When you provision a Cloud Firestore instance, you must choose a
*location* for the instance. To reduce latency and increase availability, store
your data close to the users and services that need it.

If your project is on the pay-as-you-go Blaze pricing plan,
then you can optionally
[create multiple databases](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/manage-databases.md.txt) in your project,
each with its own location setting.


Be aware that once you provision a database instance, you cannot change its
location setting.
**Important** : The location setting for your *default* Cloud Firestore database instance has a [dependency on the "location of default Google Cloud resources"](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/locations.md.txt#default-cloud-location). This means that when you provision your default Cloud Firestore database, its location might have already been set, either during project creation or when setting up another service that shares this location dependency.

Any Realtime Database instances and any
non-default Cloud Firestore database instances in your project
do not share this location dependency.

## Types of locations

You can store your Cloud Firestore data in a
[*multi-region* location](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/locations.md.txt#location-mr) or a [*regional* location](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/locations.md.txt#location-r).

### Multi-region locations

Select a multi-region location to maximize the availability and
durability of your database.

A multi-region location consists of a defined set of
[regions](https://cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions#regions_and_zones) where multiple replicas of the database
are stored. Each replica is either a read-write replica which contains all of the
data in the database or a witness replica which does not maintain a full set of
data but participates in replication.

By replicating the data between multiple regions, data
can continue to be served even with the loss of an entire
region. Within a region, data is replicated across
[zones](https://cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions#regions_and_zones) so that data can continue to be served
within that region even with the loss of a zone.

Cloud Firestore supports the following multi-region locations:

| Multi-region name | Multi-region description | Read-Write regions | Witness region |
|---|---|---|---|
| `eur3` | Europe | `europe-west1` (Belgium), `europe-west4` (Netherlands) | `europe-north1` (Finland) |
| `nam5` | United States (Central) | `us-central1` (Iowa), `us-central2` (Oklahoma---private GCP region) | `us-east1` (South Carolina) |
| `nam7` | United States (Central and East) | `us-central1` (Iowa), `us-east4` (Northern Virginia) | `us-central2` (Oklahoma---private Google Cloud region) |

> [!NOTE]
> **Note:** If your project already has an App Engine app with a location of either `us-central` or `europe-west`, then your *default* Cloud Firestore database will be considered [multi-regional](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/locations.md.txt#location-mr).

### Regional locations

A regional location is a specific geographic place, such as South Carolina. Data
in a regional location is replicated in multiple zones within a
[region](https://cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions#regional_resources).

Select a regional location for lower costs, for lower write latency if your
application is sensitive to latency, or for
[co-location with other Google Cloud resources](https://cloud.google.com/about/locations/#products-available-by-region).

Cloud Firestore supports the following regional resource locations:

|   | Region name | Region description |
|---|---|---|
| **North America** |||
|   | `us-west1` | Oregon |
|   | `us-west2` | Los Angeles |
|   | `us-west3` | Salt Lake City |
|   | `us-west4` | Las Vegas |
|   | `us-central1` | Iowa |
|   | `northamerica-northeast1` | Montréal |
|   | `northamerica-northeast2` | Toronto |
|   | `northamerica-south1` | Queretaro |
|   | `us-east1` | South Carolina |
|   | `us-east4` | Northern Virginia |
|   | `us-east5` | Columbus |
|   | `us-south1` | Dallas |
| **South America** |||
|   | `southamerica-west1` | Santiago |
|   | `southamerica-east1` | São Paulo |
| **Europe** |||
|   | `europe-west2` | London |
|   | `europe-west1` | Belgium |
|   | `europe-west4` | Netherlands |
|   | `europe-west8` | Milan |
|   | `europe-southwest1` | Madrid |
|   | `europe-west9` | Paris |
|   | `europe-west12` | Turin |
|   | `europe-west10` | Berlin |
|   | `europe-west3` | Frankfurt |
|   | `europe-north1` | Finland |
|   | `europe-north2` | Stockholm |
|   | `europe-central2` | Warsaw |
|   | `europe-west6` | Zürich |
| **Middle East** |||
|   | `me-central1` | Doha |
|   | `me-central2` | Dammam |
|   | `me-west1` | Tel Aviv |
| **Asia** |||
|   | `asia-south1` | Mumbai |
|   | `asia-south2` | Delhi |
|   | `asia-southeast1` | Singapore |
|   | `asia-southeast2` | Jakarta |
|   | `asia-southeast3` | Bangkok |
|   | `asia-east2` | Hong Kong |
|   | `asia-east1` | Taiwan |
|   | `asia-northeast1` | Tokyo |
|   | `asia-northeast2` | Osaka |
|   | `asia-northeast3` | Seoul |
| **Australia** |||
|   | `australia-southeast1` | Sydney |
|   | `australia-southeast2` | Melbourne |
| **Africa** |||
|   | `africa-south1` | Johannesburg |

## Location SLA

Your Cloud Firestore location type determines the
[Service Level Agreement (SLA)](https://cloud.google.com/firestore/sla)
uptime percentage:

| Covered service | Monthly uptime percentage |
|---|---|
| Cloud Firestore Multi-Region | \>= 99.999% |
| Cloud Firestore Regional | \>= 99.99% |

## Location pricing

Your Cloud Firestore location determines the cost of database
operations.

For a comprehensive explanation of pricing per region and per region type,
see [Understand Cloud Firestore billing](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/pricing.md.txt).

## View the location of your databases

You can view the list of your database instances and their locations in the
**Databases \& Storage** \> **Firestore** \>
[**Data** tab](https://console.firebase.google.com/project/_/firestore/databases/_/data)
in the Firebase console.

## Possible location dependencies due to "location for default Google Cloud resources"

The "location for default Google Cloud resources" is the location setting
for any project resources associated with Google App Engine, including the
following:

- default Cloud Firestore database instance
- default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket with the name format of `*.appspot.com`
- Google Cloud Scheduler used specifically with 1st gen scheduled functions

> [!NOTE]
> **Note:** None of the other resources in your project share this location dependency, including the following: Realtime Database instances, non-default Cloud Firestore instances, non-default Cloud Storage buckets, default Cloud Storage buckets with the name format of `*.firebasestorage.app`, non-scheduled functions, and 2nd gen scheduled functions.

This "location for default Google Cloud resources" is an immutable
setting. Also, when you set the location for one of the associated resources,
you indirectly set the location for all of them due to their common association
with App Engine.

However, with many changes to the Firebase and Google Cloud ecosystem over
the years, the associations of resources to App Engine have been
changing. Most notably, starting
October 30, 2024, all newly provisioned
default Cloud Storage for Firebase buckets have the name format
`*.firebasestorage.app`, and they are *not* associated
with App Engine.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **Key Point:** Starting October 30, 2024, provisioning the default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket does not set the "location for default Google Cloud resources" (like the location for the project's default Cloud Firestore instance). Also, provisioning the default Cloud Firestore instance no longer sets the location for a new default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket (with name format of `*.firebasestorage.app`).

Here are the details of what changed in the possible **location dependencies**:

- Starting October 30, 2024, **if the
  default Cloud Firestore instance and the
  default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket are *not* yet provisioned:**

  - Provisioning the default Cloud Firestore instance sets the location
    for any future App Engine app provisioned in the project.
    However, it does *not* dictate the location of the future
    default Cloud Storage bucket.

  - Provisioning the default Cloud Storage bucket *no longer* provisions
    an App Engine app. Thus, the location of the
    default Cloud Storage bucket does *not* dictate the location of the
    future default Cloud Firestore instance.

- Starting October 30, 2024, **if the default
  Cloud Firestore instance has *already* been provisioned, but the
  default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket has *not* been provisioned:**

  - The existing default Cloud Firestore instance does *not* dictate the location of the future default Cloud Storage bucket (`*.firebasestorage.app`).
- Starting October 30, 2024, **if the
  default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket has *already* been
  provisioned** (specifically, the
  `*.appspot.com` bucket)**, but the
  default Cloud Firestore instance has *not* been provisioned:**

  - Back when the default Cloud Storage bucket (`*.appspot.com`) was provisioned, an App Engine app was *also* provisioned, and thus the location of the future default Cloud Firestore instance was set at that time. Even if you delete the `*.appspot.com` bucket, you can't delete the App Engine app, so the location setting of the future default Cloud Firestore instance is already set.

If you used ***1st gen scheduled* functions** , then their location is set to the
location for default Google Cloud resources. This is because
Cloud Scheduler and App Engine previously had an association with
each other. Also, if you set up 1st gen scheduled functions *before*
provisioning other resources that shared this location setting, then you set
their location, too.

Note that if you have an App Engine app with a
location of either `us-central` or `europe-west`, then your
location for default Google Cloud resources is considered
[multi-regional](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/locations.md.txt#location-mr).


## Next steps

- To create a Cloud Firestore database in a specific location, visit [Get started with Cloud Firestore](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/quickstart.md.txt).

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- For more information about building applications to meet your latency, availability, and durability requirements, refer to [Geography and Regions](https://cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions#multi-regional_resources).