Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) is a widely adopted pricing model in the cloud computing industry. Cloudzy’s hourly Cloud VPS services operate under this model, allowing customers to be billed on an hourly basis rather than through traditional subscription-based pricing. This flexible and cost-effective approach gives users full control over their expenses. However, some users may notice that charges continue even when their VPS is powered off. This article explains how PAYG billing works and why inactive VPS instances still incur costs.
However, some users notice that charges continue even when their VPS is powered off. This guide explains how PAYG billing works, what resources are billed, and clearly why an inactive VPS can still generate charges.
How PAYG Billing Works?
Under the PAYG model, users are charged based on the time their service exists rather than fixed billing cycles. This approach is similar to utility billing, where you only pay for what you use.
With Cloudzy:
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Billing is calculated hourly
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Monthly charges never exceed the cost of a 30-day plan
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A 30-day month equals 720 billable hours
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A 31-day month equals 744 billable hours
Example:
Take a Basic $9.95 plan as an example. The hourly rate of this plan is 0.0138 dollars. We consider each month 30 days (or 720 hours). With PAYG billing, you can get this plan for 7 days and only pay $2.31 (7 *24 * 0.0138). Now imagine you’ve got the same plan, and you’ve had your Cloud VPS for an entire month. In this scenario, you need to pay $9.93 (30 * 24 * 0.0138). As you can see, even having a Cloud VPS active for an entire month, wouldn’t cause the price to exceed the monthly expense.
Why You Are Charged When Your VPS Is Powered Off?
This is the most common source of confusion.
In Cloudzy’s PAYG model, billing is based on allocated resources over time, not only active CPU usage. That means:
As long as the VPS exists, billing continues — whether it is running, powered off, or suspended.
The reason is resource reservation.
What Resources Remain Reserved?
When a VPS is created, some resources are dedicated exclusively to it and cannot be reassigned unless the VPS is permanently deleted.
1. Disk Storage (Main Reason for Charges)
The most important reserved resource is disk storage. The VPS disk contains the operating system, installed software, databases, files, configurations, and user data. Even when the VPS is powered off, this disk space remains fully reserved, your data continues to exist on physical storage, and the provider must still maintain storage hardware, redundancy, and security while keeping power, cooling, and infrastructure running. Because this storage cannot be reused for another customer, it continues generating cost even while the VPS is off, which is the primary reason inactive VPS instances are billed.
Because this storage cannot be reused, it continues generating cost even while the VPS is off, which is the primary reason inactive VPS instances are billed.
2. CPU and RAM
CPU and RAM are usually shared and dynamically allocated, so they are not actively consumed when the VPS is off. However, the supporting infrastructure must remain available, contributing to operational costs.
3. Infrastructure Readiness
In addition, the platform must always be ready to instantly restart the VPS. This includes maintaining storage systems, disk controllers, virtualization allocation, reserved IP and network configuration, and guaranteed resource capacity. Keeping this level of readiness requires ongoing infrastructure cost.
Powered Off vs Terminated (Critical Difference)
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Powered Off / Suspended
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VPS still exists
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Resources remain reserved
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Billing continues
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Terminated / Deleted
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VPS removed permanently
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Resources released
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Billing stops
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If you only power off your VPS, the storage and reserved capacity still exist, which is why charges continue.
What Is Included in the Plan Price?
Each plan already includes:
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CPU
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RAM
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Storage
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Bandwidth
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Dedicated IP
No extra charges apply for these resources unless:
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Nested Virtualization is enabled
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Additional Bandwidth is purchased
Example:
Imagine the $69.95 plan with 16 GB of RAM, 350 GB storage, and 10 TB bandwidth. The hourly cost of this plan is $0.0971. But if you activate the nested feature, the hourly cost would be $0.1081, since the hourly cost of the nested feature ($0.011) is added to the hourly cost of your cloud VPS. And the overall monthly payment would be $77.83. Note that these numbers only apply to this example and the hourly rate of nested features varies among different plans.
How to Optimize Costs?
If your VPS is often inactive:
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Terminate the VPS instead of just powering it off
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Choose resources based on actual usage
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Downgrade or switch plans if needed
What Happens to Resized Cloud VPSs?
If you upgrade or downgrade your VPS, PAYG billing continues hourly. You will simply receive two invoices for that period.
Example:
In another scenario where you upgrade or shrink your server, the overall payment would be the added price of the two plans. For example, you start with a $4.95 plan, which is 0.0068 dollars per hour. You use this plan for 10 days and then upgrade to a $9.95 plan for 20 days. For the first 10 days, you need to pay $1.63 (10 * 24 * 0.0068). And for the next 20 days, you need to pay $6.62 (20 * 24 * 0.0138). The accumulated price is $8.25.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us by submitting a ticket.