Choosing a VM size
TLDR - Quick Summary
What: Choose VM size based on workload
Dev/Test: e2-medium (~$25/mo) - 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM
Production: e2-standard-2 (~$49/mo) - 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM; use e2-standard-4 for heavier workloads
Overview
SFTP Gateway is a GCP Marketplace VM image, and charges a software fee on top of the price of the VM. These are two separate line items on your GCP bill:
- Software license — The per-hour fee for the SFTP Gateway software. This varies by tier (Standard, Professional, or Enterprise). See Pricing in SFTP Gateway for details.
- VM compute — The per-hour cost of the Compute Engine instance itself. This depends on the machine type you choose and is billed by Google separately from the software license.
When choosing a VM size, you want to balance price and performance. This article gives a general overview of the VM sizes you might want to consider.
Recommended VM sizes
| Size | Machine Type | vCPUs | RAM | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | e2-medium | 2 | 4 GB | Testing, trials, light workloads with a handful of users and small files |
| Medium | e2-standard-2 | 2 | 8 GB | Production workloads with up to 10 concurrent users and moderate file sizes |
| Large | e2-standard-4 | 4 | 16 GB | Larger teams, heavier file transfer volumes, or files over 10 GB |
When testing SFTP Gateway in a demo or dev environment, the most cost-effective option is an e2-medium. This VM size has 2 shared vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM. It's suitable for light workloads with small files and a few users.
When you are ready to go to production, you should consider using at least an e2-standard-2. This VM size has 2 dedicated vCPUs and 8 GB of RAM, and can handle sustained traffic without the burst limitations of smaller instances.
For larger production workloads — more concurrent users, heavier file volumes, or files over 10 GB — consider an e2-standard-4 with 4 vCPUs and 16 GB of RAM.
When in doubt, start with Medium. You can always resize later by stopping the VM and changing the machine type in the GCP Console.
Approximate costs
The table below shows the approximate VM compute cost only. The software license fee is charged separately on top of these amounts.
| Size | Machine Type | Approx. VM Cost ($/Hour) | Approx. VM Cost ($/Month) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | e2-medium | $0.034 | ~$25 |
| Medium | e2-standard-2 | $0.067 | ~$49 |
| Large | e2-standard-4 | $0.134 | ~$98 |
Pricing shown is for on-demand instances in us-central1 and may vary by region. Check the GCP pricing calculator for the most current rates in your specific region. Committed use discounts can reduce VM costs significantly.