I'm on the free tier on GCP and trying to create an Alert under billing as per https://cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets#create-budget. However I don't see the option Budgets & alerts, is it because I'm on the free tier ?
Also if I'm on the free tier if I accidentally try to use a service that gets billed I assume I will get blocked ?
Did you upgrade your account with a credit card? Free Tier means that certain service levels are free. If you have not upgraded to a paid account, then you will be blocked from some services. If you have upgraded to a paid account, you will be charged.
If you have not upgraded, then you cannot be charged. This also means that you cannot set a budget alert as you have no budget or spend.
On the Billing Account Overview page, look for the Credit info card.
If the Cloud Billing account is still limited to a Free Trial Cloud Billing account, you will see a Free trial credit info card.
This card displays the status of any remaining free trial credits, and provides an Upgrade button.
If the Cloud Billing account is upgraded to a paid account, you will see a Promotional credits info card.
This card displays the status of any remaining free trial credits. To view the details of the free trial, click Credit details.