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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchElasticsearch runs on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) either as an Elastic Cloud Hosted deployment or as a self-managed Elastic Stack deployment on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) with Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK). Elastic Cloud can also be subscribed to through Google Cloud Marketplace. Choose based on who should operate the deployment, how much infrastructure control you need, and how you want billing handled—not on a universal price or node count.
Ways to run Elasticsearch on GCP
The main distinction is whether Elastic hosts the Elasticsearch deployment or your team operates Elastic Stack on GCP infrastructure. Marketplace is a billing route for Elastic Cloud, not a separate self-managed architecture.
| Option | Who operates the deployment | GCP role and billing | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elastic Cloud Hosted | Elastic provides the hosted deployment; you choose deployment settings. | Choose Google Cloud Platform as the provider and select an available region and hardware profile. Pricing depends on the current billing dimensions and configuration. | Teams that want a hosted Elastic deployment while selecting cloud placement and a profile. |
| Elastic Cloud through Google Cloud Marketplace | Elastic Cloud remains the hosted service. | The subscription can appear on the Google Cloud bill. Elastic says new Marketplace customers receive a seven-day trial before usage-based billing begins, subject to its stated conditions. | Teams that want Elastic Cloud and prefer its subscription to be billed through GCP Marketplace. |
| Self-managed Elastic Stack on GKE with ECK | Your team operates the deployment; ECK helps manage Elastic components on Kubernetes. | You pay for relevant GCP infrastructure and services. Google’s GKE tutorial identifies GKE as a billable component and points users to its pricing calculator. | Teams that need to manage the Kubernetes infrastructure and deployment configuration themselves. |
Elastic documents the hosted provider, region, stack version, and hardware-profile choices in its Elastic Cloud Hosted deployment guide. Confirm current region and profile availability before choosing: those options can change.
When to choose Elastic Cloud Hosted
Use Elastic Cloud Hosted when you want Elastic’s hosted deployment path but still need to choose a supported cloud provider, region, stack version, and hardware profile. Profiles combine storage, RAM, and vCPU options; match the profile to your workload rather than treating a profile name as a sizing recommendation.
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This option reduces the infrastructure operations your team must own compared with running the stack on your own GKE cluster. It does not remove the need to choose deployment settings or assess whether the configuration meets your workload’s availability, retention, and performance requirements.
Marketplace billing
If billing through GCP is important, Elastic documents an Elastic Cloud Marketplace subscription. Elastic says the subscription can appear on the Google Cloud bill, that a new Marketplace customer gets a seven-day trial before usage-based billing begins subject to stated conditions, and that only one Elastic Cloud organization can be subscribed through a GCP billing account. These terms do not establish a permanent free tier or a fixed deployment price. See Elastic Cloud from Google Cloud Platform Marketplace for current subscription details.
When to self-manage Elastic Stack on GKE
Choose self-managed Elastic Stack on GKE when your team wants responsibility for the Kubernetes infrastructure and deployment configuration. Google’s tutorial covers creating a GKE cluster, installing the Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK) operator, deploying Elasticsearch and Kibana, and working with autoscaling, upgrades, and monitoring. Follow the current Google Cloud guide to setting up Elastic Stack on GKE for version-specific commands and settings.
ECK assists with managing Elastic components on Kubernetes; it does not turn a self-managed cluster into an Elastic-hosted service. Elastic’s guidance is explicit: “If you deploy a self-managed cluster, then you have complete control and responsibility over every aspect of your Elastic deployment.” Read Elastic’s self-managed cluster guidance when deciding whether that responsibility fits your team.
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Google documents a separate Elasticsearch vector-database tutorial that uses a regional GKE cluster with nodes across availability zones and a StatefulHA operator for failover. Its walkthrough configures monitoring and uses three Elasticsearch replicas. These are design details from that tutorial, not a general availability guarantee or a recommended production configuration for every workload.
The tutorial warns that, without the relevant failover handling, stateful pods may take more than eight minutes to be deleted and rescheduled after a node becomes unreachable. That is a documented recovery behavior for the described scenario, not a service-level objective. Evaluate the complete design against your own recovery-time and recovery-point objectives. The tutorial also identifies GKE, Managed Service for Prometheus, and Backup for GKE as billable components. See Google’s Elasticsearch vector database on GKE tutorial for the architecture and its assumptions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Compare operational fit and cost before deploying
Do not choose between hosted and self-managed deployment by comparing a single headline price. A GKE design includes infrastructure and potentially other Google Cloud service charges; Elastic Cloud charges depend on its current billing dimensions and deployment configuration. Use the appropriate current pricing tools and include the services your design actually uses.
- Operations: Decide whether your team wants Elastic to host the deployment or wants to own the deployment and its Kubernetes infrastructure.
- Control: Hosted deployments provide provider, region, version, and hardware-profile choices. Self-management gives your team responsibility for infrastructure and configuration.
- Billing: Marketplace can put an Elastic Cloud subscription on a GCP bill. Self-managed GKE brings GCP infrastructure and applicable service charges.
- Availability: Define recovery objectives before choosing a regional, multi-zone architecture or failover approach. A tutorial example does not guarantee your application’s recovery behavior.
- Workload and sizing: Estimate ingest volume, query patterns, retained data, and availability needs. The cited deployment guides do not establish a universal node count, monthly cost, or best hardware profile.
For a self-managed design, use Google Cloud’s pricing calculator with the cluster and services you plan to run. For Elastic Cloud, check current pricing against the provider, region, and profile you intend to use; do not treat a Marketplace trial as a recurring free allowance.
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A practical decision path
- Set the operations boundary. If you do not want to operate Elastic Stack on Kubernetes, evaluate Elastic Cloud Hosted. If you require control of the GKE deployment and accept its operational responsibility, evaluate ECK.
- Choose the billing route. For hosted Elastic Cloud, decide whether Marketplace billing is useful and check the organization-per-billing-account restriction. For self-managed deployment, identify the GCP infrastructure and services that will incur charges.
- Define placement and workload needs. For hosted deployments, verify that the required GCP region and hardware profile are currently available. For GKE, design around actual ingest, search, retention, and recovery requirements.
- Review current implementation guidance. Use Google’s relevant GKE tutorial and Elastic’s current deployment documentation for commands, versions, and settings, since these can change.
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