Cornershop often uses Google API services to build features when you need to:
Automatically translate content with TranslatePress.
Display Google Maps of important locations.
Search based on proximity to the browser’s location or entered address.
Protect important forms using the reCAPTCHA service.
Fortunately, these services provide a substantial free tier before making any charges, but all Google API services require a valid credit card on record and are billed based on actual usage over time.
Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult for us to predict the expected charges after launch with any accuracy, due to the complexity of Google’s pricing structures and the challenge of predicting precise usage after launch.
For example, Google Translate API allows a certain number of free characters per month, but additional usage incurs charges based on the volume of text translated. Similarly, the Maps and Places APIs charge for specific services, such as map loads, geocoding, and search queries, beyond the free tier. Please review the pricing models available in the official Google Cloud Pricing documentation.
Consequences of Missing or Outdated Billing Information
If your billing information is missing entirely or outdated (for example, if you’re using an expired credit card or using a canceled card from a former employee), Google Cloud services tied to billing will eventually stop functioning.
Google provides a grace period during which you will receive notifications to update your payment method, but failure to resolve the billing issue within this time frame leads to service interruptions. To avoid such disruptions, you should regularly update and verify your billing information. Guidance on updating payment methods can be found in Google's "Add, remove, or update a payment method" documentation.
Finding and Viewing Billing Information
To monitor and manage billing, you can access your Google Cloud Console's billing section. This section provides detailed insight into your API usage and associated charges. You can review billing reports, set budgets, and track expenditures in real-time.
A step-by-step guide for accessing charge details can be found in Google's View your cost and payment history documentation. You should regularly check this section to understand actual usage and to budget for future charges.
Notifications for Charges
Google Cloud sends email notifications when charges occur, particularly if the account surpasses free tier limits or exceeds a set budget threshold. To ensure receipt of these notifications, you must verify that the billing account has up-to-date email contacts under the "Notifications" settings in the billing section.
For more details on managing billing alerts, refer to Google's Create, edit, or delete budgets and budget alerts documentation. Keeping track of these notifications helps you avoid surprises and also helps you to address billing issues promptly.
We recommend that you include at least one actively monitored non-person email address as an owner and notification target. For example, organizations often use emails like info@, web@, it@, etc). This helps to ensure that billing notifications and any other issues can be addressed over time, regardless of any personnel changes.
Monitoring API Usage
To monitor API usage effectively, you can implement usage quotas and set up budgets in the Google Cloud Console.
Usage quotas allow you to set limits on how much of an API can be used, which helps you to avoid unacceptably high charges. A detailed explanation of setting up quotas and monitoring API usage is available in Google's Capping API usage Documentation.
We recommend reviewing and capping your quotas roughly three months after launch to plan for “normal” levels of usage. It is nearly impossible to accurately estimate the actual usage immediately after launch, so setting your quotas will allow your website to run normally while also protecting you from unexpected surges in use and fees caused by unusual peaks in traffic.