Understanding billing

BareMeta charges by the hour. This guide explains exactly how billing works, what you'll be charged for, and how to keep costs predictable.

How billing works

• Billing starts when you create a server — the moment it's provisioned, the clock starts.
• Billing stops when you delete a server — not when you power it off.
• You're charged monthly — we add up your hourly usage and charge your payment method at the end of each month.
• Partial hours are charged — if you run a server for 90 minutes, you're charged for 2 hours.

Pricing

The authoritative price for a new server is the amount shown in the New Instance flow before you launch it. During closed beta, the final public rate card is still being recalculated against datacentre costs, so this page does not duplicate a static plan table that can drift from the billing engine.

Invoices and dashboard estimates use the billing records created when each resource is provisioned. Review the launch summary before creating a server, and contact billing support if a historical estimate does not match what you accepted at launch.

Included bandwidth

The included server port speed depends on the selected plan. 10 Gb-capable networking is a paid upgrade and is only available when it is explicitly shown in the launch flow or agreed in writing.

What happens when I power off my server?

Powering off (stopping) a server does not stop billing. The server still reserves storage, IP mappings, and capacity on the platform. Think of it like parking a car — you're not driving it, but it's still taking up a space.

If you want to stop all charges, delete the server. Make sure you've backed up anything important first, as deletion is permanent.

Invoices

You'll receive a monthly invoice by email summarising your usage for the previous month. Invoices are also available in the dashboard under Billing.

Each invoice shows:

• Each server with hours used and cost
• Total and VAT status. BareMeta does not currently charge VAT because we are not VAT registered.
• Payment status

Controlling your costs

• Delete servers you're not using — the most effective way to reduce your bill
• Right-size your servers — start small and scale up only if needed
• Use the Starter plan for development — you don't need a Large server to write code
• Check your dashboard regularly — the VM list shows all running servers and their costs

Payment issues

If an invoice remains unpaid, we'll notify you by email. Here's what happens:

• Day 3 overdue — Payment reminder email
• Day 7 overdue — Further reminder before suspension
• Day 14 overdue — Account is suspended and servers are throttled to 1 Mbps until payment is resolved
• After suspension — VM data is retained for at least 14 days unless legal, security, or abuse obligations require faster action