# How billing works
Source: https://docs.infraista.com/en/billing/how-billing-works



Infraista meters what you use every few minutes and invoices it once a month, on the **1st**, for the
previous month. Credit on your account is applied first; the rest is charged to the billing owner's
default card.

## What's billed, and when [#whats-billed-and-when]

| Resource                                                       | Billed                                                                    |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Servers, AI servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases            | **While powered on** (running). A stopped server isn't billed by the hour |
| Floating IPs, Object Storage buckets                           | **While they exist**, whether used or not                                 |
| Images and snapshots                                           | Once stored                                                               |
| Usage-based services (email, data transfer, pipeline minutes…) | Per unit used                                                             |

Prices are per hour. A monthly price shown in the console is charged by the hour as monthly price ÷
730 for every hour a resource is billable.

## Hourly or monthly servers [#hourly-or-monthly-servers]

When you [create a server](/en/getting-started/create-a-cloud-server), you choose:

* **Hourly**: pay for every hour it runs. Delete it any time and billing stops.
* **Monthly**: a fixed monthly price, cheaper than running it all month by the hour. The first month is
  charged when the server first runs (on that month's invoice), and it renews each month until you
  switch back.

Switch an existing server on its **Overview** under **Billing**:

* **Switch to monthly** charges the first month now; it renews each month.
* **Switch to hourly** takes effect when the paid month ends. There are no refunds mid-month.

Resizing a monthly server to a bigger plan charges the difference for the days left in the month;
going smaller isn't refunded, and the new price applies from renewal.

## Where to follow costs [#where-to-follow-costs]

* The **Dashboard** shows spend this month, the month-end forecast and what's running per hour.
* [Usage and Cost Explorer](/en/billing/usage-and-cost-explorer) break costs down by product, project,
  region and resource.
* [Budgets](/en/billing/budgets) alert you before spend gets high.

## Related [#related]

* [Invoices and payments](/en/billing/invoices-and-payments)
* [Payment methods](/en/billing/payment-methods)