoke.

Per job, per month

Dimension	Cost
First 3 jobs	Free
Each additional job	~$0.10 / month
Execution frequency	Does not affect the price

A Cloud Scheduler job costs about ten cents a month whether it runs once a day or every minute, and the first three jobs are free. So even hundreds of scheduled jobs cost only tens of dollars a month in scheduler charges, negligible for any real workload.

The real cost is downstream

Each scheduled job triggers something, a Cloud Function, a Cloud Run job, a Pub/Sub message that starts a pipeline, and that triggered work is where the cost is. A job scheduled every minute that invokes an expensive function 1,440 times a day costs almost nothing in Scheduler but potentially a lot in function invocations. So the scheduler is free-ish; the workload it drives is the cost, the same principle as Cloud Tasks.

Controlling the real cost

Do not worry about Cloud Scheduler's price; worry about what the jobs trigger. Schedule jobs no more frequently than needed (a job running every minute that could run hourly triggers 60 times the downstream work), make the triggered functions or workloads efficient, and consolidate jobs where sensible. The scheduler is essentially free; optimizing the scheduled workload is where the saving is.

FAQ

How is GCP Cloud Scheduler priced?

Per job per month, with the first three jobs free and each additional job about $0.10 per month, regardless of how often the job runs. Execution frequency does not affect the price, so even hundreds of scheduled jobs cost only tens of dollars a month in scheduler charges.

Is Cloud Scheduler expensive?

No, it is one of the cheapest managed cron services. At about $0.10 per job per month with the first three free, and no charge for execution frequency, the scheduler itself is a rounding error. The real cost is whatever each scheduled job triggers, not the scheduler.

What is the real cost of using Cloud Scheduler?

The work each job triggers, a Cloud Function, Cloud Run job, or a Pub/Sub message that starts a pipeline. A job scheduled every minute invoking an expensive function 1,440 times a day costs almost nothing in Scheduler but potentially a lot in function invocations. The scheduler is cheap; the workload it drives is the cost.

How do I reduce scheduled-job cost?

Focus on the triggered workload, not the scheduler. Schedule jobs no more frequently than needed (an every-minute job that could run hourly triggers 60 times the downstream work), make triggered functions or workloads efficient, and consolidate jobs where sensible. The scheduler is essentially free; the scheduled work is where the saving is.

Does execution frequency affect Cloud Scheduler cost?

No. A Cloud Scheduler job costs the same per month whether it runs once a day or every minute; frequency does not affect the scheduler price. However, frequency dramatically affects the cost of what the job triggers, so schedule jobs no more often than the downstream workload needs.

Does C3X estimate Cloud Scheduler cost?

Cloud Scheduler is negligible; the cost is what jobs trigger. C3X prices the surrounding infrastructure, including the Cloud Functions or Cloud Run workloads scheduled jobs invoke, which is where the meaningful cost is. Job frequency and the triggered workload's cost are what you model.

What to do next

Price the workloads your jobs trigger before you deploy. C3X reads your Terraform and prices your resources against a live catalog. Start with the quickstart.