Welcome to the Meetrix Plane developer guide for Google Cloud Platform! With the Meetrix pre-configured GCP image, you can deploy a production-ready Plane instance in minutes.

This guide walks you through finding the product on GCP Marketplace, configuring the deployment, pointing DNS, securing the instance admin, creating your workspace, and managing the server.

What Is Plane?

Plane is an open-source, self-hostable project management tool built as an alternative to Jira. It gives engineering and product teams issue tracking with custom states and priorities, cycles for sprint planning, modules for grouping work, and product roadmaps, without the overhead or licensing cost of legacy tools. If you're still weighing options, see our roundup of the best open-source Jira alternatives for how Plane compares. Deploying it on Google Cloud Platform keeps your issues, sprints, and roadmap data inside your own GCP project instead of a third-party SaaS account.

Related Article

Meetrix Plane - Developer Guide (AWS)

Step-by-step guide for deploying and configuring Plane on AWS using the Meetrix pre-configured AMI and CloudFormation.

Meetrix.IO • Dinesh Chathuranga

Meetrix Plane Developer Guide AWS

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

  • Basic Google Cloud Platform knowledge.
  • An active Google account with a GCP project and billing enabled.
  • A domain name you can manage DNS records for.

Launch Plane from GCP Marketplace

Step 1: Find the Product

  1. Log in to your Google account.
  2. Go directly to the product page: Plane on GCP Marketplace
  3. You can also browse all Meetrix products at the Meetrix Solutions Page.
  4. You will see the following product listing page.
Plane Open-Source Jira Alternative for Agile Teams product listing on GCP Marketplace

Step 2: Accept the Agreement

  1. Select your GCP project from the project selector at the top.
  2. Review the product description and pricing details, then click GET STARTED.
  3. Accept the terms and conditions and click AGREE.
Plane GCP Marketplace agreements screen

Free Trial

This product includes a 5-day free trial with up to USD 50.00 in licence fee credits. To activate it, tick I accept the solution trial Terms and Conditions on the launch screen before proceeding.

Plane GCP free trial terms acceptance checkbox

Trial note

Infrastructure charges (VM, disk) still apply during the trial. Only the Meetrix licence fee is credited. You can cancel the trial at any time by deleting the deployment.

Configure Your Plane Deployment on GCP

You will see the deployment configuration form. Fill in the fields across the following sections:

Plane GCP deployment configuration form showing deployment name, service account, zone, and machine type

General

  • Deployment name - A unique name for this deployment.
  • Deployment Service Account - Use an existing account with the required roles, or create a new one.
  • Zone - Select the GCP zone closest to your users.
  • Machine type - Default e2-medium (2 vCPU, 1 core, 4 GB memory) works for most small to mid-sized teams. Choose a larger type in the Compute-optimised or Memory-optimised series for heavier usage.

Networking

  • Network / Subnetwork - Leave as default unless you have a custom VPC.
  • External IP - Leave as Ephemeral so the instance is reachable from the internet.
  • Allow SSH (TCP port 22) - Enabled by default. Restrict the source IP range if you want to limit SSH access to specific IPs.
Plane GCP networking configuration showing network, subnetwork, external IP, and SSH firewall settings

Application Settings

  • Domain name - The domain for your Plane instance (e.g. project.yourdomain.com). Make sure to point your DNS A record to the instance IP before or shortly after deploying.
  • Admin email - The email address you'll use to sign in to the instance admin (God Mode) after deployment.
  • Admin password - A strong password for the instance admin account. Keep this secure.

Click DEPLOY and wait a few minutes for the deployment to complete.

Point DNS to Your Plane Server

Step 1: Get the External IP

  1. Once deployment is complete, click the VM instance resource name in the deployment details.
  2. Copy the External IP from the Network interfaces section.
Plane VM instance network interface showing the external IP address on GCP

Step 2: Create a DNS A Record

  1. Go to your DNS provider.
  2. Add an A record pointing your Plane domain (e.g. project.yourdomain.com) to the copied external IP.
  3. Wait for DNS propagation before proceeding (typically a few minutes to 1 hour).

DNS must propagate first

The image issues SSL via Let's Encrypt, which verifies domain ownership over HTTP. Make sure your DNS A record is pointing to the server IP and has propagated before you access your domain.

Secure the Instance Admin (God Mode)

Once DNS has propagated, visit https://yourdomain.com/god-mode. This is Plane's instance admin area, where you secure the instance before anyone can create a workspace.

Plane instance admin God Mode sign-in page asking for admin email and password

Sign in with the Admin Email and Admin Password you set during deployment, then click Sign in to continue.

502 Bad Gateway Error?

If you encounter a "502 Bad Gateway" error, the application is likely still starting up. Please wait about 5 minutes and then refresh the page.

Create Your Workspace

After signing in to God Mode, create your first workspace. Give it a name and confirm the workspace slug (the URL your team will use), then click Make it live.

Plane onboarding screen asking for a workspace name and slug before making it live

Generate an SSL Certificate for Plane Manually

Plane will automatically try to issue SSL for the domain name you provided during deployment. If it's unsuccessful, for example if DNS hadn't propagated yet, you can generate it manually.

Step 1: SSH into the Server

  1. Go to the VM instance page in the GCP console.
  2. Click SSH to open a browser-based terminal and authorize access.
VM instance details page with SSH and logs options on GCP

Step 2: Run the Certificate Script

The image includes a pre-configured certificate script. Run it with:

sudo bash /root/certificate_generate_standalone.sh

This script runs certbot using the domain name and admin email you provided during deployment.

Manage Your Plane Deployment on GCP

Shut Down the VM

To stop the VM without deleting it, go to Compute Engine → VM Instances in the GCP console, select your instance, and click Stop. You can restart it at your convenience by clicking Start/Resume.

Delete the Deployment

To fully remove the deployment and stop all billing:

  1. Go to Solution deployments in the GCP console.
  2. Find your Plane deployment.
  3. Click Delete to remove all associated resources.

Upgrades

When there is an upgrade, we will update the product with a newer version. You can check the product version in GCP Marketplace. If a newer version is available, back up your server data, delete the current deployment, and launch the product again using the newer version.

Troubleshoot Plane on GCP

Insufficient Capacity Error

If you see an error stating there is not sufficient capacity for the selected machine type while deploying, try a different zone or try again later.

502 Bad Gateway

If you see a 502 Bad Gateway error when accessing your domain, the application is likely still starting up. Wait 5-10 minutes and try again.

Storage Full Error

If the application becomes unresponsive, check whether the instance storage is full. SSH into the server and run:

df -h

If the root volume is between 90-100%, resize the boot disk from the Compute Engine console, then reboot the instance.

Technical Support

If you run into any issues, our support team is here to help. Reach out to us at support@meetrix.io and we will respond within 12 hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Plane?

Plane is an open-source project management platform built as an alternative to Jira. It covers issues, cycles (sprints), modules, and product roadmaps, with list, Kanban, calendar, and Gantt-style views for planning and tracking engineering work.

Is Plane free and open source?

Yes. Plane is open source, and the Meetrix GCP image includes a 5-day free trial. You only pay standard GCP infrastructure costs plus the Meetrix licence fee once the trial ends.

Can I use my own domain name with Plane on GCP?

Yes. You provide the domain during deployment, then point a DNS A record at the instance's external IP. Once DNS propagates, Plane serves your workspace on that domain.

Is my Plane data secure on GCP?

Yes. The deployment runs entirely inside your own GCP project on a dedicated VM with its own PostgreSQL database. You control the network, firewall rules, and access policies, and no third party has a copy of your issues or roadmaps.

What machine type should I choose for Plane?

The default e2-medium (2 vCPU, 4 GB memory) works well for small to mid-sized teams. For larger teams or heavier usage, choose a bigger machine type in the Compute-optimised or Memory-optimised series during deployment.

How do I access the Plane instance admin (God Mode)?

Visit https://yourdomain.com/god-mode and sign in with the Admin Email and Admin Password you set during deployment. This is where you secure the instance and manage instance-level settings before creating a workspace.

How do I renew the SSL certificate?

Certificates issued by Let's Encrypt renew automatically. If you generated one manually with the certificate script, you can re-run it at any time: sudo bash /root/certificate_generate_standalone.sh

Deploy Plane on GCP in Minutes

Launch a production-ready, self-hosted Plane instance with a pre-configured Meetrix image.

Get Started on GCP Marketplace

© 2025 Meetrix, All rights reserved.