Payara Cloud uses subscriptions as the primary billing unit. All application usage across your various namespaces gets consolidated into a single invoice, simplifying the billing process. A single Billing Manager can oversee multiple subscriptions, which can be associated with different companies and use various payment methods.
Subscription Tiers and vCPU Limits
Payara Cloud billing is based on the total vCPU (virtual CPU) resources consumed by your applications over time, measured in vCPU-minutes. Each subscription tier has a maximum limit or a prepaid amount of vCPU resources you can use across all your deployed applications within that subscription.
| Feature/Resource | Free Trial | Pay As You Go | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Cost |
15 days free trial |
$0/month base fee |
$432/month fixed fee |
$3300/month fixed fee |
vCPU/Memory Allocation |
Up to 4 vCPUs / 8GB memory |
Maximum 2 vCPU / 4 GB memory |
2 vCPU / 4 GB memory (prepaid) |
16 vCPU / 32 GB memory (prepaid) |
Usage Pricing |
No charge during trial |
$0.005 per vCPU minute |
$0.00405 per vCPU minute for additional usage |
$0.0044 per vCPU minute for additional usage |
Application Size Limit |
Runtime sizes: 0.25-2 vCPU per app |
Runtime sizes: 0.25-2 vCPU per app |
Runtime sizes: 0.25-4 vCPU per app |
Runtime sizes: 0.25-4 vCPU per app |
| Free trial offers higher resources (4 vCPU/8GB) than Pay As You Go (2 vCPU/4GB) specifically to let you test horizontal scaling scenarios, such as running two 2-vCPU instances simultaneously, before committing to a paid plan. |
Understanding Your vCPU Budget
The basic billing unit in Payara Cloud is vCPU-minutes, calculated as:
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1 vCPU running for 1 minute = 1 vCPU-minute
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For a 30-day billing period, the calculation is:
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1 vCPU × 30 days × 24 hours/day × 60 minutes/hour = 43,200 vCPU-minutes
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This means:
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Standard tier’s 2 vCPU prepaid allocation = 2 × 43,200 = 86,400 vCPU-minutes
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Premium tier’s 16 vCPU prepaid allocation = 16 × 43,200 = 691,200 vCPU-minutes
| Tier | Allocation Limit | Within Limit Examples | Exceeding Limit Examples | Notification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Free Trial |
4 vCPU total for 15 days |
|
N/A - Hard limit of 4 vCPU |
Billing automatically starts at the end of trial based on your chosen plan |
Pay As You Go |
2 vCPU max simultaneous usage |
|
|
"Deployment failed: Total vCPU allocation would exceed your subscription limit of 2 vCPU." |
Standard |
2 vCPU prepaid (86,400 vCPU-minutes/30 days) |
|
|
"You are now consuming resources beyond your prepaid limit and incurring additional charges." |
Premium |
16 vCPU prepaid (691,200 vCPU-minutes/30 days) |
|
|
Same as Standard tier - dashboard alerts appear when usage exceeds prepaid amount |
Optimizing Your vCPU Usage
To manage costs and stay within your tier’s limits or prepaid amounts:
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Right-size your applications: Choose the smallest runtime size that meets your application’s performance needs
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Scale down non-essential environments: Use smaller vCPU allocations (0.25-0.5) for development and testing
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Monitor your consumption: Regularly check your dashboard to identify resource-intensive applications
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Consolidate applications: When possible, run multiple small applications within one larger instance
Starting a New Subscription
Free Trial
For new users, the best way to begin is with our 15-day free trial. A detailed guide to get you started is available here: Sign Up To Payara Cloud.
Existing Users
If you’re already using Payara Cloud, you can easily create additional subscriptions by either reusing existing invoicing data or providing new invoicing data.
Invoicing
Payara Cloud issues invoices based on 30-day cycles, which include:
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Fixed Monthly Fee (Standard & Premium): Charged in advance for the upcoming billing period
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Variable Fee (All Tiers): Covers any usage exceeding your plan’s prepaid volume in the previous billing period
Cancelling Subscription
A subscription can be cancelled at any time by following the procedure listed here: Cancelling a Subscription.