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

1

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
2

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
3

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.

5

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
6

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