Default bucket and billing requirements for Cloud Storage for Firebase after September 2024

In September 2024, we announced infrastructure updates to better align with Google Cloud Storage quota and billing and to prevent abuse on our platform.

Here are two key points to know:

  • Cloud Storage for Firebase (even default buckets) now requires projects to be on the pay-as-you-go Blaze pricing plan. No-cost usage is still available even on the Blaze pricing plan.

  • All default Cloud Storage for Firebase buckets created after September 2024 have the name format of PROJECT_ID.firebasestorage.app.

Review the following FAQs for details about the changes:


Billing requirements and troubleshooting

To use Cloud Storage for Firebase, your Firebase project must be on the pay-as-you-go Blaze pricing plan. No-cost usage is still available even on the Blaze pricing plan.

If your Firebase project is on the Spark pricing plan, you won't have access to any Cloud Storage buckets (including default buckets), and your API calls to buckets will return 402 or 403 errors.

How to regain access

To regain access and quality of service for Cloud Storage resources and data, upgrade to the pay-as-you-go Blaze pricing plan. No-cost usage is still available even on the Blaze pricing plan, including for your legacy *.appspot.com default bucket.

No access in console

If your project is on the Spark pricing plan, you'll no longer have access to your bucket in the Firebase console and the Google Cloud console. Instead, you'll be redirected to the Cloud Storage landing page where you can upgrade to the Blaze pricing plan.

402 and 403 errors

If your project is on the Spark pricing plan, your calls to Cloud Storage APIs (like from your app) will fail and return 402 or 403 errors. Follow the guidance in How to regain access above or check out more troubleshooting options below.

402 errors
"error": {
    "code": 402,
    "message": "Cloud Storage for Firebase no longer supports Firebase projects that are on the no-cost Spark pricing plan. Please upgrade to the pay-as-you-go Blaze pricing plan to maintain access to your default bucket and all other Cloud Storage resources. For details, see our FAQ: https://firebase.google.com/docs/storage/faqs-storage-changes-announced-sept-2024"
  }

OR

storage/quota-exceeded: Firebase Storage: Quota for bucket '{project-id}.appspot.com' exceeded, please view quota on https://firebase.google.com/pricing/. (storage/quota-exceeded)
403 errors
<Error>
  <Code>UserProjectAccountProblem</Code>
  <Message>The project to be billed is associated with an absent billing account.</Message>
  <Details>The billing account for the owning project is disabled in state absent</Details>
</Error>

OR

storage/unauthorized: User does not have permission to access {path}

Troubleshooting

If you're experiencing any issues, check out these troubleshooting resources. If none of the following help with your issue, then reach out to Firebase Support.

Troubleshoot billing setup

The Cloud Billing documentation provides troubleshooting help for common billing and payment issues. For example, you can find solutions if your Indian debit or credit card isn't accepted.

Troubleshoot service account permissions

For Cloud Storage for Firebase to function properly, a service account in your Firebase project needs certain IAM permissions.

If you get errors in the Firebase console about permissions for this service account, it's often because the service account has been deleted from your Firebase project. To resolve this issue, follow the steps described in this FAQ.


Pricing plan FAQs

To use Cloud Storage for Firebase, your Firebase project must be on the pay-as-you-go Blaze pricing plan. No-cost usage is still available even on the Blaze pricing plan.

We understand that these changes will require your time to evaluate and make changes to your Firebase project and workflows. If you have any questions, please reach out to Firebase Support.


Changes for the default Cloud Storage bucket

Review the following FAQs for more details about these requirements. If you have any questions, please reach out to Firebase Support.


Changes for programmatic interactions (like REST APIs and Terraform)

If you provision or work with default Cloud Storage for Firebase buckets programmatically (for example, using REST APIs or Terraform), review the following changes to see if you need to change anything in your workflows or apps.

Review the following FAQs for more details about these requirements. If you have any questions, please reach out to Firebase Support.


Changes for "default Google Cloud resources"

The "default Google Cloud resources" are any project resources associated with Google App Engine, including the following:

  • default Cloud Firestore instance
  • default Cloud Storage for Firebase bucket (specifically those with the name format of PROJECT_ID.appspot.com)
  • Google Cloud Scheduler (specifically for 1st gen scheduled functions)

With many changes over the years to the Firebase ecosystem, the associations of Firebase-related resources to Google App Engine have been changing.

Review the following FAQs for more details about these requirements. If you have any questions, please reach out to Firebase Support.