Unexplained Charges Despite Free Tier Compliance: Bandwidth, Region, or Ghost Machines?

Hello everyone,

I just completed the deployment of my first website on Fly.io, and grateful for the service. I have a small question regarding unexpected charges on the free tier.

Could someone clarify whether the current billing reflects real-time resource consumption or if it’s based on a previous snapshot? I’d like to understand what to expect moving forward.

Upon inspecting my apps, I can confirm they all comply with the free tier limitations. However, I’ve noticed the billing updates multiple times a day, with costs increasing despite no significant changes on my end. Additionally, I’m seeing a charge in Frankfurt, even though I’m exclusively hosting in Amsterdam.

If anyone could shed some light on this, I’d greatly appreciate it!

flyctl apps list
NAME                    OWNER           STATUS          LATEST DEPLOY
x-realestate            personal        deployed        May 4 2025 11:45
x-realestate-client     personal        deployed        May 2 2025 17:51
x-realestate-server     personal        deployed        May 3 2025 19:37

PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl scale show --app x-realestate-client
VM Resources for app: x-realestate-client

Groups
NAME    COUNT   KIND    CPUS    MEMORY  REGIONS
app     1       shared  1       256 MB  ams

PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl scale show --app x-realestate
VM Resources for app: x-realestate

Groups
NAME    COUNT   KIND    CPUS    MEMORY  REGIONS
app     1       shared  1       256 MB  ams

PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl scale show --app x-realestate-server
VM Resources for app: x-realestate-server

Groups
NAME    COUNT   KIND    CPUS    MEMORY  REGIONS
app     1       shared  1       256 MB  ams

PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl status --app x-realestate
App
  Name     = x-realestate
  Owner    = personal
  Hostname = x-realestate.fly.dev
  Image    = x-realestate:latest

Machines
PROCESS ID              VERSION REGION  STATE   ROLE    CHECKS                  LAST UPDATED
app     d899946f635e48  61      ams     started         1 total, 1 passing      2025-05-04T11:46:13Z

PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl invoices list
Error: unknown command "invoices" for "flyctl.exe"
Run 'flyctl.exe --help' for usage.

PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl ips list --app x-realestate
VERSION IP                      TYPE                    REGION  CREATED AT
v6      2a09:8280:1::6a:91cd:0  public (dedicated)      global  Mar 16 2025 21:25
v4      66.241.124.244          public (shared)                 Jan 1 0001 00:00

Learn more about Fly.io public, private, shared and dedicated IP addresses in our docs: https://fly.io/docs/networking/services/
PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl ips list --app x-realestate-server
VERSION IP                      TYPE                    REGION  CREATED AT
v6      2a09:8280:1::6a:8b4b:0  public (dedicated)      global  Mar 16 2025 20:01
v4      66.241.124.42           public (shared)                 Jan 1 0001 00:00

Learn more about Fly.io public, private, shared and dedicated IP addresses in our docs: https://fly.io/docs/networking/services/
PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl ips list --app x-realestate-client
VERSION IP                      TYPE                    REGION  CREATED AT
v6      2a09:8280:1::6a:389f:0  public (dedicated)      global  Mar 16 2025 15:57
v4      66.241.124.27           public (shared)                 Jan 1 0001 00:00

Learn more about Fly.io public, private, shared and dedicated IP addresses in our docs: https://fly.io/docs/networking/services/
PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl volumes list --app x-realestate
ID      STATE   NAME    SIZE    REGION  ZONE    ENCRYPTED       ATTACHED VM     CREATED AT

PS C:\Users\yaniv> flyctl volumes list --app x-realestate-client
>> flyctl volumes list --app x-realestate-server
ID      STATE   NAME    SIZE    REGION  ZONE    ENCRYPTED       ATTACHED VM     CREATED AT

ID      STATE   NAME    SIZE    REGION  ZONE    ENCRYPTED       ATTACHED VM     CREATED AT

My understanding of the free tier is below, and is basically that there is no spoon free tier:

But I think it is the case that, for now, if you hover under the 5 USD line, your monthly bill will not be collected.

1 Like

Yes, I believe so. What plan are you on? I’m on the Legacy Hobby plan, as I signed up four yonks ago; however I think this plan no longer exists.

Hi!

It updates periodically a few times per day.

I noticed you have three apps, each with a shared-1x 256MB machine. Previously, we had plans (Hobby, Launch), where the free tier worked as described here. You could use, for example, up to 3 shared-1x 256MB machines for free.

However, your account is on a pay-as-you-go plan which works a bit differently. All usage is metered and added to the bill. But, if at the end of the month your bill is under $5, then it’s waived.

Note this is not directly equivalent to “I can use exactly three machines” as in the old plans; you can check the cost of keeping three machines up all month here (hint: they actually cost about $6 in Amsterdam,so by the end of the month the bill would be over $5 and thus not waived, you’d have to cover it in full).

At least one of your apps (x-realestate-client) had a couple of machines in Frankfurt running for about a day; that’s why you see a $0.12-or-so charge for machines in Frankfurt.

I hope this explanation helps!

Regards,

  • Daniel
2 Likes