Is renting by the hour right for your job?
It is if you can say roughly when the job ends. Hourly billing is for the work that needs a real machine for a while and then nothing: the whole processor, memory and storage are yours, with nobody else on the server, and you stop paying when you hand it back.
- Testing performance. You want numbers for one specific machine, not for a share of one.
- A render or a batch of data. It needs a lot of processor for a day or two, then it is finished.
- A load test. Your traffic generator needs room to breathe, and the port is never metered: a heavy test adds server time to your bill, not traffic charges. The load testing server guide covers sizing the machine for k6.
- A build rush. Your CI queue is long for a release week; a runner on a whole machine clears it. See the self-hosted runner workload.
- Trying before you commit. Put your own software on the same model of machine for an afternoon before you order one by the month.
The servers you can take hourly
You can take any server that is already sitting in a rack, ready to go, exactly as it is listed. Those live on the instant servers list and are delivered about 30 minutes from the moment your order is approved; each one shows its hourly rate next to its monthly price there, on the full catalog and on the order page.
Three kinds of order stay monthly: a server whose setup you change, a machine built to order, and a prepaid term. If you need more memory, different drives or a GPU added, that is a build, and builds are rented by the month.
What you pay, and when it is charged
To get the hourly rate, take that server's monthly price, divide by 730 and multiply by 1.3; the result is locked in when you order. Here is the money side from start to finish:
- At checkout you save a card, and we put a hold on it equal to a week of hourly use. Nothing is charged; the hold lifts when you pay your first usage invoice, or when you close.
- While it runs the time counts by the second from delivery onward, and invoices are exact to the cent. Hand it back inside the first hour and you pay one hour.
- Invoices arrive after the fact, on the first day of every month, or earlier once your unbilled usage reaches a threshold that rises with each usage invoice you pay, up to a ceiling. Your card on file is charged.
- When you hand it back through the dashboard, it goes at once. Any hours not yet billed go on one last invoice charged right away.
Leave a usage invoice unpaid and the server is suspended once 24 hours pass, then released once 7 days pass. Released means gone, files and all.
Hours or a month: a quick way to decide
Keep a server for most of the month and the monthly price is cheaper. Our own back-of-envelope sum shows where the line falls: each hour is priced 30% above a 730th of the month, so hourly billing catches up with the monthly price after about 562 hours, a little over 23 days.
| Your job runs for | Better billed |
|---|---|
| A few hours to a couple of weeks | Hourly |
| Two to three weeks | Still hourly, but only just; if it may run longer, consider monthly |
| More than about 23 days, or ongoing | Monthly |
Not sure how long it will take? Start hourly, and keep an eye on the clock: if the job is still running after about 23 days, it is time to order a monthly server, move your work onto it and release the hourly one. Releasing deletes the hourly machine, so move everything first.
Your first hourly run, step by step
Say you want to know how fast a server's disks write before you move a database onto that kind of machine. Here is a short run that measures it and leaves you with the results:
- Order a ready server by the hour and wait for the delivery email with its login.
- Check you got what you ordered: core count, memory and drives.
- On an Ubuntu or Debian server, install fio, an open-source disk testing tool, from the distribution's own package archive, and make sure the disk has at least 8 GB free for the test file.
- Point the test at a file in your home folder. Never aim a write test at a raw disk device: it wipes whatever is on it.
- Copy the results file to your computer.
- Release the server from your dashboard so the meter stops.
nproc && free -h && lsblk -d
sudo apt install fio
fio --name=seqwrite --filename=$HOME/seqwrite.test --size=8g \
--rw=write --bs=1m --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=16 --direct=1 \
--runtime=120 --time_based --output-format=json \
--output=$HOME/seqwrite.json
# then, on your own computer:
scp you@SERVER_IP:seqwrite.json .The --direct=1 switch skips the memory cache, so you see the drive's speed rather than the RAM's, and --time_based makes fio keep going for the whole two minutes. In the scp line, a path without a leading slash is read from your home folder on the server. Want a fresh start between tests? The instant servers come with OS reloads from your control panel.
When a small VM is the smarter pick
If your job is light, a whole server is more than you need. The Elastic Cloud VPS is a virtual machine whose compute is metered per second during the time it is switched on, and our hourly VPS guide explains what it costs while running, stopped and released. Choose the dedicated server when the hardware itself matters: when you are measuring it, when the job wants every core, or when you are deciding which machine to rent for the long haul.
Good to know before you start
- New accounts can have two hourly servers running at the same time. Paid history raises that.
- No contract and no minimum term: hand the server back whenever the job is done.
- Prepaid discounts only apply to monthly terms, so hourly never comes with one.
- Want a server put together to your own spec? That is a custom build, rented monthly.
- Releasing is the end of that machine for you. Download anything you want to keep first.
Questions people ask
- Do I have to pay before the server is ready?
- No money is taken at checkout. Your card is saved with a hold covering one week of hourly use, and a hold is not a charge. It lifts after you pay your first usage invoice, or when you close.
- Is the time the server spends being set up billed?
- No. The meter runs from delivery, not from checkout; before that only the card hold is in place. A ready server is delivered about 30 minutes from the moment your order is approved.
- Can I add memory or swap the drives on an hourly server?
- Not on an hourly order. Hourly rental covers ready servers exactly as they are listed. Any change to the setup, or a machine built to order, is rented by the month.
- How often will I be invoiced?
- Usage is invoiced after the fact, on the first day of every month. If your unbilled usage reaches your current threshold first, which rises each time you pay a usage invoice, up to a ceiling, an invoice comes sooner. Each one is charged to your card on file.
- What if I finish after ten minutes?
- The first hour is the minimum, so a server released inside it is billed one hour. From then on you pay for the seconds you actually use.
- Should I pick hourly or monthly for a job that may run long?
- If it will run for most of the month, monthly is cheaper. By our own arithmetic the two meet a little after 23 days of use. Below that, hourly costs less.