About licenses
A license is a usage agreement between you and a software vendor. To use
licensed software provided by Trusted Cloud by S3NS, you must have a license. For
example, if you are running a licensed operating system (OS) on a Compute Engine virtual machine (VM) instance, you must have a license for that
OS.
A license string is a resource that associates a usage agreement with a
licensed OS, OS upgrade, or additional software. For a list of the license
strings that are associated with each OS that is supported by Compute Engine,
see Operating system details.
To learn how to view and manage license strings, see
Manage licenses.
License types and pricing
Licenses on Compute Engine are one of the following types. For
information about which license types apply to each OS version, see the
license section of the
Operating system details page.
- Free licenses
- No charge for usage.
- On-demand/Pay-as-you-go (PAYG)
Trusted Cloud charges for usage. Cost varies depending on the OS. For
more information, see pricing for premium images.
The Google-provided image contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own
OS image.
- Bring your own license (BYOL)/Bring your own subscription (BYOS)
Trusted Cloud does not charge you because you have a previous agreement
with the original OS vendor. If you have BYOL licenses for server or client
versions of Windows, you must use sole-tenant nodes.
License strings for BYOL and BYOS end with byol or byos. If the license
string does not end with byol or byos, the license is a free or
on-demand/PAYG license.
For more information about using BYOS and BYOL licenses on Compute Engine,
review the following:
- Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro
The following Ubuntu versions have reached the end of maintenance:
- Ubuntu 16.04 LTS - April 21, 2021
- Ubuntu 18.04 LTS - May 31, 2023
If you need further updates for these versions, you must upgrade and append
a user license for Ubuntu Pro. For information about how to upgrade and append
a user license,
see Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro.
- Use SQL Server on Linux
You can install SQL Server on Linux VMs and use PAYG licenses. For more
information, see Add a SQL Server license to an existing Linux server.
What's next
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-08-26 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-26 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eA license is a usage agreement required for using licensed software on Google Cloud, such as licensed operating systems on Compute Engine virtual machines.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUser licenses must be added when upgrading a licensed OS or installing additional licensed software on a VM, and users are responsible for adding any needed user licenses.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eLicense strings are resources that associate usage agreements with a licensed OS, OS upgrade, or other licensed software, and are identified with details in the OS details.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThere are three types of licenses on Compute Engine: free licenses, on-demand/pay-as-you-go (PAYG) licenses where Google Cloud charges for usage, and bring your own license (BYOL)/bring your own subscription (BYOS) licenses, where users have a prior agreement with the OS vendor.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUser license scenarios include appending RHEL ELS licenses for versions that have reached their end of maintenance, upgrading from standard Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro for extended updates, and using PAYG licenses when installing SQL Server on Linux VMs.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Linux Windows\n\n*** ** * ** ***\n\nA *license* is a usage agreement between you and a software vendor. To use\nlicensed software provided by Google Cloud, you must have a license. For\nexample, if you are running a licensed operating system (OS) on a Compute Engine virtual machine (VM) instance, you must have a license for that\nOS.\n\nA *license string* is a resource that associates a usage agreement with a\nlicensed OS, OS upgrade, or additional software. For a list of the license\nstrings that are associated with each OS that is supported by Compute Engine,\nsee [Operating system details](/compute/docs/images/os-details#license-strings).\nTo learn how to view and manage license strings, see\n[Manage licenses](/compute/docs/licenses/manage).\n\nLicense types and pricing\n\nLicenses on Compute Engine are one of the following types. For\ninformation about which license types apply to each OS version, see the\n*license* section of the\n[Operating system details](/compute/docs/images/os-details#license-strings) page.\n\nFree licenses\n: No charge for usage.\n\nOn-demand/Pay-as-you-go (PAYG)\n\n: Google Cloud charges for usage. Cost varies depending on the OS. For\n more information, see [pricing for premium images](/compute/disks-image-pricing#premiumimages).\n\n: The Google-provided image contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own\n OS image.\n\nBring your own license (BYOL)/Bring your own subscription (BYOS)\n\n: Google Cloud does not charge you because you have a previous agreement\n with the original OS vendor. If you have BYOL licenses for server or client\n versions of Windows, you must use [sole-tenant nodes](/compute/docs/nodes/sole-tenant-nodes).\n\n: License strings for BYOL and BYOS end with `byol` or `byos`. If the license\n string does not end with `byol` or `byos`, the license is a free or\n on-demand/PAYG license.\n\n For more information about using BYOS and BYOL licenses on Compute Engine,\n review the following:\n\n - For RHEL BYOS, see [Create a VM using a RHEL BYOS image](/compute/docs/instances/create-rhel-byos-vm).\n - For Windows, contact your [Google Cloud Technical Account Manager](/support/docs/premium#tam).\n\nUpgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro\n\n: The following Ubuntu versions have reached the end of maintenance:\n\n - Ubuntu 16.04 LTS - April 21, 2021\n - Ubuntu 18.04 LTS - May 31, 2023\n\n If you need further updates for these versions, you must upgrade and append\n a user license for Ubuntu Pro. For information about how to upgrade and append\n a user license,\n see [Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro](/compute/docs/images/premium/ubuntu-pro/upgrade-from-ubuntu).\n\nUse SQL Server on Linux\n\n: You can install SQL Server on Linux VMs and use PAYG licenses. For more\n information, see [Add a SQL Server license to an existing Linux server](/compute/docs/instances/sql-server/adding-sql-server-license-to-linux).\n\nWhat's next\n\n- [Manage licenses](/compute/docs/licenses/manage)\n\n- [Learn about Microsoft licenses on Compute Engine](/compute/docs/instances/windows/ms-licensing)\n\n- Learn more about premium operating systems:\n\n - [Consult the RHEL FAQ](/compute/docs/images/premium/rhel-faq)\n\n - [Consult the Ubuntu Pro FAQ](/compute/docs/images/premium/ubuntu-pro-faq)\n\n- Review [Support policy by license type](/compute/docs/images/support-maintenance-policy#support-by-license)"]]
