# Virtual Machine Billing ## Prerequisites * Please first see [**General Pricing Rules**](/welcome/pricing/general-pricing-rules.md) and [**General Lifecycle Rules**](/welcome/pricing/general-lifecycle-rules.md) to know about basic pricing ways of [**subscription**](/welcome/pricing/general-pricing-rules/subscription.md) and [**pay-as-you-go**](/welcome/pricing/general-pricing-rules/pay-as-you-go.md) resources. {% hint style="info" %} **Note** * A one-hour amount will be "frozen" temporarily as a [**Temporary Hold**](/welcome/pricing/general-pricing-rules/pay-as-you-go.md#temporary-hold) in the pay-as-you-go pricing. * You can manually delete your pay-as-you-go virtual machine resources at any time. The deleted resources will be released immediately and your Temporary Hold will be unfrozen and returned. See **Resource recycle** in the [**Pay-as-you-go Stages**](/welcome/pricing/general-lifecycle-rules/pay-as-you-go-stages.md). {% endhint %} * A virtual machine instance includes the compute resources (vCPUs and RAM), system disk, data disks, images, IPs, bandwidth, data transfer, networks, subnets and security groups. {% hint style="info" %} **Note** The actual price varies in different locations and zones, therefore the price shown on the order page shall prevail. {% endhint %} ## Virtual Machine Instance The billing method of bare metal instances is [**Subscription**](/welcome/pricing/general-pricing-rules/subscription.md) and [**Pay-as-you-go**](/welcome/pricing/general-pricing-rules/pay-as-you-go.md). You can choose one suitable to your workloads. * For subscription model, you pay for your resources first by 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or 1 year. * For pay-as-you-go model, you pay for your resources afterward by hour. {% hint style="info" %} **Note** You can purchase up to 20 pay-as-you-go virtual machine instances. {% endhint %} ### v**CPU and Memory** You can select the available [specifications of vCPU and memory](/welcome/virtual-machine/overview/models-zones-and-operating-system.md#models). Four types of configuration are supported: Basic compute (Shared vCPU), General-purpose (Dedicated vCPU), Compute-optimized (Dedicated vCPU) and Memory-optimized (Dedicated vCPU). The price varies with different specifications and locations and you will see the price when placing the order on zenConsole. ### **System Disk** System disk is the storage of VM instance’s operating system. The price varies according to the storage volume and the location of the VM instance. You pay for system disk by per GB along with the vCPU and memory. ### **Data Disk** Data disk is optional for you to provide extra storage to your business data. Data disk uses cloud disk. The price varies according to the storage volume and the location of the VM instance. You can pay for the data disk by per GB along with the vCPU and memory, or attach data disks afterward. * For subscription model, you pay for your resources first by month. * For pay-as-you-go model, you pay for your resources afterward by hour. ## **Network** ### **Bandwidth** Bandwidth cap refers to the maximum connectivity rate between your VM instance and public network. The price varies according to the size of bandwidth cap and the location of the VM instance. You will see the price when placing the order on zenConsole. ### Flat Rate Bandwidth For the flat rate pricing model, you can set a bandwidth cap for your stable business with little bursty traffic, and use unlimited data transfer. You will be charged based on the per Mbps bandwidth size. For pay-as-you-go flat rate pricing, you're billed by per Mbps bandwidth by hour. ### Data Transfer You pay the bill first by month before you use. You are billed by the egress data transfer. The data transfer in the data package is only valid within the month (30 days), and data consumed beyond the package will be paid by hour afterward. You can purchase subscription data transfer package or pay-as-you-go data transfer. You are billed by the egress data transfer. * Subscription\ The data transfer in the subscription package is only valid within 30 days, and data consumed beyond the package will be paid per GB by hour afterward. * Pay-as-you-go\ You will be charged per GB by hour. If any overdue payment exists, service and billing will stop and all data will be stored for 24 hours. For both subscription and pay-as-you-go instances, data transfer usage displayed in the instance list is calculated on a calendar month basis since creation. A calendar month is the the period from a day of one month to the corresponding day of the next month if such exists or if not to the last day of the next month (as from January 3 to February 3 or from January 31 to February 29).

Data Transfer Usage

Here are examples. * Assume you purchase a 3-month subscription instance on May 15. It is billed by data transfer with a package of 5 TB every calendar month.\ Then `0.00TB / 5.00TB` here represents the used and total data transfer from May 15 to May 31st. The data will be reset from Jun. 1st and calculated again for the following calendar month, that is from Jun. 1st to Jun. 30. * Assume you purchase a pay-as-you-go instance on May 15. It is billed by data transfer per GB by hour.\ Then `0.00TB` here represents the used data transfer from May 15 to May 31st. The data will be reset from Jun. 1st and calculated again for the following calendar month, that is from Jun. 1st to Jun. 30. {% hint style="info" %} **Note** If you need other network billing method, please contact our sales support. {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.console.zenlayer.com/welcome/pricing/virtual-machine-pricing.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.