Compute Engine lets you use virtual machine (VMs) instances
hosted on Google's infrastructure for your real-time bidding logic.
The service provides a great experience for hosting bidding logic for
[Google Ad Manager](https://www.google.com/doubleclick/networks/scaled-media-buying.html),
but you can use it to host bidders for other exchanges too.

This feature allows users who are currently hosting bidder logic on physical
infrastructure to be able to host the same logic in the Google Cloud,
on virtual machines
provided by Google. Compute Engine offers many advantages for hosting
your bidder logic:

- In general, Google Ad Manager customers using Compute Engine should
  experience significantly lower latency during bid computation. Depending on
  where you are bidding, you should create your virtual machine instances
  in the corresponding regions:

  | Desired bidding location | Compute Engine region to host your instances |
  |---|---|
  | North America (West Coast) | `us-west1` |
  | North America (Central) | `us-central1` |
  | North America (East Coast) | `us-east4, us-east1` |
  | Europe | `europe-west1` |
  | Asia Pacific | `asia-east1` |
  | Tokyo, Japan | `asia-northeast1` |

- Using Compute Engine allows you to place your bidding logic close to
  other Google Cloud services that can be used to augment your bidding logic.

- Benefit from all of the standard Compute Engine features, including:

  - Start fast-booting, customizable [virtual machine
    instances](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances) that are consistently high performance.
  - Choose from a variety of Linux and Windows OS [images](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images).
  - Pick the [block storage](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks) option that best fits the price, performance, and durability requirements of your workload or application.
  - Expose your virtual machine instances to the Internet safely through an easily configurable [firewall](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/networking#firewalls).
  - Manage your instances and infrastructure through a simple [REST
    API](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/latest), robust [command-line
    tool](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/gcloud-compute), or a simple yet powerful web-based [Google Cloud console](https://console.cloud.google.com/).

## Sign up

To sign up for Compute Engine for Google Ad Manager, you must have:

- Enabled [Compute Engine](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/quickstart).
- Signed up for a [Google Ad Manager account](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7459399), if you want to use Google Ad Manager.

Users of Google Ad Manager and Compute Engine should experience lower
latency when you bid to a Google Ad Manager bidding location (described above).
There are no additional steps to enable Compute Engine for
Google Ad Manager.

## Pricing

Standard [Compute Engine rates](https://cloud.google.com/compute/all-pricing) apply.

## Getting started

After you have Compute Engine and Google Ad Manager accounts, you can
start using the service by:

- Following one of the [Compute Engine getting started guides](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/quickstart).
- Reading about features such as [persistent disks](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks), [images](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images), and [load balancing](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/load-balancing).
- Reviewing the [API reference](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/latest).
- Familiarizing yourself with typical [real time bidding architecture](https://docs.cloud.google.com/solutions/architecture/realtimebidding).
- Exploring our sample [real time bidder solution for Google Cloud](https://docs.cloud.google.com/solutions/real-time-bidder-solution-for-google-cloud-platform).

Google also offers an open-source real-time bidding infrastructure software
that you can use to create your own bidding logic. For more information, see
[Open Bidder](https://developers.google.com/authorized-buyers/rtb/open-bidding).