Google Colab is a free, hosted notebook service where you write and run Python in the browser, with access to GPUs and TPUs.
In plain words
Colab is based on Jupyter notebooks, which mix code, output and notes. Nothing needs installing: Google runs the computer for you. Your notebooks live in Google Drive and can be shared like documents. Free resources are not guaranteed and limits can change, and paid plans add more compute.
A quick example
Imagine a class learning machine learning. The teacher shares a Colab notebook link; each student opens it in the browser, runs the cells on a free GPU to train a small model, and saves their own copy to Drive.
Where you'll meet it
- Teaching and learning Python and machine learning.
- Quick experiments that need a GPU.
Related
Sources
- DocsColaboratory FAQ, Google Research · read 29 Sept 2026
- DocsColab, Google for Developers · read 29 Sept 2026
Checked by WhatIsAI against the sources above · 29 Sept 2026. Spotted an error? Report it.