Google Cloud Print

Print from anything to any printer over the internet: ten years in beta, then switched off at the end of 2020

Shut down
19902026

Google Cloud Print was a service, announced on 15 April 2010, that let any device print to any printer over the internet by routing jobs through Google's servers, either to cloud-ready printers or to a printer shared from Chrome on a PC. Built for Chrome OS and used by Android, Gmail and Docs, it stayed in beta for its whole life. Google announced its end on 21 November 2019 and switched it off on 31 December 2020.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2010
  2. 15 April 2010 Launch
    Cloud Print announced on the Chromium blog

    A way for Chrome OS to print without drivers.

  3. 2011
  4. 24 January 2011 Feature
    Cloud Print in Chrome, Gmail and Docs

    Any printer shared from a PC.

  5. 2013
  6. November 2013 Feature
    Cloud Print for Android
  7. 2017
  8. 2017 Decline
    Chrome OS gains native printing

    The workaround loses its purpose.

  9. 2019
  10. 21 November 2019 Shutdown announced
    Cloud Print to end 31 December 2020
  11. 2020
  12. 31 December 2020 Shutdown
    Cloud Print switched off

    No device can print through it from 1 January 2021.

The site through time

Browse google.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Google 2010–2020 Founded

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: Google announced on 21 November 2019 that Cloud Print, still labelled beta after nine years, would not be supported after 31 December 2020 and that from 1 January 2021 no device could print through it. Chrome OS had gained native printing (CUPS-based, with IPP Everywhere) in 2017, which removed the main reason for the service, and Google told businesses to move to that or to third-party cloud printing from the printer makers.

Our analysis: Cloud Print existed to solve one problem: Chrome OS could not print, and Google did not want to write printer drivers. Routing every job through Google's servers to a "cloud-ready" printer or a PC running Chrome was a clever workaround that let Chromebooks into schools and offices, and a lot of Android phones used it too. Once Chrome OS could talk to printers directly the workaround was overhead, and a beta that had lasted a decade was easy to end.

History [edit]

Printing for a browser

Google described Cloud Print on the Chromium blog on 15 April 2010, while Chrome OS was still in development: rather than write and ship printer drivers for a browser-based operating system, Google would send print jobs to the cloud and have printers, or a computer attached to one, fetch them. Cloud-ready printers from HP, Canon, Epson and others connected directly; any older printer could be shared through the Cloud Print connector in Chrome on Windows or Mac. Chrome added the feature in January 2011, and Gmail and Docs on mobile could print through it the same month. Chromebooks, launched that June, printed only this way.

It spread. Android got a Cloud Print plug-in in 2013 and it became the default print path for many phones; printer makers built it into their firmware; schools and offices running Chromebooks depended on it. And it stayed in beta, year after year, with a small team and no obvious plan.

End of life

Chrome OS gained native printing in 2017, talking to printers over IPP without Google in the middle. On 21 November 2019 Google announced that Cloud Print would be supported only until 31 December 2020 and would stop working entirely on 1 January 2021, and told administrators to migrate to native Chrome OS printing or to the printer makers' own cloud services. Printers with Cloud Print in their firmware kept the menu item and lost the function; some manufacturers pushed updates, most did not. It was the rare Google shutdown that took physical hardware features with it.

The domain today

google.com/cloudprint redirects to a Chrome help article about migrating away from Cloud Print.

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Sources [edit]

  1. A new approach to printing Chromium Blog 15 April 2010 [archived]
  2. Google's plan to give Chrome OS (and all web-enabled devices) universal printer support TechCrunch 15 April 2010 [archived]
  3. Google Cloud Print picks up steam Google Chrome Blog 13 December 2011 [archived]
  4. Google Cloud Print is dead as of December 31, 2020 9to5Google 21 November 2019 [archived]
  5. Google is killing Cloud Print at the end of 2020 How-To Geek 22 November 2019 [archived]
  6. Google is shutting down its cloud printing service TechRadar 22 November 2019 [archived]
  7. Migrate from Cloud Print Google (Chrome Enterprise Help) 1 January 2020 [archived]

Last verified: 16 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).