Reserved Discounts
A server you know will stay on all year does not need flexibility. A reserved discount gives you back the price of the flexibility you do not use: you commit the resource, and your unit cost goes down.
The calculator shows pay-as-you-go prices. Reserved pricing is set together with our team after your usage profile is reviewed.
The pay-as-you-go model gives you flexibility: you make no commitment and turn resources on and off whenever you like.
But not every workload needs that flexibility. For a database server you know will run without interruption all year, “I can shut it down any time” is never used in practice — yet you pay for it every month.
A reserved discount gives that price back. You commit to using a specific resource for a specific term, and in return you work at a lower unit price.
The commitment scope is not an option you pick with one click in the console. Which of your resources suits a commitment is decided by looking at your usage history — so the process starts with a conversation with our team. Committing the wrong resource creates a loss, not a saving, and it takes someone looking at your data, not a form field, to tell the difference.
Comparison
Each model has its own advantages. You do not have to tie your whole infrastructure to one model; you choose per resource.
Reserved is not right for every resource, and that needs saying up front: committing the wrong resource creates a loss, not a saving.
Split your infrastructure in two. Commit the base capacity you never shut down, and leave the fluctuating part on pay as you go. That way you get the discount without losing flexibility.
If you do not know which of your resources form your base capacity, the usage reports in the console show it: look at a few months of data, and the line that never drops is the capacity you can commit. You do not have to make this assessment yourself — we look at your usage data together in the meeting.
Process
A reserved discount is set up in four steps. The whole process, including the meeting, takes a few business days.
You fill in the contact form. If you are an existing user, giving your account details speeds things up.
For existing users we go through your console reports together and work out your base capacity. If you are not a user yet, we review your planned configuration together.
Which resources are committed, which stay on pay as you go, and the commitment term become clear. Your discount rate is settled at this stage.
Once the agreement is set up, the discount is reflected on your invoices automatically. You do not need to open a new request each period.
Take the first step — Talk to Our Team
| Topic | Term |
|---|---|
| Application | A reserved discount is not set up self-service in the console. The process starts through the contact form. |
| Discount rate | Applied at up to 40% depending on your commitment term. Your rate becomes clear once scope and term are set. |
| How it is applied | Once the agreement is set up, the discount is applied automatically every billing period; you do not need to open a new request each month. |
| Scope | Applies only to the resources you commit. Your other resources stay on pay as you go. |
| Unit price | Stays fixed for the commitment term; you are not affected even if the list price changes. |
| Capacity | The capacity you commit is reserved for you for the term. |
| Extra resources | You are not prevented from opening new resources outside the commitment; you open them yourself in the console and they are metered on the standard model. |
| Changes | Changes before the commitment term ends are discussed with our sales team. |
The discount is the biggest item, but not the only one. The five methods below need no commitment, no meeting, and can be applied in the console starting today.
Data transfer between your resources in the same region is not charged. As long as you keep your components in the same region, you get this saving automatically.
Metering is based on how long a resource stays on. Shutting test and development environments down outside working hours turns straight into savings. Compute, storage, network and platform services are metered per minute; GPU / AI Compute is metered hourly.
The usage metrics in the console show idle capacity. A server that has run at low usage for months does the same job when moved to a smaller type. This is the fastest saving, and it needs no discount at all.
Backups, log archives and old data sets cost less per unit once moved to Object Storage. Data with random read-write access, such as database files, should stay on Block Storage.
Backup is an item that grows quietly. Setting a retention rule in the Backup service limits that growth from the start — for example a policy that keeps the last thirty days and deletes anything older automatically.
Finding out at the end of the month whether your savings worked is too late.
In the console you set a monthly or period-specific budget. You get an alert when your spending reaches the 50%, 80% and 100% thresholds. When you turn on overrun forecasting, the system looks at your current consumption rate and tells you in advance whether you will exceed the budget by the end of the period.
Alerts arrive by email; with webhook support they can also be sent to Slack, Microsoft Teams or your own application.
Budget alerts send notifications; they do not stop resources automatically. You decide which resource to scale down.
Before you make a reserved commitment, you need to see how your workload really behaves.
Newly opened accounts receive a free usage entitlement worth $45. With it you can run a real workload and map your consumption profile. Once a few months of usage data have built up, it becomes clear which resource suits reserved — and you come to the meeting with real data in hand.
No. Pay as you go is offered self-service in the console; a reserved discount is set up in a meeting with our team because it depends on your usage profile. Once you fill in the contact form, we get back to you.
Once scope and term are set, the discount is reflected directly on your invoice. It is applied automatically every billing period; you do not need to open a new request.
The rate depends on your commitment term and scope, so an exact figure cannot be given before the meeting. You can see your current pay-as-you-go cost in the calculator; in the meeting we work out your discounted cost from that figure together.
No, that is not recommended. Commit the base capacity you know will run without interruption all year; keep campaign capacity, test environments and seasonal workloads on pay as you go. That way you get the discount and keep your flexibility.
Look at a few months of data in the console’s usage reports; the base line that never drops is the capacity you can commit. You do not have to make this assessment alone — we look at your usage data together in the meeting.
The whole process, including the meeting, is completed within a few business days.
Yes. If you have no usage data yet, we review your planned configuration together. If you prefer, you can first map your consumption profile with the $45 free usage entitlement and talk to us afterwards.
No. The unit price you commit to stays fixed for the term.
Yes. Your commitment covers only the resources you commit. Anything else you create yourself in the console, and it is metered on the standard model.
You can talk to our sales team about the conditions for changing a commitment.
For high-volume usage you can talk to our sales team.
We look at your usage profile, work out which of your resources suit reserved and calculate your discounted cost together. The process, including the meeting, takes a few business days.