Summary
- You pay from your IO credits. Top up your credits before you deploy.
- The first hour is charged when you deploy. After that, you’re charged every few minutes while the booking runs.
- The price of a running booking can change if the hardware supplier changes their price. We notify you when this happens.
- If your credits run out, the booking is terminated.
- Prepaid time is not refunded when you stop a booking. If a booking fails for a reason on our side, the prepaid time is refunded.
How billing works
When you deploy
When you deploy a booking, the first hour is charged from your credits right away. If you don’t have enough credits for that hour, the booking isn’t deployed. If you stop the booking, this first hour is not refunded, even if you stop it a few minutes after it starts. If the booking fails for a reason on our side, it is refunded.While the booking runs
After the first hour, your booking is charged in small steps every few minutes, always slightly ahead of time, so it keeps running without interruption. If the hardware supplier changes their price while your booking is running, the new price applies from the next charge. Time you’ve already paid for isn’t affected. All your PAYG bookings are paid from the same credit balance.When your credits run out
If your credits can’t cover the next charge, the booking is terminated. When several bookings share a low balance, the newest ones are terminated first. To keep your bookings running, top up your credits when you get a low-balance warning.Notifications
We send email and in-app notifications so you can top up or stop bookings in time:- Low balance: when your credits are getting low compared to how fast your bookings use them, with a final warning shortly before your bookings would be terminated.
- Price change: when the price of a running booking changes because its hardware supplier changed their price.
Stopping a booking
Stop a booking from its page in IO Cloud, or with the destroy endpoint for VMs or containers. Billing stops when the booking stops. Prepaid time that’s left over is not refunded.Checking your burn rate
Your burn rate is how much your running PAYG bookings cost per hour, in total. To check it with the API, use Get Burn Rate:hourly_rate: what your running PAYG bookings cost per hour, in USD.runway_hours_estimate: about how many hours your credits will last at that rate.cluster_count: how many PAYG bookings you have running.
FAQ
Can I get a refund for unused time?
Can I get a refund for unused time?
Not if you stop the booking yourself, or if it fails because of something done on your side. If the booking fails for a reason on our side, the prepaid time is refunded.
Why was my newest booking terminated and not an older one?
Why was my newest booking terminated and not an older one?
All your bookings share one credit balance. When it runs low, the newest bookings are terminated first so the older ones can keep running.
Can I pay for a PAYG booking with IO Coin, USDC or a card?
Can I pay for a PAYG booking with IO Coin, USDC or a card?
Not directly. PAYG bookings are paid from credits. Use IO Coin, USDC or a card to buy credits, then deploy.