Billing Overview
CMP billing has three layers that work together:
Rate Card (what it costs) → Billing Cycle (how often) → Payment Mode (how customer pays)
↑ ↑
Billing Rules (policies that adjust or enforce charges)
| Layer | Question it answers | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
| Rate cards | What packages exist and what do they cost? | Rate Cards |
| Billing cycles | Hourly through tri-annually? | Billing Cycles |
| Payment modes | Prepaid, postpaid, or manual payment? | Payment Modes |
| Billing rules | How charges are calculated (pro-rata, etc.)? | Billing Rules |
| Payment gateways | Which provider collects payments? | Payment Gateways |
| Stoppable services | Do compute charges pause when a VM/K8s is stopped? | Stoppable Services |
| Disciplinary actions | Freeze, suspend, terminate for overdue / negative balance | Disciplinary Actions |
Quick start — new provider setup
- Create rate cards and configure all package prices with billing cycles
- Set global rules —
plan_ip_billing, bandwidth threshold, backup billing — in Billing Rules - Configure Payment Mode Settings with StackConsole — decide which modes are available per account type before go-live — see Payment Mode Settings
- Configure payment gateways and currency top-up amounts in Settings → Billing Setup
- Onboard test customer → provision VM hourly and monthly → verify wallet or invoice behaviour
- Review Billing FAQs for common customer questions
Payment modes (summary)​
| Mode | Payment model |
|---|---|
| Prepaid | Customer tops up wallet; usage deducted in real time |
| Postpaid | Usage tracked; invoiced at cycle end; card can auto-charge |
| Manual | Customer pays offline; admin verifies and marks invoices paid |
See Payment Modes.
Billing cycles (summary)​
| Cycle | Duration | Invoice timing |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Per hour | End of month (consolidated) |
| Monthly | 1 month | On service creation |
| Quarterly | 3 months | On service creation |
| Semi-annually | 6 months | On service creation |
| Annually | 12 months | On service creation |
| Bi-annually | 24 months | On service creation |
| Tri-annually | 36 months | On service creation |
Always hourly: VM_SNAPSHOT, BS_SNAPSHOT, BACKUP, BS_BACKUP, BANDWIDTH, ACCOUNT_TEMPLATE, ISO
See Billing Cycles.
Key billing rules (summary)​
| Rule | Setting |
|---|---|
| IP charged separately from VM | plan_ip_billing = true in Global Settings |
| Free bandwidth allowance | Cloud Provider Setup → Free Bandwidth Threshold |
| Custom package minimum price | Unit pricing ≥ predefined package |
| Coupon discount duration | First billing cycle only |
| Tax exempt (testing) | Customer → Billing Setup → Is Tax Exempted? |
See Billing Rules.
Pricing formulas​
CMP derives hourly and yearly prices from monthly using 30.5 × 24 = 732 hours per month.
See Pricing Formulas.
Documentation in this section​
- Stoppable Services —
enable_stoppable_service_billing(compute pause vs storage continues) - Disciplinary Actions — freeze, suspend, terminate
- Payment Modes — overview and comparison of all three modes
- Billing Cycles — hourly through tri-annually
- Billing Rules — calculation rules and platform policies
- Payment Gateways — Stripe, AsiaPay, HyperPay, Authorize.net, M-Pesa, PayPal, Razorpay, Mollie, Dinger, Cardlink, Paytm, Payduniya