Phala Cloud Billing
Last updated: July 3, 2026
This page explains how billing works, how to pay, and what happens if your account runs out of funds.
For prices, see the Pricing page.
How Billing Works
Phala Cloud has two billing models, one for each product type:
CPU Instances
Prices are shown per hour. We charge by the minute, and charges are taken from your account automatically.
Compute and storage are billed separately:
- Compute is charged only while the machine runs.
- Storage is charged while the machine runs and also while it is stopped.
GPU Rental
You pay up front when you place a rental order. One hourly rate covers the GPU, CPU, memory, and disk. There are no separate storage charges.
Stopping a Machine
CPU Instances
When you stop a CPU machine:
- Compute charges stop the moment you send the stop request. The machine then takes a little while to shut down, because it must wipe its memory. That time is not billed.
- Storage charges continue, because your disk data is kept.
- To stop all charges, delete the machine.
Stop a machine to save money when you do not need it. Your disk and settings stay.
GPU Rental
A GPU rental cannot be paused to save money. The GPU stays set aside for you even while the machine is stopped.
- On-Demand: stopping the machine ends the rental and deletes the machine. The disk is deleted too, so your data is not kept.
- Commitment: you can stop and start the machine, but the term is already paid.
- If the machine gets stuck in an error state, charges continue until you delete it.
- Prepaid amounts are not refunded if the rental ends early.
CVM Credits and Balance
Your account has two types of funds:
- CVM Credits: Free credits given by us
- Balance: Money you add to your account
How they work:
- Credits never expire
- Credits pay for both CPU instances and GPU rentals
- We use your free credits first, then your balance
- You can get a refund for unused balance by emailing us from your registered email
- If you run out of funds, you'll see overdue charges
One-Time $20 Credit
You can get a one-time $20 credit for your account:
- Add a valid credit card and pass payment verification.
- Turn on postpaid billing.
The credit is granted once per account. We run anti-fraud checks before granting it.
If an account breaks section 7.4 (acceptable use) of our Terms of Service, we disable the account right away.
When Your Account Goes Overdue
What happens depends on how you pay.
Prepaid (the default: you add funds first):
- We email you when your balance gets low.
- When your balance reaches $0, we stop your machines.
- You can turn on auto top-up in your billing settings. It adds funds from your saved card automatically when your balance gets low, so your machines keep running.
Postpaid (billed monthly):
- We send you an invoice each month. You have 30 days to pay it.
- If the invoice is still unpaid after 30 days, we stop your machines.
- Your unpaid usage has a cap. When it is reached, we charge your saved card automatically. We adjust this cap for each account by hand, based on actual usage.
After your machines are stopped, in both modes:
- We keep your data for 1 month.
- Add funds or pay your invoice within that month to get everything back.
- After that, we may delete the data.
Payment Options
We offer several ways to pay:
- Credit Card: Pay through Stripe
- Cryptocurrency: Pay with crypto, also through Stripe
- Wire Transfer: Available for business accounts with annual contracts
About Credit Card Verification
We verify your identity through a temporary credit card charge:
- We temporarily authorize a $1 charge during verification
- The $1 charge will be automatically refunded within 7 business days
- This verifies the card is valid and active
- This verification helps prevent fraud and abuse
- After successful verification, you can add funds at your convenience
Enterprise Options
For larger teams, we offer:
- Annual billing
- Volume discounts
- Custom payment terms
- Detailed reports
Email us at [email protected] for enterprise options or if you have questions about unexpected charges.
