GCP Private Offers: Committed Use Discounts | Suger

Google Cloud Marketplace gives a usage-priced SaaS plan three private-offer pricing models. Two are committed use discounts; one is a straight usage discount. They bill the same enterprise deal differently on overage — and one of them locks in a choice you can’t reverse without cancelling the offer.

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Your customer wants an enterprise commit. Your product is metered. On Google Cloud Marketplace, that intersection is a menu of pricing models, and the menu decides two things a deal desk cares about: what the customer pays when they run past the commitment, and what you’re allowed to change once the offer is live.

Most of that is fixed at the moment you pick the model. Some of it can never be undone. This post walks the three models on Google’s own worked example, then the choices you make once — and the operational tail each one leaves behind.

If you’re comparing this against how AWS and Microsoft discount usage in a private offer, start at the cross-cloud cloud marketplace pricing models guide and come back here for the Google specifics.

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What are the private-offer pricing models for usage-priced SaaS on Google Cloud?

A usage-priced SaaS plan on Google Cloud Marketplace can be sold under one of three private-offer pricing models: a committed use discount with additional usage at list price, a committed use discount with all usage discounted, or a usage-based discount only. The first two are committed use discounts (CUDs) — the customer commits to a minimum spend in exchange for a discount. The third has no commitment at all: the customer simply pays a discounted rate for whatever they use.

The difference between the two CUDs is one thing only: whether the discount reaches the overage. A committed use discount with additional usage at list price discounts the committed portion and charges everything above it at full list price. A committed use discount with all usage discounted extends the same discount to every unit, including the units past the commitment. Google adds two more models for plans that aren’t purely usage-based — a flat fee, and a flat fee with usage — but for a metered plan carrying an enterprise commit, the three above are the real choice.

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What does the customer pay on overage under each model?

Google publishes one worked example, and it’s the fastest way to see the models diverge. Take a US$100 monthly commitment, US$160 of usage at list price, and a 25% discount. The customer’s monthly bill comes out differently under each model:

Pricing model	Discount applies to	What the customer pays	Overage treatment
Committed use discount, additional usage at list price	The US$100 commitment only	US$135	The US$60 above the commitment is billed at full list price
Committed use discount, all usage discounted	All US$160 of usage	US$120	The overage gets the same 25% as the commitment
Usage-based discount only	All usage, no commitment	US$120	Every unit is discounted 25%; there is nothing to “go over”

The math is worth doing once. Under the first model, the US$100 commitment discounted 25% is US$75, and the US$60 of overage stays at list — US$135. Under the second, the full US$160 discounted 25% is US$120. Under the third, there’s no commitment to price separately, so the same US$160 at 25% off is again US$120.

The two US$120 outcomes look identical this month, but they are not the same deal. The committed use discount bills the customer for the commitment whether or not they use it — that is what “committed” means. The usage-only model bills only for real consumption. Which one fits depends on whether you’re protecting a revenue floor or simply rewarding volume. And per Google, the discount rate is a single number: it “applies a single discount rate regardless of whether your product’s pricing plan charges for usage using a single rate or tiered pricing structure.” One percentage covers every tier and every metric — you don’t discount tiers unevenly through the discount rate itself.

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Which choices can’t you change later?

Some of what you pick at creation is permanent for the life of the offer, and Google enforces it when you try to replace one. A replacement offer can’t change the committed use discount type or the pricing plan. You can raise or lower the commitment and the discount percentage on a CUD replacement, but you cannot switch a “commitment discount with additional usage at list price” into a “commitment with all usage discounted,” and you cannot move the offer onto a different plan. If you sold the wrong CUD flavour, the fix is a new offer, not an edit.

The models are not symmetric about what they can become:

• A usage-only offer can move up to a CUD model. Google lets you modify the discount percentage on a usage-only offer, “or replace the model with a CUD model.” A customer who started with a plain usage discount can later be brought under a commitment.
• A flat fee can never become usage-based. If the current model is a flat fee (SaaS), you can change the payment amount and the features list, but per Google “you can’t switch to a usage-based pricing model.” That door only opens one way.

The practical rule: usage-only is the reversible starting point, a CUD locks in its own type, and a flat fee is a dead end toward metering. This is the same replacement-offer discipline that shows up across Google Cloud commitments and marketplace drawdown — plan the model at creation, because the replacement can’t rescue a wrong one.

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What are the operational consequences of a usage model?

Choosing a usage model is a commitment to report usage, on Google’s clock, for the life of the offer. Per Google, “for all usage-based pricing models, you must measure and report hourly usage information to Google.” That is not a monthly export — it is an hourly metering obligation that your integration has to hold up for every active offer, which is why a metered plan is an operational commitment and not just a pricing one.

There is a second consequence that catches pricing owners by surprise: your plan’s list usage price is not frozen by the offers already sold against it. Per Google, “if you change your plan’s usage pricing, the new price takes effect for future offers, including offers that are auto-renewed.” Repricing the underlying plan doesn’t only shape new deals — it flows into the next renewal of existing customers whose offers auto-renew. If you raise a metered rate, an enterprise offer that quietly renews next quarter renews at the new rate. Decide plan-price changes with the renewal book in view, not just the new-business pipeline.

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How does Suger handle the Google Cloud pricing models?

Suger’s Google Cloud Marketplace private-offer form groups the three usage models exactly the way Google’s Producer Portal does — a Committed use discounts group holding Commit discount with additional usage at list price and Commit with all usage discounted, and a Usage Only group holding Usage discount only — so the model you pick in Suger maps one-to-one to what Google records. It keeps the model on a replacement offer, matching Google’s rule that the CUD type and plan can’t change, and it computes the per-metric discount table so you can see the list and discounted price for every tier before the offer goes out.

On the payment side, Suger exposes the controls Google models on the commitment itself. On a Prepay committed use discount, you can turn on a one-time Free credit per installment — a credit granted on top of that installment’s commitment balance. You also choose what happens to an installment’s unused commitment when the next one starts:

Rule	What happens to unused commitment
Rollover	The unused balance carries into the next installment. This is Google Cloud’s default.
Expire	The unused balance is discarded at the start of each following installment — and, on Suger, so is any partner-sponsored free credit, so choose Rollover if the credit should survive.
Custom	Decide per installment, with an Expire checkbox governing each transition.

One boundary to plan around: usage-discount-only is Postpay only. It has no commitment to prepay, so there is no installment schedule, no Free credit, and no unused-commitment rule to set. If the deal needs prepayment, it needs a CUD. For the full field-by-field walkthrough, see Suger’s guide to creating a GCP Marketplace private offer.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a committed use discount on Google Cloud Marketplace? A committed use discount (CUD) is a private-offer pricing model where the customer commits to a minimum spend in exchange for a discount, and pays that commitment whether or not they use it. Google offers two CUD types, differing only in whether the discount reaches overage.

What’s the difference between the two Google Cloud CUD models? “Commitment discount with additional usage at list price” discounts only the committed amount and bills overage at full list price. “Commitment with all usage discounted” applies the same discount to every unit, including usage above the commitment. Only the second discounts overage.

Can I change a Google Cloud private offer’s pricing model after it’s live? Only within limits. A replacement offer can’t change the CUD type or the plan. A usage-only offer can be replaced with a CUD model, but a flat-fee SaaS offer can never switch to a usage-based model. To change a CUD type, cancel and issue a new offer.

Do usage-based models require hourly reporting on Google Cloud? Yes. Google requires you to measure and report hourly usage information for all usage-based pricing models. It is an ongoing metering obligation for every active offer, not a monthly export, so your integration has to sustain it.

Does the discount apply differently to each tier or metric? No. Google applies a single discount rate regardless of whether the plan charges usage at a single rate or a tiered structure. One percentage covers every tier and metric. Suger still shows the resulting list and discounted price per metric before the offer is sent.

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Takeaways

• Pick the model for the overage you want. A committed use discount with additional usage at list price bills overage at list; a commitment with all usage discounted extends the discount to it; usage-only discounts everything and commits nothing.
• On Google’s example — US$100 committed, US$160 used, 25% off — the three models bill US$135, US$120 and US$120. The two US$120 results differ in substance: a CUD charges the commitment even if it’s unused; usage-only bills only real consumption.
• Choose the CUD type carefully, because a replacement can’t change it or the plan. Usage-only can move up to a CUD later; a flat fee can never become usage-based.
• A usage model means hourly reporting for the life of the offer, and repricing the plan flows into auto-renewals — decide plan-price changes with the renewal book in view.

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Suger runs the Google Cloud pricing models, the prepay controls and the metric discounts from one place, alongside the marketplace it transacts on. See how it fits your metered plan on the billing and metering page.