Billing
Sprites offers flexible billing: pay-as-you-go for usage-based pricing with no commitment, or a subscription plan with included credits for predictable costs.
Pay As You Go
Section titled “Pay As You Go”Usage-based pricing with no monthly commitment.
- Up to 3 sprites running concurrently
- Pay only for what you use
- No commitment
All compute resources are billed per second. Storage is billed hourly but aggregated monthly.
Key benefit: No compute charges while Sprites are hibernated—usage only counts when actively running.
Subscription Plan
Section titled “Subscription Plan”Included credits and higher limits for predictable costs.
| Plan | Price | Concurrent Sprites | CPU Hours | RAM Hours | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 10 | $20/mo | 10 | 450 hrs | 1,800 GB-hrs | 50 GB |
Overage beyond included credits is billed at the same pay-as-you-go rates above.
Estimate Your Costs
Section titled “Estimate Your Costs”Compute Billing
Section titled “Compute Billing”How It Works
Section titled “How It Works”You’re billed for CPU and memory only while:
- A command is actively executing
- A TTY session is open
- A detachable session is running
When your Sprite hibernates, compute billing stops immediately.
Sprites use a fixed resource configuration (8 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM), so compute billing uses those values whenever a Sprite is active.
Billing Granularity
Section titled “Billing Granularity”Compute is billed per-second with no minimum. If you run a command for 30 seconds, you pay for exactly 30 seconds.
Storage Billing
Section titled “Storage Billing”How It Works
Section titled “How It Works”Storage is billed monthly based on the actual data stored on your Sprite’s filesystem:
- TRIM-friendly: You only pay for data actually written
- Deleted files reduce cost: Deleting files reduces your storage bill
- Compression: Data is compressed in storage
Starting Allocation
Section titled “Starting Allocation”Every Sprite includes 100 GB of storage capacity. Storage does not autoscale yet.
Typical Usage
Section titled “Typical Usage”| Environment | Storage | Within Plan? |
|---|---|---|
| Minimal (OS + tools) | ~2 GB | Yes |
| Dev environment | ~5 GB | Yes |
| With datasets | ~10 GB | Yes |
| Large datasets | ~60 GB | +10 GB overage |
Cost Optimization
Section titled “Cost Optimization”Minimize Active Time
Section titled “Minimize Active Time”# Bad: Long-running idle sessionsprite console# (leave terminal open for hours while doing other things)
# Good: Run specific commandssprite exec "npm test"sprite exec "npm build"Use Hibernation Effectively
Section titled “Use Hibernation Effectively”Sprites hibernate after ~30 seconds of inactivity. Close idle TTY sessions and keep workloads scoped to short bursts when possible.
Clean Up Storage
Section titled “Clean Up Storage”# Remove unnecessary filessprite exec "rm -rf node_modules/.cache"sprite exec "apt-get clean"sprite exec "pip cache purge"Use Checkpoints Wisely
Section titled “Use Checkpoints Wisely”Checkpoints consume storage. Clean up old checkpoints:
# List checkpointssprite checkpoint list
# Keep only what you needBilling Scenarios
Section titled “Billing Scenarios”Use the calculator above to model your own usage. Here are some common patterns:
| Scenario | Active Time | CPU Hours/mo | PAYG Cost | Level 10 Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekend hacker | 4 hrs/wk | ~139 hrs | ~$18 | $20 (within plan) |
| Light CI | 20 builds × 10 min | ~115 hrs | ~$16 | $20 (within plan) |
| Part-time dev | 2 hrs/day, 5 days/wk | ~346 hrs | ~$37 | $20 (within plan) |
| Full-time dev | 4 hrs/day, 5 days/wk | ~693 hrs | ~$69 | ~$37 (+overage) |
Monitoring Usage
Section titled “Monitoring Usage”Usage and billing information is available through your Fly.io dashboard and organization settings. The CLI and API do not currently expose detailed usage metrics.
Billing FAQ
Section titled “Billing FAQ”When does billing start?
Compute billing starts when you execute a command and stops when the command completes or the Sprite hibernates.
Do I pay while hibernated?
No compute charges while hibernated. You only pay for storage.
How is storage measured?
Storage is measured based on actual data on disk, not allocated capacity. It’s sampled periodically throughout the month.
Are checkpoints billed?
Yes, checkpoints count toward your storage usage.
What happens if I exceed my included credits?
You’ll be charged overage rates for any usage beyond your plan’s included credits. Overage is billed at the rates shown in the Overage Pricing section above.
Is there a minimum charge?
Your subscription plan has a fixed monthly cost. Within your included credits, there’s no additional charge—you can run commands as short or long as you need.
How do I see my bill?
Usage and billing information is available through your Fly.io dashboard and organization settings.