In the billing FAQ there is this statement: If you use your server for less than 672 hours during the month, you will be billed for each hour that you used it.
My question is: what constitutes use? Is this just how long the droplet is active or is it time you exceed some cpu/ram usage?
Sorry if this is a super obvious question!
Thanks.
Billing is charged hourly, so that's what use is. So if you have a droplet up for 600 hours, you'll be charged for 600 hours. This goes all the way up to the monthly cap of 672 hours, at which point you'll be charged the monthly cost -- even if you use 744 hours (that's 31 days). Basically, if you keep your droplet up for over 672 hours, you're essentially saving money as you're not charged past that amount of hours; you're charged the monthly cost (28 days). So you get three days for free during months with 31 days.
The droplet needs to be destroyed for you not to be charged. So even if you power it down, it's still using up time.
Deploying a droplet any time, even just for five minutes, will cost the hour.
Are you sure it's 672 Hours(28 Days)?
The base rate for 512 MB Server is $0.007/hr.
672 * 0.007 = $4.704
If it's a monthly cap upto 672 hours that would be $0.30 discrepancy. In addition to whatever you save upto 31 days. Which is $0.504 which would be $0.808 in total free server cost.
However if it's actually a cap of $5.00 like it says when you create a droplet that would mean you should do, 5.00 / 0.007 which covers 714.2857~ hours(29.76 days) which leaves you with 29.71 hours(744-714.2857) of free time. Which is only $0.208.
All of this is wrong of course if $0.007 isn't actual rate(I.E. If it's actually $0.0073 or something)
@Tecca is correct. The actual hourly rate is ~$0.0074 and is capped at 672 hours:
How do I choose between monthly and hourly billing?
There is no difference between monthly and hourly billing. All droplets are billed hourly, up until a monthly cap. We have estimated that each month has about 672 hours (28 days). If you use your server for less 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, which is no greater than 672 hours.
- Pricing
As noted in the FAQ at the bottom of the pricing page the 512MB droplet rate is $0.0074 which accounts for the difference you are seeing. The total cost of your droplet for the month is calculated based on this and rounded to the nearest cent.