Commitments
A commitment is an agreement to use a fixed amount of a service for a fixed term at a fixed price. In exchange for planning ahead, many commitments come with a discount.
What Is a Commitment
A commitment is defined by:
- A service and the quantity you commit to.
- A term, the total length of the agreement (for example three months or one year).
- A billing period, how often you are invoiced during the term (for example monthly or quarterly).
The price and any discount are fixed at the moment the commitment is created. Later changes to our price list do not affect a commitment that is already running.
The billing period always fits evenly into the term. A one-year term billed quarterly, for example, results in four equal invoices.
Commitments are available for selected services only. To see which services offer a commitment option and what it costs, use the Price Calculator.
Fixed Price and Advance Billing
Commitments are always billed in advance. Each billing period is invoiced shortly before it starts, for the committed quantity for that period, regardless of how much of the service you actually use.
Because the price is fixed for the whole term, a commitment makes your costs predictable: you know in advance what each invoice will be and when it arrives.
Billing periods run from the start date, not from the first of the month: a commitment that starts on the 16th is invoiced for periods that end on the 15th.
Usage Above or Below Your Commitment
The committed quantity is billed every period regardless of how much you actually use.
- If your usage is higher than the committed quantity, the additional usage is billed at the regular list price, without the commitment discount. It appears on your monthly usage invoice, not on the commitment invoice.
- If your usage is lower than the committed quantity, the unused portion expires. It is not refunded and does not carry over to a later period.
The commitment invoice always covers full months, but the deduction from your usage is calculated to the day. When a commitment starts or ends mid-month, only the proportional share of the committed quantity is offset in that first and last month. A commitment of 2 units starting on the 16th of a 31-day month is offset by about 1.03 units in that month rather than the full 2, so an odd-looking deduction at the start and end of a term is expected. Over the whole term these partial deductions add up to exactly the quantity billed on the commitment invoices: nothing is lost, and nothing is charged twice.
How the Deduction Appears on Your Invoice
On your monthly usage invoice, the line for a committed service shows how its quantity was calculated:
Block Storage
September 2026
Usage: 3.00 GB | Committed: 1.00 GB (pro-rata) | Net: 2.00 GB
- Usage is what you consumed during the month.
- Committed is the share your commitments cover, prorated in a month they do not cover completely.
- Net is the quantity billed on this line. The rest is already paid through your commitment invoice.
If you also hold services that are invoiced in advance, a fourth figure, Prepaid, appears on the line. It follows a different rule than a commitment: an unused prepaid share is credited back to you, whereas an unused commitment expires. See Advance Billing for how that part is calculated.
Commitment Discounts
Many commitments are rewarded with a discount for committing ahead of time. The longer the term, the larger the discount tends to be. The discount is fixed when you create the commitment and is applied directly to the commitment line on your invoice, where it is shown as a discount percentage. The line therefore shows both the list price and the amount you actually pay.
Discounts by Service and Term
| Service | 1 year | 3 years |
|---|---|---|
| Subnets and additional IPv4 addresses | 25% 1 year in advance | 50% 3 years in advance |
| Object Storage | 10% 1 year in advance | 33% 3 years in advance |
| Object Storage outgoing traffic | 10% 1 year in advance | 33% 3 years in advance |
| Full Rack | 2% quarterly in advance | 5% quarterly in advance no setup fee |
| Half Rack | 2% quarterly in advance no setup fee | 5% quarterly in advance no setup fee |
| Colocation power | 2% quarterly in advance | 3% quarterly in advance |
GPUs are offered for six months, one year and two years rather than three:
| GPU | 6 months | 1 year | 2 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| L40S, RTX Pro 6000 | 0% quarterly in advance no setup fee | 20% quarterly in advance no setup fee | 40% quarterly in advance no setup fee |
Below the discount, each cell shows how the commitment is invoiced, always in advance: either the whole term at once, or in equal instalments per billing period. If committing waives the service's one-time setup fee, the cell says so; otherwise the regular setup fee applies.
Billing Example
Suppose a service costs CHF 100 per unit per month at list price, and you commit to 2 units for one year, billed quarterly, with a 10% discount.
Each quarter covers 3 months, so the commitment line reads 2 units at CHF 300 per unit (CHF 100 × 3 months) = CHF 600 at list price, with the 10% discount applied to that same line. You are invoiced CHF 540 in advance at the start of each quarter, four times over the year (CHF 2,160 in total).
Your actual usage is billed separately on your monthly usage invoice, with the committed quantity deducted from it. If you use 3 units in a month instead of the committed 2, the extra unit is billed there at the regular list price without the discount: CHF 100 for that month. If you use only 1 unit, nothing is added to the monthly invoice, the commitment is still invoiced at CHF 540, and the unused unit expires.
Term and Renewal
- Binding for the full term. A commitment is binding and irrevocable. Creating it establishes the obligation to pay for the entire term. There is no cancellation and no early termination.
- No automatic renewal. A commitment simply ends when its term is over. To continue, create a new commitment.
- Stacking. You can hold several commitments for the same service that overlap, each with its own start and end date. Their quantities add up for as long as they overlap, and each is billed independently on its own schedule.
Requesting a Commitment
Managing commitments yourself in Cockpit will be possible soon. For now, commitments are set up on request: open a ticket in our Customer Service Desk stating the service, quantity, term, and billing period you want, and we will create the commitment for you.
A commitment is binding and irrevocable for its entire term, so check the service, quantity, term, and billing period before you send the request.