# How game servers and databases are billed

> What a game server or a database costs by what it uses, with memory while it runs, disk while it exists, CPU and data out, and a worked example.

Source: https://www.coritan.com/docs/managed-containers/how-servers-are-billed/

A game server or a database that you order on your own account is billed by what it uses, whichever size you choose. The size sets its vCPUs, memory and disk, and does not set a price. We measure use by the second, and take the cost from your credit each hour, or put it on your monthly invoice.

A server you ordered before usage billing keeps the plan price it has until you [move it](/docs/billing/switch-to-usage-billing/). [How usage billing works](/docs/billing/usage-billing/) explains the parts every product shares, and [Usage rates](/docs/billing/usage-rates/) lists each rate. A web service or a static site has its own page: [How App Deployment is billed](/docs/managed-containers/how-billing-works/).

## What you need to order {#needs}

- A server needs the Paid plan. Pro, Business and Enterprise include it, and a Free account adds it ([The Paid plan](/docs/billing/usage-billing/#paid-plan)). Without it, the order answers `402` with the code `paid_plan_required`.
- A prepaid account needs the first deposit: $10.00 added in total, by default, before a server runs. It stays in your account as credit. The order answers `403` until it is in. An account billed by invoice needs none ([What you need before you order](/docs/billing/usage-billing/#deposit)).

The order has nothing to pay up front, apart from any add-ons you order with it, and you can order more than one server.

## What a server pays for {#meters}

Memory
: Its memory size, for each second it runs.

Disk
: Its disk, for as long as the server exists, whether it runs or not.

CPU
: The processor time it uses, never the processor time it could use. If the host sends no reading for an hour, that hour has no CPU charge.

Data out
: What it sends to players and visitors, priced by the region of its location. Data it receives is free.

A Performance size pays 1.5 times the memory, CPU and disk rates. A server ordered in several locations is a server in each location, and each one pays for itself at its own location's data out rate.

## A stopped server costs its disk {#stopped}

Select **Stop** on a server and its memory and CPU stop being billed. Its disk stays, so it keeps costing the disk. The server's files, backups and snapshots stay too. Start it again when you need it, or [cancel it](/docs/managed-containers/billing/#cancel-the-server) to end the disk charge.

A stopped server does not hold its memory on its host, so **Start** asks the host for it again. When the host has no room, the start is refused with `There is no room to start this server right now. Its disk is safe. Try again in a few minutes, or contact support if it stays like this.` The answer is `409` with the code `no_room_to_start`. A server that keeps a plan price has its place held, so its start is not refused for room.

## A server can sleep when empty {#sleep}

A server billed by use can stop itself when nobody is on it and start again when a player joins. While it sleeps it costs its disk only. You turn it on, and choose how long the server waits, on the **Sleep when empty** card of its **Billing** tab ([Sleep when empty](/docs/managed-containers/billing/#sleep)). It is off until you turn it on.

## The free server stays free {#free}

The free server, which only some Coritan brands sell, is never billed. It does not use the Paid plan or the amounts on this page ([Free servers](/docs/managed-containers/free-servers/)).

## A worked example {#example}

A `cx2` server has 2 vCPUs, 2 GB of memory and a 20 GB disk. You start it for 8 hours a day, 240 hours in the month. While it runs it uses 25% of its vCPUs, which is 0.5 vCPU, and it sends 50 GB out from a location in North America and Europe. The account has the Paid plan. These are the list rates and the included amounts of Oct 11, 2026.

| Meter | Used | Included | Billed | Cost |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Memory | 480 GiB-hours (2 GiB for 240 hours) | 25 | 455 at $0.0030 | $1.365 |
| Disk | 14,600 GB-hours (20 GB for 730 hours) | 200 | 14,400 at $0.00005 | $0.72 |
| CPU | 120 vCPU-hours (0.5 vCPU for 240 hours) | 6.25 | 113.75 at $0.015 | $1.706 |
| Data out | 50 GB | 1,000 GB | None | $0 |
| Total | | | | $3.79 |

The Paid plan adds its own price to the account once, however many servers the account runs. The same server with the same CPU use costs $10.41 when it runs all month.

A bill can differ from this arithmetic by a fraction of a cent, because each hour is rounded on its own.

## See what a size costs before you order {#estimate}

`GET /api/v1/products/` gives each size a `usage` block with the cost of one hour and of a 730-hour month at no CPU use, at 10% of the vCPUs and with every vCPU busy, before the included amounts. For `cx2`, a month costs $5.11 with no CPU in use, $7.30 at 10%, and at most $27.01. The disk is $0.73 of each month. [`POST /api/v1/checkout/quote`](/docs/api/reference/client/checkout/#op-post-api-v1-checkout-quote) answers the same figures under `estimate` and `billing_mode` `usage`, with no line for the server, and says whether the order needs the Paid plan (`paid_plan`) or the first deposit (`deposit`) ([How Cloud Compute is billed](/docs/cloud-compute/how-billing-works/#estimate) shows the answer).

## The server's Billing tab {#billing-tab}

A server billed by use has no price of its own. Its **Billing** tab opens with a **Cost** card: what the server has cost **This month so far**, what **A typical month**, **Most a month**, **Idle, memory and disk** and **Stopped, disk only** cost for its size, whether the **Paid plan** is active, each rate, and a line for each meter with what it used and what it cost ([See what a server costs](/docs/managed-containers/billing/#cost)). The tab does not offer **Change plan…**, and the API answers a plan change with `This service is billed by what it uses, so it has no plan price to change.` Read what the server used with [`GET /api/v1/billing/usage`](/docs/api/reference/client/billing/#op-get-api-v1-billing-usage), where its entry has a `service_id`. Cancelling works as for any server ([Manage a server's billing](/docs/managed-containers/billing/#cancel-the-server)). The capacity add-ons, such as extra ports and databases, renew with the server and have no hourly price, so a server billed by use takes none: its add-on list says `Extra Port has no price that renews every hour, as this server does.` ([Add capacity to a service](/docs/billing/add-ons/#troubleshooting)).

## Spend limits {#limits}

An account [spend limit](/docs/managed-containers/how-billing-works/#spend-limits) counts a server's cost. **Stop every instance** stops each running server until the limit lets go, and a limit that is reached refuses new orders of services billed by use.

## Related

- [How usage billing works](/docs/billing/usage-billing/)
- [Usage rates and included amounts](/docs/billing/usage-rates/)
- [Order a deployment](/docs/managed-containers/order-a-server/)
- [Manage a server's billing](/docs/managed-containers/billing/)
- [Free servers](/docs/managed-containers/free-servers/)