Google Vertex AI Agent Engine
Managed runtime for agents (ADK, LangGraph, etc.). Compute $0.0864/vCPU-hr, memory $0.0090/GB-hr; free tier 180,000 vCPU-sec (50h) + 360,000 GiB-sec/mo; agent storage $0.30/GiB-mo.
- Free credit
- $300
- Card required
- Yes
Google Vertex AI Agent Engine scores 6.6/10 for free value in Agents. The main constraint: Paid — Pay-as-you-go; $0.0864/vCPU-hr + $0.0090/GB-hr. Managed runtime for agents (ADK, LangGraph, etc.). Compute $0.0864/vCPU-hr, memory $0.0090/GB-hr; free tier 180,000 vCPU-sec (50h) + 360,000 GiB-sec/mo; agent storage $0.30/GiB-mo. $300 new-customer GCP credits; idle agents o.
Free value score
6.6 / 10Show the math
Key metrics
What you get
Paid — Pay-as-you-go; $0.0864/vCPU-hr + $0.0090/GB-hr. Managed runtime for agents (ADK, LangGraph, etc.). Compute $0.0864/vCPU-hr, memory $0.0090/GB-hr; free tier 180,000 vCPU-sec (50h) + 360,000 GiB-sec/mo; agent storage $0.30/GiB-mo. $300 new-customer GCP credits; idle agents o
50 vCPU-hours/mo free; idle agents only pay storage; runtime rate lowered Jan 2026
Gotchas
- 180,000 vCPU-sec/mo free
The free tier includes 180,000 vCPU-seconds (~50h) and 360,000 GiB-seconds of Agent Engine compute per month.
- GCP billing account required
Requires a Google Cloud billing account with a card, even to use the free tier.
- Model/token usage billed separately
Only the runtime has a free tier; model and token usage are billed on top.
Sources
-
"Agent Engine runtime: $0.0864 per vCPU-hour and $0.0090 per GB-hour of memory"
https://www.betterclaw.io/blog/google-vertex-ai-agent-builder -
"The Agent Runtime free tier covers 180,000 vCPU-seconds (50 hours) and 360,000 GiB-seconds (100 hours) per month"
https://www.usage.ai/blogs/gcp/monthly-updates/gcp-april-2026/