Guides
An hourly billed cloud server in India is a KVM VPS from NABHCLOUD where you pay per hour of use from a prepaid wallet, invoiced in rupees with GST, rather than settling a full month upfront. This guide covers how our metering works, which jobs suit hourly billing, where a monthly plan becomes the cheaper option, and how to run an hourly instance without unexpected charges.
Current plans and prices are shown on our pricing page.
How we work out the hourly rate
Each plan, and every resource we offer, carries a monthly list price. We divide that figure by 730 — the average hours in a month — to arrive at the hourly rate. Run a server the whole month on hourly billing and it costs the same as the monthly list price; run it for a day and you pay for a day. Usage is tracked down to a fraction of a paisa per hour, but we round the bill only once, on the month's total, never hour by hour. Both the hourly and monthly figures for every size appear together on our pricing page, and a custom mix of vCPU, RAM and NVMe storage is priced the same way through our server builder.
We meter by started hour, with a one-hour minimum applied from the moment the server is provisioned; that first hour is reserved from your wallet balance as soon as the order is placed. If you stop a server instead of deleting it, you keep paying for its disk, while the public IPv4 address remains free of charge. Delete the server entirely to stop all billing on it.
How the prepaid wallet works
Hourly usage is not paid upfront. You load a wallet using UPI, card or net banking, and every running server draws that balance down hour by hour. Our panel shows the live balance along with your current burn rate, so you can see how many hours of runtime remain before another top-up is needed. A UPI payment reflects in the wallet instantly.
We bill hourly usage in arrears and raise a tax invoice in rupees that adds 18% GST and carries your GSTIN, so a GST-registered business can claim input tax credit on hourly spending just as on a fixed-term plan. See our GST billing page for details.
When hourly billing makes sense
Hourly billing suits work that will not run the whole month, or that you are still evaluating:
- Testing a provider, operating system or application image before committing money to a term.
- Load tests, build pipelines and short batch jobs that need a large server for only a few hours.
- Weekend or event-based game servers, where our gaming server plans bundle in the Windows licence.
- Trying a trading broker or expert advisor on a forex VPS for a few days before moving it onto a term.
- Staging and demo setups built for a specific project and removed once it goes live.
- Right-sizing: launch a small server, scale it up from the panel once you know the real load, then commit to a term.
Charges that continue while a server is stopped
When an hourly server is stopped rather than deleted, its NVMe storage keeps being billed because it remains reserved for you; the vCPU and RAM charge stops, and the public IPv4 address stays free. Once you are finished with a test server, delete it instead of leaving it stopped, and take the included snapshot beforehand if you might need the data again.
The Windows Server 2022 licence is bundled into our Windows VPS and general-purpose plans at the price shown on this page, though Windows needs at least 4 vCPU and 8 GB RAM, so a workload that runs fine on Linux can use a smaller server with a Linux image instead. Our forex and gaming plans already include the Windows licence in their price.
Switching from hourly to a monthly term
A monthly plan is priced 30% below the hourly list rate, so once a server runs for around 511 hours in a month — roughly 21 days — the monthly plan becomes cheaper. Commit for longer and the gap widens further: a 12-month term sits 44% below the hourly list price, and a 36-month term 65% below it.
Switching keeps the same VM, IP address and disk; only the billing method changes, starting from the next hour. A term is not permanent either — cancel early and the unused portion returns to your wallet along with a GST credit note. Our hourly vs monthly comparison guide walks through this break-even calculation in full.
Steps to run an hourly cloud server
- Register and complete eKYC
Sign up with your email and verify your identity once using Aadhaar/DigiLocker or another ID document, as required under CERT-In rules.
- Add funds to your wallet
Pay by UPI, card or net banking. Fund enough for the hours you expect to use; the burn-rate display in the panel tells you when another top-up is needed.
- Launch with hourly billing selected
Choose a plan or a custom configuration from our VPS page or the builder, select the image, and pick hourly instead of a fixed term. The server typically goes live in under a minute.
- Watch the balance and remove servers you no longer need
A stopped server still costs its disk and IP allocation. Delete test servers you have finished with, keeping a snapshot first if needed.
- Switch to a term if the server stays
If a server is still running after a few weeks, convert it to a monthly or longer term from the panel. Nothing needs to be rebuilt.
Frequently asked questions
How does billing work for an hourly cloud server in India?
You are charged per started hour. We calculate the hourly rate by dividing the monthly list price by 730, draw it from your prepaid wallet as the server runs, and invoice it in rupees with 18% GST added. Usage is tracked to a fraction of a paisa per hour, and the bill is rounded only once, on the monthly total.
Is there a minimum charge for hourly servers?
Yes. Hourly servers are billed per started hour, with a minimum charge of one hour from the moment the server is created. After that, you pay only for the hours it actually runs.
Can I fund hourly usage through UPI?
Yes. Add money to the prepaid wallet through UPI, card or net banking; hourly usage is deducted from that balance, and UPI top-ups are credited instantly.
Does a stopped server still generate charges?
A stopped server continues to be billed for its NVMe storage, while the public IPv4 address stays free. Delete a server you no longer need to stop all charges on it.
Is GST already included in the hourly rate?
No. Our listed prices exclude GST. We add 18% GST on the invoice for customers in India and issue a tax invoice with your GSTIN, letting a registered business claim input tax credit.
At what point does a monthly plan cost less than hourly billing?
A monthly plan is priced 30% below the hourly list rate, so it becomes cheaper once a server runs for about 511 hours — roughly 21 days — in that month. You can convert from the panel at any time, and the VM, IP address and disk stay unchanged.