Most people pay for a server by the month, even when they need it for one afternoon. With hourly billing you pay for the hours the server exists, and crypto makes it simple: top up once, spend as you go. Disclosure: I run Neckrez, a reseller that bills by the hour, so the numbers below use its prices. Check the numbers of any provider you use.
How it works on Neckrez- You keep a prepaid balance in dollars. Each hour is taken from it.
- The first hour is charged when you create the server. Hours are whole hours.
- A calendar month never costs more than the plan's monthly price, so a server you forget about does not run up an endless bill.
- Deleting the server stops the billing straight away.
What it costs, roughlyThe smallest plan is about $10 a month, around 1.4 cents an hour. So:
- a 6-hour test: about 9 cents
- a day: about 33 cents
- a full month: $10, never more
Good uses- Trying a program, a VPN or a game server before you commit.
- Running a heavy job (a build, a scrape, an encode) and deleting the server when it ends.
- Short-lived test machines created and deleted by a script through the API.
Things people get wrong- A stopped server is still billed: the provider keeps the resources for you. To stop paying, delete it.
- Deleting early does not refund the hour you started. Whole hours are charged.
- If the balance runs out, the server is snapshotted and deleted, and the snapshot is kept 7 days. Watch the balance: the billing page shows how many days it lasts, and an email warns you before it runs out.
- Do not rely on "I will remember to delete it". Delete it in the same script that created it, or set a calendar reminder.
Why a dollar balance is nice with cryptoYou pay in BTC, USDT, XMR or another coin, the amount is converted to dollars at the moment of the payment, and your balance does not move when the coin's price does.
Site:
https://neckrez.tech . Terms and refund policy:
https://neckrez.tech/legal/terms ,
https://neckrez.tech/legal/refund . Questions are welcome here and I will answer them.
