Match each Google Cloud pricing concept to its definition.
Drag a concept onto its matching description — or click a concept then click the description.
Automatic discounts for running instances most of the month
Discounts for committing to 1 or 3 years of usage
Short-lived, low-cost instances for batch jobs
Limited free usage of selected GCP services
Committed Use Discounts (abbreviation)
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Sustained Use Discounts: Automatic discounts applied for sustained usage of resources over a month
Sustained Use Discounts are automatic monthly discounts for sustained usage; Committed Use Discounts require a contractual commitment for 1-3 years; Preemptible VMs are short-lived and can be terminated. Common confusions include swapping the definitions of sustained and committed use, or confusing preemptible VMs with standard VMs.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Sustained Use Discounts: Automatic discounts applied for sustained usage of resources over a month
Why this is correct
Sustained Use Discounts are automatic per-instance discounts that apply when a compute resource runs for a significant portion of a billing month, specifically for usage beyond 25% of the month. They are applied on a per-region, per-resource basis without requiring any upfront commitment or purchase. Because they are automatic, they benefit workloads that run continuously for most of the month, but they cannot be combined with committed use discounts on the same instance.
Committed Use Discounts: Discounts for committing to a consistent amount of resource usage for 1 or 3 years
Why this is correct
Committed Use Discounts require you to pre-commit to a specific amount of compute capacity, such as vCPUs and memory, for a one-year or three-year term, in exchange for a significant discount on usage. This pricing model is ideal for workloads with predictable, steady-state resource needs, and it offers a larger discount than sustained use discounts. However, the commitment is contractual; you pay for that capacity regardless of whether you actually use it, so it carries financial risk if demand drops.
Preemptible VMs: Short-lived compute instances that can be terminated by Google at any time
Why this is correct
Preemptible VMs are compute instances that are available at a substantially lower price because they are subject to termination by Google at any time, typically within 24 hours, with a 30-second warning. They are designed for fault-tolerant, batch, and other interruptible workloads that can pause and resume, and they are not intended for services that require continuous availability. When Google needs the capacity for regular VMs, preemptible VMs are reclaimed, so they are inherently short-lived and unreliable for standard production workloads.
Sustained Use Discounts: Discounts for committing to a specific amount of usage over 1-3 years
Why it's wrong here
This definition incorrectly describes Sustained Use Discounts as requiring a commitment to a specific usage level over 1–3 years. In fact, Sustained Use Discounts are applied automatically based on your actual monthly usage, with no commitment or upfront payment. The behavior described here belongs to Committed Use Discounts, which involve a contractual commitment to a certain amount of resources for a 1- or 3-year term. Therefore, this option confuses two distinct pricing models and is incorrect.
Committed Use Discounts: Automatic discounts applied for sustained usage
Why it's wrong here
This statement wrongly suggests that Committed Use Discounts are applied automatically based on sustained usage. Actually, Committed Use Discounts require an explicit agreement to purchase a fixed amount of compute resources for a 1- or 3-year period, and the discount is applied based on that commitment, not on how long you run your instances each month. The automatic discount based on sustained usage is a feature of Sustained Use Discounts, so this option incorrectly attributes that mechanism to CUDs.
Preemptible VMs: Compute instances that run continuously with high availability
Why it's wrong here
This definition describes regular (non-preemptible) VMs, which are designed for high availability and can run continuously without being terminated by Google arbitrarily. Preemptible VMs are the opposite: they are short-lived, can be terminated by Google at any time (usually within 24 hours), and are priced significantly lower because they provide no availability guarantees. Therefore, this option fails to capture the core distinguishing feature of preemptible VMs and is incorrect.
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This GCDL practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the GCDL exam.