By Antoine
Hi everyone,
I am wondering how exactly are droplets billed at a granular level (minutes and seconds). Let’s say a droplet is billed $1 per hour for the sake of argument.
From what I understand, Digital Ocean bills one hour minimum, regardless of how long this droplet exists for.
So, if I create a droplet, use it for half an hour, then delete it, I should be billed $1.
My question is, how is that system working for > 1 hour usage?
For instance, let’s say I create a new droplet, use it for an hour and a half, then delete it.
Will I be billed $1.5 or $2?
Thanks in advance
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Hello,
I believe that still as of the time being, the billing granularity for Droplets is hourly, so if you’ve used your Droplet for 55 minutes, you will pay for a complete hour.
Hope that this helps!
Best,
Bobby
Hello there,
All Droplets are billed hourly up to a monthly cap of 672 hours (the number of hours in 4 weeks). If you use your server for fewer than 672 hours during the month, you will be billed for each hour that you used it. If you use your server for more than 672 hours that month, you will be billed at the monthly cost.
For example, if you spin up a $10/mo Droplet and use it for 336 hours, then you would be charged $5 (going by the hourly rate). If you use that Droplet for 700 hours, then you would be charged $10 (capped at the monthly rate).
Hope that this helps!
Hi there,
Quick update here, as of January 1, 2026, DigitalOcean bills Droplets per second, with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01 (whichever is higher).
This update means you’re only billed for the exact amount of time your Droplet runs, instead of by the hour as before. You can find the full details in the DigitalOcean changelog.
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