This guide explains how billing works at Cloudways. It covers key areas such as payment methods, invoices, taxes, and additional charges like bandwidth and backups.
Whether you are a new or existing customer, this article will help you understand how the Cloudways billing system calculates charges, when invoices are generated, and how you can manage payments and refunds from your account.
In this article, you will also find helpful resources in the form of other Knowledge Base article links, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) to guide you through common billing queries.
Billing at Cloudways - Basics
Cloudways uses a pay-as-you-go billing system, which means you are only charged for the resources you use.
Your billing is based on the following:
Product usage – Billing depends on the Cloudways product you use:
Flexible charges you hourly for every server that is running, billed in a single monthly invoice;
Autonomous charges you hourly per application for the exact time your app is active, including any autoscaling usage, billed monthly;
Client Billing is billed as a separate monthly subscription (for agencies and freelancers) based on your chosen Client Billing plan;
Copilot is billed as a separate monthly add-on subscription based on your chosen credit plan (Starter is free; Growth and Scale are paid), and charges are added to your existing Cloudways monthly invoice.
Add-ons – Any extra services you enable, such as backups, email services, or DNS.
Overage resource usage – This may include bandwidth or storage, depending on your server and configuration.
Cloudways calculates your total usage throughout the month and generates an invoice at the end of your billing cycle.
You can view your current usage and estimated costs at any time from the Billing section of your Cloudways Platform.
If you are using a trial account and want to continue with full access, you can follow the steps in this article.
You can also refer here if you want a better understanding of how payments are processed on Cloudways.
Payment Methods, Invoices, and Charges
Cloudways allows you to pay your invoices using major credit and debit cards, as well as PayPal, directly from your billing dashboard.
Invoices are generated at the end of your billing cycle based on your total usage, including servers, add-ons, and any additional resources used during the month. You can view and download your invoices anytime from your account.
If you have questions about how payments work, when invoices are created, or what charges may appear on your bill, you can refer to the FAQs below for quick answers and guidance.
FAQs about Payment Methods, Invoices and Charges
Q: When are invoices charged?
Cloudways generates invoices on the 1st of each month for your previous month’s usage. Once the invoice is issued, the system automatically attempts to charge your primary payment method. If you have available account credits or prepaid funds, they are applied first before charging the remaining amount.
Q: Which payment methods does Cloudways support?
Cloudways supports major credit and debit cards (such as Visa, MasterCard, and American Express) and PayPal. You can add and manage your payment methods from the Billing section of your account.
Q: What is the difference between Monthly and Hourly Billing on Cloudways?
Cloudways follows an hourly billing model, where you are charged based on the number of hours your server is active. However, all usage is summarized and billed monthly, meaning you receive one invoice at the end of the billing cycle.
Q: What happens if the invoice remains unpaid?
If your invoice remains unpaid, Cloudways will send reminders and attempt to charge your payment method. Continued non-payment may lead to account suspension, and eventually, your servers and data may be deleted after a certain period. More Details
Q: Why is there an authorization charge on a credit card?
An authorization charge is a temporary hold placed by your bank to verify your card details. This is not an actual charge and is usually released automatically within a few days, depending on your bank.
Q: Why is there a $1 charge on the credit card?
The $1 charge is a temporary authorization hold used to verify your card when adding it to your account. This amount is not billed and is automatically reversed by your bank.
Q: Why is there a $5 charge on my PayPal account?
When you add PayPal as a payment method, Cloudways applies a $5 pre-authorization charge to confirm your PayPal account is active and linked correctly. Unlike the credit card hold, this $5 is a real transaction and is added to your account as a prepayment and will be used in your next invoice.
Q: Why are there charges after account cancellation?
Charges may still appear after cancellation if there was unbilled usage before the account was closed. Cloudways bills for all resources used up to the cancellation time, which may be reflected in the final invoice.
Q: Why do I not recognize a charge on my credit card?
If you do not recognize a charge, it may be related to active services, add-ons, or previous usage on your account. You should review your invoices in the Billing section. If the charge still seems unfamiliar, contact Cloudways support for further assistance.
Q: I am unable to update credit card information or add prepayments (Funds)
This issue can occur due to bank restrictions, incorrect card details, or failed authorization attempts. Make sure your card information is correct and supported. If the issue continues, contact your bank or Cloudways support.
Q: I am unable to access the Cloudways Platform
If your account has unpaid invoices, access to the Cloudways Platform may be restricted. You will need to clear outstanding dues to restore full access to your account.
Q: How to download invoices?
You can download your invoices from the Billing section of your Cloudways account. Simply open the invoice you need and download it in PDF or CSV format.
Q: How can I estimate my next month’s invoice?
You can estimate your next invoice by checking your current usage and costs in the Billing section. Cloudways provides a real-time Month to Date usage summary, which helps you track your expected charges.
Q: How much will be my next monthly invoice?
Your next invoice depends on your total usage, including servers, add-ons, and any additional resources used during the billing cycle. You can view an estimated Month to Date usage summary anytime from your Billing dashboard.
Q: How can I stay updated on my account's monthly usage?
To stay in control of your hosting budget and receive an alert when your monthly usage reaches a specific limit, simply log in to your Cloudways account, navigate to Profile > Billing > Settings, and select Enable Alert to set a personalized notification threshold that works for you.
Q: Why am I seeing a “DNS Made Easy (Excessive DNS Query Usage)” line item on my invoice?
This line item appears when your domain(s) exceed the standard monthly quota of 500,000 DNS queries per domain.
To ensure your DNS remains 100% online and high-performing, Cloudways does not cap your traffic. Instead, any queries over the 500,000 limit are processed at a rate of $0.10 USD per 100,000 additional queries (learn more).
This fee ensures your domains continue to benefit from DNS Made Easy’s enterprise-grade speed and 100% uptime history, even during unexpected traffic spikes.
Q: What are ‘carry-forward’ charges?
To ensure invoices are generated on the 1st of each month, the usage data of specific AWS and GCE resources (e.g., bandwidth, disk, snapshots) from the final 2–3 days of the month will be billed in the following cycle. Since these details arrive late from our providers, they will appear as "carry-forward" line items starting in May 2026.
If you need help with specific billing actions, you can follow the relevant guides in the Managing Subscription and Billing Knowledge Base collection.
For example, you can learn how to pay invoices using PayPal, add prepayments to your account, update your billing information, or change your billing date based on your requirements.
Fiscal Taxes
Cloudways applies applicable taxes, such as VAT or GST, based on your billing country and local regulations. These taxes are automatically calculated and included in your invoice where required.
If you want to understand how taxes are applied to your account, you can refer to the dedicated section in the Fiscal Taxes Handling at Cloudways knowledge base article.
Off-Site Backup, Bandwidth, and Clone Server Charges
In addition to your server cost, Cloudways may include extra charges for services such as off-site backups, additional bandwidth usage, and cloned servers.
These charges depend on how your resources are used during the billing cycle. For example, backup storage, data transfer beyond limits, or running duplicate (cloned) servers can increase your total cost.
If you want to understand how these charges are calculated and when they apply, you can refer to the knowledge base articles for detailed guidance.
If you want to understand specific charges in more detail, you can learn what costs apply for off-site backups and how bandwidth charges are calculated when usage exceeds the included limits.
You can also check whether clone server charges are included in your invoice and how server billing is adjusted when you scale your server.
Other Cloudways Billing Queries
If you need to make changes to your billing, you can learnhow to stop your Cloudways billing or cancel your account based on your requirements.
That’s it! We hope this article was helpful.
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