Add, remove, or update a payment method

The payment methods available to you depend on your currency and country. In most countries, you can set up a credit card, debit card, or bank account as a primary payment method.

You can also set up a backup credit or debit card as a safety net. That way, if your primary payment method fails, we'll charge your costs to your backup payment method. This ensures that your Google APIs and cloud services keep running. (You cannot set up a bank account as a backup payment method.) For more information about adding a backup payment method, see Add a payment method, below.

Bank account payments (also known as direct debit or ACH) allow you to specify a bank account to use as the primary funding source for your account. Your account isn't active until you verify your bank account. Verification of your bank account may take up to 10 days. For information about instant bank verification, see Verify your bank account.

You should be aware of the following important points:

We accept debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo.
Prepaid cards and Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs) are not accepted for payment.
By default, payments are processed automatically so you don't have to worry that your service will stop running if you forget to make a payment. If you prefer to make a payment in advance, you can do so at any time. For more information, see Make a manual payment.
If you entered your billing account information recently, it may take a few hours for your account to become active. If you have a problem finding the verification email or verifying your account, see Verify your email address.

For information about when you'll be billed, see Understand your billing cycle.

Add a payment method

You can add additional payment methods to your billing account at any time.

To add a payment method:

Go to the API Console.
Open the left side menu and select Billing
If you have more than one billing account, select the billing account name.
Click Payment Settings, then click Add a new payment method. The payment methods available to you are based on your business address and your account's currency.
Enter your payment information.
Optionally, if you’re adding an additional credit or debit card as a backup payment method, select Set this payment method as Backup.
Click Save.

Note: If your new payment method is a U.S. bank account, you can instantly verify your bank account rather than use the challenge deposit which takes 2-5 days. For information about challenge deposits and instant bank verification, see Verify your bank account.

Update or remove payment methods

You might want to update your payment information or to set a credit or debit card as a backup payment method.

A backup payment method is a credit card or debit card that you designate to be used if your primary payment method fails. With a backup payment method, if your primary payment method is ever declined when processing a payment, we'll automatically try to charge the payment to your backup method instead. This helps ensure that your service runs continuously. A backup credit card will be charged only if your primary form of payment doesn't work.

Note: A bank account cannot be used as a backup payment method.

When updating your payment method, keep in mind:

You can edit all the details for your payment method, except for the credit card or bank account number.
Your account always needs at least one payment method on file. If you ever want to remove a payment method, you should add a new payment method first.
If your credit card has expired and you receive a new credit card with the same account number and an updated expiration date and CVV number, just update your card details. You don't need to add it as a new payment method.
If the number of your credit card or bank account has changed, we consider it a new credit card or bank account. You need to add it as a new payment method and then remove the outdated payment method.

To update your payment method:

Go to the API Console.
Open the left side menu and select Billing
If you have more than one billing account, select the billing account name.
Click Payment settings and then:
- To update your credit card information such as the expiration date or the billing address, locate the card, then click Edit and make updates. When you're finished, click Save.
- To change which credit or debit card is the primary payment method, locate the card and click Set as Primary. Other cards on your account automatically become backup payment methods.
- To remove a payment method, next to the method you want to remove, click Remove.

Add a new payment method after your account has been suspended

If your account was suspended because of an invalid payment method, you need to add new a payment method before your account can be reactivated.

To add a payment method:

Go to the console Billing page.
Click Show active accounts only then select Show all accounts.
Click the name of the suspended billing account.
On the left, click Payment Settings, then click Add a new payment method. The payment methods available to you are based on your business address and your account's currency.
Enter your payment information.
Click Set this payment method as Primary.
Click Save.
To remove the invalid payment method, next to the method you want to remove, click Remove.