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To estimate your bill, price the VM for the actual billing period, then add the boot and media disks and any other resources in your design. The example framework below shows what to include without pretending that one machine or monthly total fits every encoder.
What determines the monthly cost?
Google Cloud Compute Engine does not publish one standard monthly price for this use case. Costs depend on the resources you select and use. Start with the VM’s hourly price in your chosen region, multiply by the hours it will run, and add the separate costs for disks and any other resources your design uses. Google’s overview and pricing information explain these components: Compute Engine pricing and Compute Engine overview.
- VM runtime: Machine family, size, region, and billed hours determine the compute line item. The right size depends on the encoder and workload; bitrate recommendations do not establish CPU requirements.
- Persistent disks: Include the boot disk and any disk holding media, logs, or archive files. Disk costs are separate from the VM-instance price.
- Network transfer: Google’s network pricing lists transfer from a VM to YouTube among the qualifying Google-product destinations with no charge. Do not apply ordinary internet-egress pricing to that qualifying stream feed. Other destinations or traffic categories may be billed differently. See Google Cloud network pricing.
- Other resources: Include only services your design actually uses, such as snapshots, extra disks, logging, IP addresses, or a backup VM. Check their billing treatment rather than assuming they are included or inevitable.
- Discounts and free tier: Google Cloud lists discounts and a free tier, but eligibility and suitability depend on the account, machine, region, and terms. Do not subtract a discount unless you have confirmed it applies to your setup.
How to build a 24/7 monthly estimate
- Choose the encoding workload first. Decide the resolution, frame rate, codec, and encoder software. Then select a VM candidate to test; there is no supported universal VM size for a given stream specification.
- Choose a region and machine type. Use the same region and machine assumptions when comparing candidates in the Google Cloud pricing calculator.
- Estimate runtime using the actual billing period. For planning, a 30-day month is 720 hours and a 31-day month is 744 hours. These are arithmetic examples, not Google-published monthly prices. Multiply the selected VM’s hourly charge by the hours you expect it to run, using the calculator’s billing assumptions.
- Add disk capacity and type. Price the boot disk and any separate media or log disk. Do not treat a VM-only figure as the whole bill.
- Add only resources in your design. If you configure snapshots, a backup VM, or other services, price those separately. If you do not use them, do not add them as automatic charges.
- Review the network category. Qualifying VM-to-YouTube transfer is listed as no charge; other traffic destinations may have different rates.
- Validate the VM before committing to a long run. Run the chosen encoder and stream settings in a test, monitor resource use and stream stability, and resize if needed. YouTube’s bitrate guidance is not a Compute Engine sizing benchmark.
A defensible estimate should state the region, machine family and size, disk type and capacity, resolution, frame rate, codec, monthly hours, and which additional resources are included. Without those inputs, a dollar total would imply precision that the available facts do not support.
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Choose stream settings before sizing the VM
YouTube’s encoder guidance gives bitrate recommendations by resolution, frame rate, and codec. These are YouTube-published encoder specifications, not measured CPU requirements or a promise that a particular VM can encode them. YouTube also transcodes live streams to create different viewer playback formats, so the VM needs to produce and upload the configured ingest stream rather than every playback format. See YouTube’s live encoder settings.
| Output and codec | Minimum bitrate | Recommended bitrate |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p at 30 fps, H.264 | 5 Mbps | 14 Mbps |
| 1080p at 30 fps, AV1 or H.265 | 4 Mbps | 10 Mbps |
| 1080p at 60 fps, H.264 | 6 Mbps | 17 Mbps |
| 1080p at 60 fps, AV1 or H.265 | 4 Mbps | 12 Mbps |
These figures are YouTube Help recommendations published in 2026. YouTube’s guidance also specifies RTMP or RTMPS, H.264, H.265, or AV1 video, up to 60 fps, constant bitrate, and a recommended two-second keyframe interval with a maximum of four seconds. YouTube recommends RTMPS to encrypt the connection to its servers.
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What these settings do not tell you
The encoder recommendations do not identify a sufficient VM size for particular software, scene complexity, or hardware-acceleration setup. Test the actual combination you intend to run. Do not infer that a small or free-tier machine can sustain continuous encoding simply because the selected bitrate is within YouTube’s published range.
Plan the YouTube stream and archive behavior
In the encoder, enter YouTube’s Live server URL and stream key. YouTube’s setup guidance says streams under 12 hours are automatically archived; it does not establish that a 24-hour broadcast will be archived as one uninterrupted video. Check YouTube’s current handling of long streams and decide whether your workflow will restart or segment the broadcast and how you will manage resulting archives. See YouTube’s live-stream setup guidance.
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Compute Engine setup alone does not make a channel eligible to stream. YouTube’s current general eligibility guidance says the channel must be verified, must not have had live-streaming restrictions in the past 90 days, and the streamer must be at least 16 years old. Confirm the current requirements for your account at YouTube’s live-streaming eligibility page.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Common cost-estimate and streaming problems
- The estimate is lower than the eventual bill: It may include only the VM. Add boot and media disks and any separately used resources; Google’s VM-instance prices do not include disks or networking.
- A general egress estimate makes the stream look expensive: Check the destination category. Qualifying VM-to-YouTube transfer is listed as no charge, while traffic to other destinations may be billed.
- The encoder drops frames or the stream becomes unstable: A bitrate specification does not prove the VM can encode the workload. Test the selected software, codec, output settings, and acceleration configuration, then adjust the VM or settings based on observed performance.
- The VM seems too small based on a free-tier assumption: Do not assume an e2-micro is suitable for continuous encoding. Test the real workload before relying on it.
- A 24-hour stream does not produce one expected archive: The cited YouTube setup guidance only promises automatic archiving for streams under 12 hours. Check current long-stream handling and plan for restarts or segmented archives.
- The channel cannot start a live stream: Check verification, recent live-stream restrictions, and age eligibility; these are YouTube channel requirements, not VM settings.
Or let it run in the cloud
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