A weekend server shouldn’t cost the same as one that never sleeps. Our new Pay-as-You-Go game hosting is officially live. Add account credit, play when you want, and only pay for the minutes your server is actually running.
Say goodbye to wasted resources. If you play for 43 minutes, you only pay for 43 minutes. Already have a monthly server? You can easily keep it on the same account; monthly subscriptions will remain as an option as that is what we are about, give customers choices.
What You Pay For
A single credit balance covers every Pay-as-You-Go server on your account. Usage is deducted from this balance at the end of the month, or immediately if your available credit hits $0.
Here is exactly how your resources are billed:
- RAM and CPU: Billed only while the server is running, based on actual usage up to the limit you set.
- Disk Space: Billed constantly based on your disk limit so your world stays saved, even when the server is stopped.
- Databases & Backup Slots: Billed only while actively in use. Empty slots are free ($0). System backups are never charged.
For a detailed breakdown, check out How Pay-as-You-Go Billing Works.
The Rates
For billing purposes, a month is calculated as 30 days (720 hours). Your per-minute billing is based on the hourly rate below. We’ve also included the monthly equivalent so you can easily compare it against our standard subscriptions.
| Resource | Billing Condition | Per Hour | Per Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| RAM | Only while running | ~$0.0056 / GB | $4.00 / GB |
| CPU | Only while running | ~$0.0028 / vCPU | $2.00 / vCPU |
| Disk | The whole time | ~$0.0003 / GB | $0.20 / GB |
| Database | Only while in use | ~$0.0021 each | $1.49 each |
| Backup slot | Only while in use | ~$0.0014 each | $0.99 each |
The “Hourly” price displayed on our game pages is simply the monthly plan divided by 720 to allow for easy side-by-side comparisons. Once you deploy a Pay-as-You-Go server, your bill amounts reflects the table above based on the RAM and CPU your server actually consumes during that minute.
Read the full rate notes on Pay-as-You-Go Prices.
When It Is the Better Fit
If your server is offline most of the week, Pay-as-You-Go is usually the most cost-effective choice. For example, running a server with 4 GB RAM, 2 vCPU, and 20 GB of disk just for evenings and weekends costs about ~$4 a month.
If you left that exact same server running 24/7 all month, it would cost around $24 making a standard monthly plan the better deal for full-time uptime.
Stop the Server, Keep the World
When you are done playing, simply stop the server in your control panel. Your world remains perfectly intact. RAM and CPU billing stops that exact minute, while your disk keeps billing fractions of a cent so your files stay safely stored. Any databases or active backup slots will also continue to bill.
Note: Stopping your server is the designated way to pause RAM and CPU usage for hourly plans. Our standard Server Pause feature is reserved for monthly plans. Learn more about what happens when you stop your server.
If Credit Runs Out
We will always keep you informed. You will receive an email notification when you have about 24 hours of credit remaining (based on your recent usage), and another warning at 8 hours.
If your available credit hits $0, your server is granted a 2-hour grace period to keep running before it safely suspends. Your files remain safe. If you add credit during the 7-day suspension window, your server will automatically come back online, usually within minutes. If the server remains suspended for 7 days with zero credit, it will be deleted.
View the full timeline in What Happens When My Credit Runs Out, and top up anytime via Billing using Add Funds.
Ready to Order?
On any game page, select the Hourly option. Alternatively, open the configurator and select Configure Now under the Pay As You Go option for Billing.
Checkout requires enough credit to cover 24 hours of uptime at your selected limits, with a minimum $5 deposit. New accounts or accounts with less than $1 in available credit—will receive a $5 minimum credit invoice. Once paid, the funds immediately land in your account. Funds added to your account are non-refundable.
Monthly promo codes do not apply to Pay-as-You-Go plans. Hourly servers are deployed in the exact same high-performance locations as our Master plans.
Start building on our Pay-as-You-Go page, or read the guide on how to order a Pay-as-You-Go server.
AleForge 
