Billing

Your monthly bills are calculated based on the base package fee, plus the number of messages, and channel and connection minutes that you used for that month.

Consumption is calculated on the last day of the month and invoices are issued in arrears on the 1st of the following month. Note that for consumption, minutes are the smallest units that we bill against, and they are rounded up. So if a connection was open for 10.01 minutes then this will be billed as 11 minutes of usage.

For package upgrades, the base package price will be charged pro-rata from the point in the month that you upgraded. This is true for both base package prices if you are upgrading from a paid package.

Package downgrades take effect on the 1st of the following month.

The following details will appear on your credit card or bank statement when payments are processed by Ably:

• Name: Ably Real-Time Ltd London
• Processor: Stripe
• Currency: $USD

To update your billing details:

1. Ensure you are the account owner or have the billing role.
2. Log in to your account and select Billing from the Account menu.

You can update your payment details and view your invoices in this screen.

It’s also possible to have your invoices sent to an accounts department by filling in the Optional billing email address.

Billing alerts notify you by email when your monthly spending exceeds a set amount if you’re on a Standard or Pro package. This feature helps you monitor costs and avoid unexpected charges.

The following steps guide you through setting up billing alerts:

• Log in to your Ably account.
• In the Create new alert section, select the email address from the dropdown list where you want to receive the alert. The available choices depend on your user role.
  • If you are an owner: Yourself and billing users associated with the account.
  • If you are a user with a billing role: Yourself only.
• Enter a value greater than your base package fee in the Amount field. This amount sets the threshold at which you will receive a notification.
• Click Create alert to save your changes.