I got the email today, it says fly.io doesn’t collect bills smaller than $5.00
Is this a one time offer or does fly.io consistently apply this?
I was also wondering if this is something I missed or is just not documented. (to avoid abuse maybe?)
Hi,
If your usage is under $5, I’d guess that’s still within the allowance of Fly’s Hobby Plan. It’s the free allowance of usage that lets you run e.g 3 of the smallest vms at no cost. Usage beyond that free allowance would be charged.
Thanks for your reply.
I think the email wording can be confusing, it made me think I could have whatever and as long the billing is <$5 I wouldn’t be charged.
I still have one question because I don’t fully understand billing yet
I have 7 (running) apps with a vm size of shared-cpu-1x on my fly.io dashboard.
The free allowances say I can have up to 3 vms, but I still wasn’t charged this month
Should I expect to be charged next month even when the discounted bill for this month was under $5 (actual $0.02) ?
Er … 
Not sure. It’s possible Fly have changed their billing however as far as I know the Hobby Plan includes the equivalent of 3 of the smallest vms (see Fly App Pricing · Fly Docs).
So … if you are running 7 apps, that suggests to me that you have exceeded the free allowance. And should expect to be billed for that additional usage. Around $8 (or whatever it is). Now it may be that the additional usage will only apply in your second month, since if you are a new user the calculation of the free usage may have yet to kick in. Total guess.
May be worth sending an email to billing@fly.io. Can’t hurt as you don’t want to be billed unexpectedly.
2 Likes
Thank you greg
Yep, it doesn’t make a lot of sense too me either. Granted I haven’t used them too much but the dashboard still lists them as running apps 
1 Like
Not sure if this is a new thing, or a selective thing.
I’ve paid $3.xx multiple months in the past as I vividly remembering paying Fly invoices from github sponsorship money (ref). Good times!
1 Like
We shipped a change a few months ago to waive invoices under $5. We haven’t had any reason to disable it yet, it seems to be useful. A surprising number of people pay <$5 by accident and charging them creates a negative experience. And, the reality is we make money off bigger spenders.
We’re actually considering ditching the free tier altogether and just making this the free tier. I think it sets a good expectation (these services are worth money, we’re electing not to charge you, but it’s definitely valuable).
6 Likes
hi, @kurt
Two days ago, my account was flagged as risky and I resorted to credit card to de-risk it. fly had me verify my card twice, deducting $5.53 and $7.86 respectively. shortly after the first deduction, I received a message from my bank that it was cancelled, but the second deduction I haven’t received a cancellation until now. My account email is, kmt007@outlook.com. Thank you very much !
As an Indie dev with some free open source projects, this is why I keep using you guys for both hobby and paying (although not much)
1 Like