Question

Price per hour or per month

Posted September 28, 2013 14.9k views
Hello, I am looking for a host for my Node.js applications. They are low-traffic applications - I expect an average of 1 hour of use per day, so I am looking for a package where I can pay per use only. I noticed that your cloud VPS packages are priced per hour of use, but, I am not sure how is "use" defined. DigitalOcean FAQ says that: "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". But on the other hand, in the next question they say: "Am I charged while my Droplet is in a powered-off state? - Yes. Your diskspace, CPU, RAM, and IP address are all reserved while your Droplet is powered off". If I understand this correctly, this means that, even when no one enters my website, they charge me as if I do use the site. So, my question is, what package should I choose, in order to be charged 1 hour per day?
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4 answers
justinkim September 28, 2013
Simply use the service. You are charged for what you use.
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pablo September 29, 2013
"... what package should I choose, in order to be charged 1 hour per day?"

There is no such "package." You can, however, accomplish being charged for only 1 hour per day. Start by creating your droplet. Then, when you want to stop being billed, simply take a snapshot and destroy your droplet.

When you want to use a droplet again, your snapshot will be available for you to spin up a new droplet -- so you can pick up where you left off.

One question to ask yourself, however, is whether the effort is worth it; to save just $5 per month.
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warren November 18, 2013
If $5 a month is that much of a make/break for you, you *probably* don't need to be hosting it just yet :)
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Thibaultmol July 6, 2016

Well, for anyone who finds this on Google.
If you really want to use Digital ocean hourly (which is what some people probably should be doing)

On this page they describe how to do it: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/digitalocean-backups-and-snapshots-explained

Occasional Usage: Snapshots can also provide a way to use droplets for a limited time without having to pay for hours when the server is not in use. Should you only need to use a server for a certain time every so often, you can take a snapshot of your current configuration, delete the droplet, and spin the system back up as soon as you need it once again—the image will remain in your account. In such a way, you only have to pay for the amount of time that you will actually use the droplet each month.
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