# Billing Method Comparison

One page comparing the three ZEC public-network billing methods. Use it to pick the right one quickly; follow the links into the per-method pages for the reasoning.

## Comparison table

| Billing Method                | Location / Scope      | Services Covered  | Billing Items                                                                  |
| ----------------------------- | --------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Flat Rate**                 | — (per instance)      | One instance      | Fixed bandwidth size (Mbps)                                                    |
| **Data Transfer**             | — (per instance)      | One instance      | Data transfer package (GB) + overages (GB)                                     |
| **Aggregated Burstable 95th** | All opted-in ZEC EIPs | Ideal at 50+ EIPs | Bandwidth commitment (Mbps, if you have one) + burstable 95th bandwidth (Mbps) |

The three rows are arranged from narrowest scope (one instance) to widest (all opted-in EIPs). Cost generally drops as scope widens, because aggregation discounts more peaks.

***

## Differences that actually matter when picking

**What's being metered.** Data Transfer is the only one that counts gigabytes. The other two count Mbps, differing in *which* Mbps — a fixed cap for Flat Rate, the monthly 95th of combined Mbps for Aggregated Burstable 95th.

**How wide the meter runs.** Flat Rate and Data Transfer are *per-EIP* — one instance, one meter. Aggregated Burstable 95th pools every opted-in ZEC EIP into one 95th calculation. This is the single biggest driver of total cost at fleet scale.

**Where the commitment lives.** Flat Rate is straightforward — the cap you select is what you pay for. Data Transfer has no commitment, just a prepaid package. Aggregated Burstable 95th has an explicit commitment floor plus a burst-on-top.

**What the bandwidth cap does.** For Data Transfer and Aggregated 95th, the cap is a separate upper bound — defaults to 10 Gbps on EIP creation, can be lowered to protect a budget or raised for headroom. For Flat Rate, the cap *is* the billing — you pay for the bandwidth you select. See [Bandwidth Cap](/welcome/elastic-compute/networking/01-overview/07-bandwidth-cap.md).

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## Quick-pick cheat sheet

| Situation                                                       | Pick                                                                                               |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| One EIP, bursty traffic, predictable monthly volume             | [Data Transfer](/welcome/elastic-compute/networking/01-overview/03-data-transfer.md)               |
| One EIP, steady and high throughput                             | [Flat Rate](/welcome/elastic-compute/networking/01-overview/04-flat-rate.md)                       |
| 50+ EIPs with peaks uncorrelated, want one aggregated 95th bill | [Aggregated Burstable 95th](/welcome/elastic-compute/networking/01-overview/05-aggregated-95th.md) |
| Need a hard ceiling regardless of meter                         | Set a [Bandwidth Cap](/welcome/elastic-compute/networking/01-overview/07-bandwidth-cap.md)         |


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