Billing - Concepts
Billing alerts
The Billing Alerts functionality within the Scaleway console allows users to oversee and control their expenses efficiently. This feature allows you to create alerts that notify users when predefined budget thresholds are met. Your alerts can be seamlessly delivered through SMS, email, or API webhook channels.
Billing API
Scaleway’s Billing API allows you to obtain a detailed overview of your cloud consumption and to monitor your expenses programmatically.
Billing contact
The billing contact is an additional contact who will receive the invoice or payment alerts by email. This allows you to add a person who may not have access to the Scaleway console, but who should be aware of billing, payment documents and notifications. You can add a billing contact directly from the user account section of your Scaleway console.
Billing cycle
Scaleway issues monthly invoices for most products based on the resource consumption from the preceding month. For certain products, invoices are issued after upfront payment. Once the invoice is issued, the automatic payment occurs within the initial days of each month and will be processed using the preferred payment method of your account.
Billing information
Consists of information about the Organization that will be billed. They will appear on the invoice and can be modified on the Scaleway console. Find out more about how to read an invoice.
Consumption pie chart
The consumption pie chart reflects the amount of money spent on the products you’ve used for the current month, excluding taxes and organized by product category. This chart also includes any applicable discounts. Its monetary value is calculated in real-time, providing an instant overview of your consumption.
Cost manager
Cost manager is a comprehensive and user-friendly tool to monitor and analyze cloud resource consumption, and costs. It offers a clear and detailed view of consumption data, enabling you to accurately reconcile costs for re-invoicing purposes.
Free tier
Scaleway offers free tiers for certain products. This means these products can be used at no cost, up to the specified usage limit of the free tier. These limits do not have an expiration date but may be subject to change. Eligible customers can enjoy these select services free of charge when creating an account, with a usage limit in place.
Free trial
A free trial provides users access to specific products at no cost. However, it is available only for a limited duration and usage quantity.
IAM billing permission
IAM billing permissions can be given to users to allow them to read and/or manage the Organization’s billing. There are two permission sets linked to billing:
- Billing read only: List and read access to billing information. This allows the user to view consumption, invoices, discounts, budget alerts and payment methods.
- Billing Manager: Full access to billing management. This allows the user to list, read and edit billing contact information, payment information, billing alerts and invoices.
KYC
Know Your Customer is the process of verifying a client’s identity. An ID document such as a passport, driver’s license or identity card is required to complete KYC verification.
Pay-as-you-go
Pay-as-you-go is a billing system in which you only pay for what you consume instead of having a pre-defined fixed amount. Scaleway offers a comprehensive suite of public cloud services that operate this way so you can benefit from cost-efficient usage. Our on-demand services operate on a pay-as-you-go basis, granting you immediate access to resources at a fixed hourly rate.
Payment methods
The payment methods registered on your account are used to pay your invoice. You can set one of your payment methods as the default and manage your different payment methods from the console.
Project
A Project is a grouping of Scaleway resources. Each Scaleway Organization comes with a default Project, and you can create new Projects if necessary. Projects are cross-regional, meaning resources located in different regions can be grouped into one single Project. When grouping resources into different Projects, you can use IAM to define custom access rights for each Project.
Pro-rata billing
You are billed pro-rata on certain products for the initial month of a subscription. This means the charge is adjusted to reflect the portion of the first month you used the product. Starting from the second month and onward, you are billed in full at the beginning of each month, covering the entire upcoming billing period in advance. This billing model ensures that you pay for the service based on your actual usage for the first month and then in advance for subsequent months.
Validation code
Also known as “magic code”, “4-digit code” or “verification code”. When you add a payment method to your account, Scaleway carries out a dummy transaction with a €1 authorization charge, to check the card’s validity. This transaction appears on your bank account statement, where a 4-digit validation code shows in the description of the transaction. You are prompted to enter this code in the console to validate the new payment method.
Voucher
A Scaleway voucher provides you with a discount or credits to use on our services. You may receive one as part of a promotional campaign or from your account manager. To redeem a voucher, you need to create a Scaleway account and have a valid payment method. Voucher codes are unique and valid only for a defined period.