Claude on Google Cloud Gets an Anthropic-Managed Option, Now Generally Available, With the Full Claude Platform and Google Billing
Anthropic and Google Cloud announced on Oct. 22–23 the general availability of Claude Models on Google Cloud (Anthropic managed). Anthropic runs the service and is the data processor, while customers sign in with Google Cloud IAM, pay on their Google Cloud bill and draw down existing commitments. The Google-managed option remains for customers that need Google as data processor or strict data residency.
Google Cloud customers can now buy Claude with every Claude Platform feature on the day it ships, but only by making Anthropic, not Google, the company that processes their data. In announcements dated October 22 and 23, Anthropic and Google Cloud said Claude Models on Google Cloud (Anthropic managed) is generally available. It sits alongside the existing Google-managed offering. Under the new option, Anthropic operates the service and acts as the data processor under its own commercial terms. Customers authenticate with Google Cloud IAM, are billed on a single Google Cloud invoice and draw down existing Google Cloud commitments.
What the Anthropic-managed option adds
Anthropic says customers on the new option get the full set of Claude API features, with new features and betas shipping the same day they go live on Anthropic's own Claude Platform. Its list includes Claude Managed Agents (beta), code execution, computer use, agent skills, the Files API, citations, web search and fetch, the MCP connector (beta), prompt caching and batch processing. Customers also get the Claude Console for writing prompts, configuring and running agents, and monitoring usage and costs. Anthropic says Fast Mode on Claude Opus 5.5 is generally available on the offering, with up to 2.5x faster output generation at $8 per million input tokens and $40 per million output tokens.
Claude Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5 are available, and Anthropic says new models will ship on the offering as they launch. It is available with US and Global endpoints, according to Anthropic. Customers with existing discounts are told to contact their Anthropic or Google Cloud account executive first, because Anthropic says discounts cannot be applied retroactively.
Two paths, one bill
Google's post, by Michael Gerstenhaber, vice president of product management for Gemini at Google Cloud, says both options deliver the same models on day zero, the same pricing and the same Google Cloud billing. The difference, Google says, is who acts as data processor and whether customers get new Claude Platform features at launch. In the Google-managed option, Google Cloud is the data processor under existing customer agreements. That option offers VPC Service Controls, customer-managed encryption keys, data residency in the US, EU and APAC, and integrations such as BigQuery and Model Armor. New Claude Platform features reach it only once they are integrated into Google's infrastructure. Customers on the Anthropic-managed option keep Cloud Audit Logging, according to Google.
The announcement came a day after Google Cloud said OpenAI's models and Codex are coming to its Model Garden, payable from the same kind of Google Cloud commitments. Google is letting rival model makers sell through its cloud and its customers' existing budgets. With Claude, it is now also letting one of them run the service itself.
Limits
- Feature and pricing details come from Anthropic's and Google's announcements. We have not tested the service.
- Anthropic's post includes quotes from two customers. We do not reproduce them, because the post does not clearly say which companies the speakers work for.
- Google's post is dated October 22 on the page but carries October 23 in its structured metadata. Anthropic's is dated October 22. We describe this as an October 22–23 announcement.
- Neither post discloses commercial terms between Anthropic and Google. We found no independent reporting on the launch.