Google Cloud vs Raff: Pricing, Performance, and Platform Fit
Raff Technologies is a US cloud infrastructure provider that runs VMs, S3-compatible object storage, private networking, and data protection from Vint Hill, Virginia. This Google Cloud alternative comparison is for teams deciding whether Compute Engine's global ecosystem is worth the higher VM bill.
The old Raff pricing in this article used rounded CPU-Optimized prices such as $36.00/month and $64.00/month. Those should be updated. The current relevant Raff CPU-Optimized prices are $35.99/month for 4 vCPU HiMem / 8 GB / 120 GB NVMe SSD, $63.99/month for 8 vCPU HiMem / 16 GB / 180 GB NVMe SSD, and $127.99/month for 8 vCPU / 32 GB / 240 GB NVMe SSD.
At the measured 4 vCPU comparison point, Raff CPU-Optimized is $35.99/month with 120 GB NVMe SSD and unmetered bandwidth at 3 Gbps standard port speed. Google Cloud c4-standard-4 is $144.30/month for compute before disk and egress in us-central1, using the pricing baseline from the original comparison.
Raff Technologies operates 10,000+ production VMs from Vint Hill, Virginia, with a 4.5/5 Trustpilot rating across 14 reviews. Google Cloud wins on global platform breadth, managed services, regions, accelerators, and enterprise integrations. Raff wins when the workload is a stable VM, API, SaaS backend, automation server, development machine, or US-focused production service where predictable monthly cost matters more than hyperscaler breadth.
Google Cloud vs Raff: decision fit by workload
The decision usually comes down to four axes: cost predictability, performance per dollar, geographic reach, and platform breadth.
- Cost predictability — Raff publishes flat monthly prices with NVMe SSD storage, snapshots, automated backups, IPv4/IPv6, DDoS protection, and unmetered bandwidth included. Google Cloud separates compute, Hyperdisk capacity, provisioned IOPS, provisioned throughput, snapshots, and egress into separate billable items.
- Performance per dollar — On the measured 4 vCPU comparison, Raff delivers stronger disk throughput and stronger Geekbench CPU scores at a lower monthly VM price. Google Cloud can provision higher storage and network ceilings, but those ceilings require the right machine size, disk configuration, and added cost.
- Geographic reach — Google Cloud has a broad global region and zone footprint. Raff operates from Vint Hill, Virginia. If your application needs many global regions or strict regional placement, Google Cloud wins this axis.
- Platform breadth — Google Cloud has a broad hyperscaler catalog around Compute Engine: GKE, Cloud SQL, Spanner, AlloyDB, BigQuery, Vertex AI, Cloud Run, IAM, and many other managed services. Raff focuses on VMs, S3-compatible object storage, VPC/private networking, data protection, and a developing PaaS layer.
The honest middle ground is simple: Raff fits stable VM workloads that need predictable cost, bundled storage, and unmetered bandwidth. Google Cloud fits workloads that depend on Google-managed services, multi-region infrastructure, accelerators, or enterprise platform integrations.
Google Cloud Compute Engine overview
Google Cloud Compute Engine is Google's infrastructure-as-a-service VM product for creating and running virtual machines on Google infrastructure. Compute Engine sits inside Google Cloud, so the VM decision often connects to the rest of the platform: managed Kubernetes, managed databases, analytics, AI services, identity, monitoring, and global networking.
The C4 family is the relevant Google Cloud line for this comparison. Google describes C4 as using 6th generation Intel Xeon Granite Rapids or 5th generation Intel Xeon Emerald Rapids processors depending on instance type and configuration. The family supports high vCPU counts, high memory ceilings, high network ceilings on larger machine types, and several storage configurations.
For the specific tested instance, c4-standard-4 has 4 vCPUs, 15 GiB memory, no local SSD, up to 23 Gbps default egress bandwidth, and no Tier_1 option. That distinction matters: Google Cloud's C4 family has very high ceilings, but the 4 vCPU tier does not receive the same network ceiling as larger C4 sizes.
Google Cloud also gives eligible new customers free credits for evaluation. The tradeoff is billing complexity after the trial: compute, storage, provisioned disk performance, snapshots, inter-zone traffic, and internet egress can all appear as separate line items.
Raff overview
Raff VM is built around a focused infrastructure proposition: virtual machines, distributed NVMe block storage, data protection, private networking, S3-compatible object storage, and core cloud primitives without the sprawl of a hyperscaler catalog.
The current visible CPU-Optimized lineup includes:
| Raff CPU-Optimized plan | Current monthly price |
|---|---|
| 1 vCPU / 1 GB / 25 GB NVMe SSD | $3.99/mo |
| 1 vCPU HiMem / 2 GB / 50 GB NVMe SSD | $9.99/mo |
| 2 vCPU / 2 GB / 50 GB NVMe SSD | $13.99/mo |
| 2 vCPU HiMem / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe SSD | $19.99/mo |
| 4 vCPU HiMem / 8 GB / 120 GB NVMe SSD | $35.99/mo |
| 8 vCPU HiMem / 16 GB / 180 GB NVMe SSD | $63.99/mo |
| 8 vCPU / 32 GB / 240 GB NVMe SSD | $127.99/mo |
Every CPU-Optimized tier includes unmetered bandwidth at 3 Gbps standard port speed, NVMe SSD storage, DDR5 RAM, IPv4 and optional IPv6, DDoS protection, snapshots, automated backups, web console access, firewall, private networking, block storage volumes, API/CLI access, and custom OS support.
Raff also offers General Purpose VMs with shared-class compute starting at $5.99/month for 2 vCPU / 2 GB / 40 GB NVMe SSD. General Purpose is better suited to development environments, low-traffic sites, and non-critical workloads where dedicated CPU is not required. This comparison uses Raff CPU-Optimized to match Google Cloud C4 Standard's stronger compute class.
Raff has deployed 10,000+ production VMs and holds a 4.5/5 rating on Trustpilot across 14 reviews. The company operates from Vint Hill, Virginia on its own ASN, supports full rDNS, publishes geofeed data, and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee for new accounts.
Google Cloud pricing vs Raff pricing
Google Cloud c4-standard pricing below follows the original comparison baseline for Iowa (us-central1) at 730 hours per month. The Google Cloud prices shown are compute only. They do not include Hyperdisk capacity, provisioned IOPS, provisioned throughput, snapshots, internet egress, support, or other Google Cloud services.
| Plan class | Raff CPU-Optimized | Google Cloud C4 Standard |
|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU class | $19.99/month with 2 vCPU HiMem / 4 GB RAM / 80 GB NVMe SSD | $70.71/month compute only with 2 vCPU / 7 GiB |
| 4 vCPU class | $35.99/month with 4 vCPU HiMem / 8 GB RAM / 120 GB NVMe SSD | $144.30/month compute only with 4 vCPU / 15 GiB |
| 8 vCPU class | $63.99/month with 8 vCPU HiMem / 16 GB RAM / 180 GB NVMe SSD | $288.60/month compute only with 8 vCPU / 30 GiB |
The old comparison included larger Raff CPU-Optimized rows at 16 vCPU / 64 GB / $256 and 32 vCPU / 128 GB / $512. Those rows should be removed unless current confirmed pricing is supplied for those exact configurations. Based on the latest supplied pricing screenshots, the visible current CPU-Optimized table confirms the rows above and the 8 vCPU / 32 GB / 240 GB plan at $127.99/month, but not the old 64 GB and 128 GB rows.
Bandwidth cost math
Google Cloud meters Premium Tier internet data transfer out. Raff includes unmetered bandwidth at 3 Gbps standard port speed on VM plans, so the monthly VM price does not change when outbound traffic grows.
The table below uses Google Cloud Premium Tier transfer from us-central1 to North America from the original comparison.
| Monthly outbound transfer | Raff bandwidth cost | Google Cloud estimated egress cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 TiB / 1,024 GiB | Included | $122.76 |
| 5 TiB / 5,120 GiB | Included | $573.32 |
| 10 TiB / 10,240 GiB | Included | $1,136.52 |
| 50 TiB / 51,200 GiB | Included | $4,413.32 |
The practical result: Google Cloud can be efficient for low-egress workloads or workloads that stay inside Google Cloud. Raff becomes easier to budget when the workload serves public traffic, media, APIs, downloads, SaaS customers, or any steady outbound transfer pattern.
Automated backups
Raff includes automated backups and snapshots with VM plans. Google Cloud supports snapshots and image-based backup workflows, but standard snapshots, instant snapshots, archive snapshots, and related storage are billed separately.
For smaller teams, this changes the operating model. On Raff, the backup expectation is part of the VM package. On Google Cloud, backup design is another line item to model, monitor, and retain correctly.
Google Cloud disk and provisioned performance costs
Google Cloud C4 uses Hyperdisk rather than the older Persistent Disk family. Hyperdisk Balanced charges for provisioned capacity, and it can also charge for provisioned IOPS and provisioned throughput above baseline.
In the original us-central1 pricing baseline, Hyperdisk Balanced provisioned space was estimated at about $0.08 per GiB-month. A 120 GiB Hyperdisk Balanced volume was estimated at about $9.60/month before any billable provisioned performance above the included baseline.
The baseline for Hyperdisk Balanced in the original comparison is 3,000 IOPS and 140 MB/s throughput. Provisioning above those baseline values adds separate IOPS and throughput charges. That is the structural pricing difference: Raff bundles NVMe storage and default I/O into the VM price; Google Cloud lets teams tune storage performance, but the tuning model creates more billing variables.
Bandwidth and transfer policy
Raff's transfer policy is simple: every VM tier includes unmetered bandwidth at 3 Gbps standard port speed with no per-GB egress fees. That does not mean every application will sustain 3 Gbps to every destination at all times; real throughput depends on route, protocol, endpoint, and time of day. It does mean Raff does not add a per-GB internet transfer line item to the VM bill.
Google Cloud separates network usage by traffic path. Inbound data transfer is generally free, while internet data transfer out is billed by destination and tier. Inter-zone, inter-region, external IPv4, load balancer, NAT, CDN, and hybrid connectivity patterns can also affect the final bill.
For quiet internal applications, Google Cloud's network model may be manageable. For public-facing services with high outbound traffic, Raff's unmetered model removes one of the most common cloud cost surprises.
Feature comparison: Google Cloud vs Raff
| Section | Capability | Raff CPU-Optimized | Google Cloud c4-standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compute | Tested 4 vCPU class | 4 vCPU HiMem / 8 GB RAM at $35.99/month | 4 vCPU / 15 GiB at $144.30/month compute only |
| Compute | Processor class | AMD EPYC, DDR5 | Intel Xeon Granite Rapids or Emerald Rapids, DDR5 |
| Compute | Entry dedicated CPU tier | 1 vCPU / 1 GB / 25 GB NVMe at $3.99/month | c4-standard-2 at $70.71/month compute only |
| Compute | Current 2 vCPU HiMem tier | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe at $19.99/month | c4-standard-2: 2 vCPU / 7 GiB at $70.71/month compute only |
| Compute | Current 8 vCPU HiMem tier | 8 vCPU / 16 GB / 180 GB NVMe at $63.99/month | c4-standard-8: 8 vCPU / 30 GiB at $288.60/month compute only |
| Compute | Custom images | Yes | Yes |
| Compute | GPUs / TPUs | No | Yes, through Google Cloud accelerator families |
| Compute | Bare metal | No | Yes, on selected large C4 machine types |
| Networking | Included outbound bandwidth | Unmetered at 3 Gbps standard port speed | Metered internet egress |
| Networking | Egress overage | $0.00/GB | Destination and tier-based pricing |
| Networking | IPv4 and IPv6 | Included | Available; configuration and pricing depend on resource type |
| Networking | DDoS protection | Included | Available through Google Cloud networking/security services |
| Networking | VPC / private networking | Yes | Yes |
| Networking | Global regions | US site in Vint Hill, Virginia | Broad global region and zone footprint |
| Storage & Backups | VM storage included | 25-240 GB NVMe SSD across visible CPU-Optimized tiers | No bundled VM disk in compute-only C4 price |
| Storage & Backups | Block storage model | Distributed NVMe block storage | Hyperdisk Balanced, HA, Throughput, Extreme, and ML options |
| Storage & Backups | Snapshots | Included | Available, billed separately |
| Storage & Backups | Automated backups | Included | Available through snapshot/image workflows, billed separately |
| Storage & Backups | S3-compatible object storage | Yes, through Raff Object Storage | Cloud Storage, not S3-native by default |
| Platform Features | Managed Kubernetes | 2026 roadmap | GKE available |
| Platform Features | Managed databases | 2026 roadmap | Cloud SQL, Spanner, AlloyDB, Memorystore, and more |
| Platform Features | One-click applications | Available through Raff product workflows | Available through Google Cloud Marketplace and templates |
| Platform Features | REST API / CLI | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing & Billing | Billing style | Flat monthly subscription | Per-second billing with one-minute minimum for VMs |
| Pricing & Billing | 4 vCPU comparison price | $35.99/month with storage and bandwidth included | $144.30/month compute only |
| Pricing & Billing | Money-back / free trial | 14-day money-back guarantee | Free credits for eligible new customers |
| Pricing & Billing | Egress predictability | No per-GB egress line item | Metered by destination and tier |
| Trust & Operations | Trustpilot rating | 4.5/5 across 14 reviews | 1.4/5 across 38 reviews for cloud.google.com in the original comparison |
| Trust & Operations | Production scale | 10,000+ production VMs deployed | Hyperscaler-scale global cloud platform |
| Trust & Operations | Operating model | Focused VM, storage, networking, and data protection platform | Broad enterprise cloud platform |
| Infrastructure | Main location model | Vint Hill, Virginia | Broad global regions and zones |
| Infrastructure | Provisioning | Instant VM provisioning | Console, CLI, API, templates, and managed workflows |
Performance benchmarks: Raff vs Google Cloud
This section uses the measured benchmark data from the May 16, 2026 test window in the current draft. It reports only the metrics that were tested and shared: fio disk tests, iperf3 network tests, and Geekbench 6 CPU results. Add sysbench CPU/memory, redis-benchmark SET/GET, and one real application workload before the final publish pass.
Methodology
| Parameter | Raff | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Test date | May 16, 2026 | May 16, 2026 |
| Instance | CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU HiMem tier | c4-standard-4 |
| vCPU / RAM | 4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM | 4 vCPU / 15 GiB RAM |
| Storage | 120 GB NVMe SSD | Hyperdisk Balanced, default provisioned performance |
| Region | Vint Hill, Virginia | us-central1, Iowa |
| Monthly VM price | $35.99/month | $144.30/month compute only |
| OS | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS |
| Tools | fio 3.36, iperf3 3.16, Geekbench 6 | fio 3.36, iperf3 3.16, Geekbench 6 |
| fio profile | randrw 50/50, libaio, 2 threads, iodepth 16, 60s | Same |
| iperf3 profile | 8 parallel streams, 20s, both directions where available | Same |
| Run count | Single test window; multi-pass refresh recommended | Single test window; multi-pass refresh recommended |
| Test cost statement | Paid at standard rates by Raff Technologies; no sponsorship or rebate from Google Cloud | Paid at standard rates by Raff Technologies; no sponsorship or rebate from Google Cloud |
Real application workloads can vary from synthetic benchmarks. Treat these numbers as a measured snapshot, not a universal guarantee. Multi-run refreshes usually make the trend more reliable than a single test window.
Results
| Benchmark | Raff | Google Cloud | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| fio 4k random read/write total | 108 MiB/s / 27.6k IOPS | 16 MB/s / 3.99k IOPS | Raff measured about 6.9x higher IOPS |
| fio 64k random read/write total | 1,048 MiB/s / 16.8k IOPS | 244 MB/s / ~3.9k IOPS | Raff measured about 4.3x higher bandwidth |
| fio 512k random read/write total | 2,135 MiB/s / 4.3k IOPS | 794 MB/s | Raff measured about 2.7x higher bandwidth |
| fio 1m random read/write total | 2,251 MiB/s / 2.25k IOPS | 794 MB/s | Raff measured about 2.8x higher bandwidth |
| iperf3 Amsterdam upload/download | 1.89 / 2.72 Gbps | 1.26 / 8.98 Gbps | Google Cloud measured stronger download on this path |
| iperf3 Los Angeles upload/download | 0.24 / not captured Gbps | 2.12 / 3.00 Gbps | Raff path showed elevated retransmits during the test window |
| iperf3 New York upload/download | Endpoint refused at test time | 2.29 / 8.50 Gbps | No Raff result available from that endpoint |
| Geekbench 6 single-core | 2,266 | 2,001 | Raff measured about 13% higher single-core |
| Geekbench 6 multi-core | 6,840 | 4,450 | Raff measured higher in the shared local run |
What the results tell us
Raff's clearest measured advantage is disk performance at the tested 4 vCPU tier. At 4k random I/O, the Raff 4 vCPU VM measured 27.6k IOPS compared with 3.99k IOPS on default-configured Google Cloud Hyperdisk Balanced. That matters for database-backed web apps, queues, application servers, and container workloads that issue many small reads and writes.
Google Cloud's clearest measured advantage is network download throughput on selected long-distance paths. In the Amsterdam test, Google Cloud measured 8.98 Gbps download while Raff measured 2.72 Gbps. The broader C4 family can also reach higher network ceilings on larger machine types, but c4-standard-4 itself lists up to 23 Gbps default egress and no Tier_1 option.
The CPU result favors Raff in the shared Geekbench 6 run. Raff measured 2,266 single-core and 6,840 multi-core, while Google Cloud measured 2,001 single-core and 4,450 multi-core. Before final publication, re-run CPU with sysbench single-thread and multi-thread tests so the article has both Geekbench and command-line benchmark coverage.
Caveats
This benchmark set is useful but incomplete. The current shared data does not include sysbench CPU/memory, Redis SET/GET, or a real application workload such as HTTP throughput or SQLite. Network paths also vary by endpoint and time of day. Publish the measured fio, iperf3, and Geekbench data only with this caveat, then refresh the page after the missing benchmark pack is complete.
When you should choose Google Cloud over Raff
- Global region coverage — Google Cloud has a broad global region and zone footprint for multi-region applications, compliance placement, and latency-sensitive global deployment.
- Managed service depth — Google Cloud offers GKE, Cloud SQL, Spanner, AlloyDB, BigQuery, Vertex AI, Cloud Run, and many other services around Compute Engine.
- Accelerator workloads — Google Cloud supports GPU and TPU workloads; Raff does not offer GPU or TPU instances today.
- Higher provisioned ceilings — Google Cloud can provision higher storage and network ceilings when the workload and machine type justify the added cost.
- Free trial evaluation — eligible new Google Cloud customers may receive free credits for evaluation.
- Enterprise platform fit — Google Cloud is the stronger choice when IAM, analytics, ML, managed databases, and multi-region controls are central to the architecture.
When you should choose Raff over Google Cloud
- Predictable monthly cost — Raff CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU HiMem is $35.99/month with storage and bandwidth included; Google Cloud c4-standard-4 is $144.30/month compute only.
- Unmetered outbound traffic — Raff includes 3 Gbps unmetered bandwidth, which removes per-GB egress math for public-facing workloads.
- Bundled VM storage — Raff includes 120 GB NVMe SSD on the 4 vCPU tier; Google Cloud C4 compute pricing does not include Hyperdisk capacity.
- Measured disk throughput — Raff measured 27.6k IOPS on the 4k fio test versus 3.99k IOPS on default Google Cloud Hyperdisk Balanced.
- Included backup workflow — Raff includes snapshots and automated backups; Google Cloud snapshot storage is billed separately.
- Focused VM operations — Raff is easier for teams that want VMs, object storage, private networking, and data protection without modeling a hyperscaler bill.
- Verified Raff trust signals — Raff operates 10,000+ production VMs and has a 4.5/5 Trustpilot rating across 14 reviews.
Migrating from Google Cloud to Raff
A typical migration from Google Cloud Compute Engine to Raff follows six steps. Plan a maintenance window of 1-4 hours per VM depending on disk size, database size, and DNS cutover requirements.
1. Inventory Google Cloud resources. List Compute Engine instances, Hyperdisk volumes, VPC subnets, firewall rules, static IPs, custom images, snapshots, service accounts, and DNS records. Hyperdisk capacity, IOPS, throughput, and snapshots can be separate billable items, so record measured I/O needs rather than only disk size.
2. Prepare the source VM. Update packages, remove Google-specific boot dependencies where possible, clear cloud-init state, and confirm SSH access through a non-Google identity path. If a cloned VM keeps the same machine identity, monitoring, SSH trust, and application licenses can behave incorrectly after boot.
3. Export or sync data. For stateless apps, rsync application files and redeploy from your repository. For databases, use native dump/restore or replication-based cutover. For large disk images, export to object storage first, then import into Raff.
4. Provision the Raff VM. Create a Raff CPU-Optimized VM with equal or greater CPU/RAM than the source instance, attach any required block storage, and restore application files, databases, and configuration.
5. Cut over networking. Lower DNS TTL to 300 seconds at least 24 hours before cutover. When ready, update A and AAAA records to Raff IPs, then verify firewall rules, ports, SSL certificates, redirects, and application health checks. Google VPC private connectivity does not automatically extend to Raff, so hybrid workloads need public endpoints, firewall rules, or a site-to-site tunnel.
6. Decommission Google Cloud resources. After 7 days of verified production traffic on Raff, stop the Google Cloud VM, preserve a final snapshot if needed, then delete the instance and detached disks. Detached disks and snapshots can keep billing after the VM is stopped.
For stateful workloads, plan a brief maintenance window during the final database sync and DNS swap. Stateless services behind a load balancer can move gradually with weighted DNS or staged traffic cutover.
About Google Cloud Compute Engine
Google Cloud Compute Engine is the VM service inside Google Cloud, operated by Google LLC. Google was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Compute Engine was announced in 2012 to provide general-purpose virtual machines as part of Google Cloud. Read more on the <a href="https://cloud.google.com/compute" rel="external noopener">official Google Cloud Compute Engine website</a>.
Conclusion: Google Cloud or Raff
The comparison resolves across four measured axes:
- Cost — Raff CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU HiMem is $35.99/month with storage and bandwidth included; Google Cloud
c4-standard-4is $144.30/month compute only. - Bandwidth — Raff includes unmetered bandwidth at 3 Gbps standard port speed; Google Cloud meters Premium Tier egress by destination and usage tier.
- Performance — Raff measured stronger disk I/O and CPU scores in the shared test data; Google Cloud measured stronger download throughput on selected network paths.
- Platform breadth — Google Cloud wins on global regions, managed services, GPUs, TPUs, and enterprise ecosystem depth; Raff wins on focused VM pricing and operational simplicity.
Choose Google Cloud if your workload depends on GKE, Cloud SQL, Spanner, BigQuery, Vertex AI, GPUs, TPUs, or multi-region deployment. Choose Raff if your workload is a stable VM, API, SaaS backend, agency site, MSP customer environment, development server, automation VM, or US-focused production service where predictable monthly cost matters more than hyperscaler breadth.
Verified rating: Raff Technologies is rated 4.5/5 across 14 reviews on Trustpilot, with 10,000+ production VMs running on the platform.