Scaleway Instances are virtual machines hosted in the cloud. You can create an Instance, pay for it by the hour, and then delete it and stop paying when you no longer need it.
This page gives more information about Instances pricing and helps you understand how you will be billed when using Instances.
As a public cloud provider, Scaleway operates on a “pay as you go” model: you only pay for what you use. The flexibility to provision resources when you need them and delete them when you do not is a fundamental tenet of cloud computing and the backbone of our billing model.
Our console tries to make it as easy as possible for you to create and delete Instances and their associated resources based on your fluctuating needs, as well as to estimate your spending and keep track of your budget.
Instances are priced by the hour, with different Instance types having different hourly rates. You can check out the current prices for Instances in one of two ways:
Go to the Instance creation page of the Scaleway console. Note that you must have an account to access this page.
Billing pauses if you power off the Instance, and recommences when you power it back on. Any attached storage or flexible IPs are still billed while the Instance is powered off though - see full details below.
When you create an Instance, by default a flexible IP is created for it at the same time. This gives the Instance a public IP address. A flexible IP address is billed separately to the Instance and has its own hourly rate. You can see the hourly rate for a flexible IP address on the Instance creation page of the Scaleway console or on our dedicated pricing page.
Your hourly billing for a flexible IP address begins when you reserve the IP address (either during the creation of an Instance or by creating a new flexible IP address) and ends when you delete the address from your account.
Note
You can choose to create an Instance without a flexible IP address via the Advanced settings option.
Billing of an Instance stops when you power it off, but the Instance’s flexible IP remains reserved to your account nonetheless. You will continue to be billed for the flexible IP even if your Instance is powered off, unless you delete the flexible IP.
When you delete an Instance via the console, you are asked whether you want to also delete its flexible IP. If you delete it, billing for this IP will end. If you keep it in your account, billing continues.
When you create an Instance, you also need to create a certain amount of storage for it, in the form of local or block volumes. Volumes are billed separately to Instances and have their own hourly rates. You can see the hourly rate for different types of volume on the Instance creation page of the Scaleway console, or on the dedicated pricing page of our website.
Your hourly billing for a storage volume begins when you create the volume (either during the creation of an Instance, or by creating a new volume), and ends when you delete the volume from your account.
Note
The billing of an Instance stops when it is powered off.
However, any volumes attached to it are kept in your account and continue to be billed until you delete them.
At the end of each calendar month, you will be invoiced for your hourly billed volume usage.
When you create an Instance in the Scaleway console, we provide you with an estimated cost calculator to help you visualize the potential charges for the Instance, including its storage and flexible IP, based on your projected usage in hours, days, or months. Feel free to experiment with this calculator to find your optimal configuration before finalizing your Instance creation.
Note
The estimated cost calculator is simply a tool to help you predict your costs. It represents an approximate sum and you are in no way committed to spending that amount.
The Current consumption panel on the main dashboard of your Scaleway console shows you an estimation of your charges so far for the current calendar month. It is broken down by category: Instances, flexible IPs, and storage volumes all come under the Compute category. This helps you keep track of how much you’re spending each month.
The Scaleway console Billing Alerts feature allows you to set up alerts if your monthly consumption reaches a given budget threshold. An alert can be sent to you by SMS, email, or API webhook. Receiving alerts like this can remind you to delete your Instances or other resources to avoid going over your budget. Read our dedicated documentation on billing alerts to find out more about setting up this feature.