Google Cloud and Firebase
Learn a bit more about the solution infrastructure we use
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Learn a bit more about the solution infrastructure we use
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Google Cloud is a cloud computing provide providing various resources like services, databases, security, various APIs and real-time reporting to businesses and developers. Firebase is a product by Google that focuses on providing a managed platform for web application development that offers solutions for authentication, storage, functions, databases and monitoring.
To begin your DotApparel setup, you should configure your Google Cloud account, then set up your Firebase projects so that we can deploy the DotApparel solution in an environment you control.
You own the account, and we manage it for you. Once you have created your account and projects, it's your reposnsibility to manage the billing side and addressing and related emails you receive. We handle the setup, maintenance, configuration, alerts, monitoring, reporting and deployments for you.
A single Google Cloud account can have many Firebase projects created, and all will be billed together under one invoice from Google Cloud. So you will be charged directly by Google for your usage of resources, while the subscription for our solutions are paid to DotApparel. The fees charged by Google Cloud will go up and down each month, depending on actual usage.
It is difficult to accurately determine this as there are several factors that will impact the monthly costings. To help provide an indication, over 90% of our merchants are paying less than $200 USD per month for their Google Cloud usage. It can be as low as $50 USD per month for a solution that's not using features that require additional API calls such as live inventory lookups.
Important to note, we have seen the monthly cost spike as high as $1,000 USD but this is not common and again, it will be impacted by the use of API calls and the scale and traffic or size of data we are handling for you.
Usage for Google Cloud services will be based primarily on the number of customers, orders, products (colours and sizes), and features in use.
Multiple Firebase projects for each solution instance allow for easier management across security, logging, alerting, and deployments. This architecture enables "rolling deployments" across lower-risk brands. Since our solutions are fully serverless, there is no cost impact on maintaining multiple Firebase projects as charges are usage-based only.
Your Google Cloud account must have a user with permissions set to "Organizational Admin"
Organization Policy Administrator
We recommend for several key members in your business to have access to this Admin user. This permission level will allow your account to grant the necessary permissions to accept other domains.
If you already have a Google Cloud account, then you can use your existing account. Otherwise, here are the steps to creating a Google Cloud account:
Click “Get started for free” in the top-right.
Login with a Google account or create a new Google/Gmail account if required.
Follow the instructions to enter your company information and payment details.
For each of your instances you must create an individual Firebase project. Within each of these projects, an “instance” of the DotApparel app is installed, follow these steps to create a project:
Click "Add project" in the top left corner.
In the "Project Name" field, enter [Brand Name] DotApparel [Solution] [Region]. For example, if your brand is called Acme and you are adding support for your AU website, enter "Acme DotApparel Core AU."
On the next step, uncheck the "Enable Google Analytics for this project" checkbox.
Click "Create project" and wait for it to complete. Once the Firebase project has been created please refrain from configuring anything else such as setting a region.
Click the button in the bottom-left marked “Upgrade,” then click the blue button under “Pay as you go,” and then the blue “Purchase” button. Finally, close the modal.
Click the little cog icon in the top-left corner and select "Users and permissions."
Click the blue "Add member" button in the top-right corner of the table.
Select "Owner" in the role dropdown.
Click the "Add member" button to confirm.
If you have just created your Google Cloud account, you’ll be enrolled to a free 30-day trial. To ensure that your service is not interrupted, you should immediately upgrade the account to a paid billing account (Blaze plan). You will still retain your trial credits, but it means that when the trial runs out, your payment method will begin to be charged without interruption.
Navigate to
Go to and log in with your Google Cloud
Enter into the email field.
See a helpful guide with step by step instructions here: