What Happens When Your VPS Balance Runs Out
On a prepaid, hourly VPS there's no invoice and no debt — your balance pays for each hour as it comes. So what happens when it runs dry? Here's the whole sequence, step by step.
1. You get a warning first
When your balance drops below roughly a day of usage, we email you. Your billing page also shows how long the balance will last at your current spend.
2. The server is suspended, not deleted
When the balance can no longer cover the next hour, the server is powered off — but its disk and data are kept, and you are not charged while it's suspended. You get a second email at this point.
3. You have 8 hours to top up
Top up within 8 hours and the server starts again automatically. No support ticket, no button to press.
4. After that, it's deleted
If the balance is still short when the 8 hours are up, the server and its data are permanently deleted. Anything left on your balance stays there and never expires.
How to never get here
- Keep a buffer. A week of runway is comfortable for most people.
- Watch the runway on the billing page — it accounts for all your servers together.
- Read the warning email. Use an address you actually check; a throwaway inbox won't save your server.
- Keep your own backups off the server for anything you can't afford to lose.
Why it works this way
Prepaid billing means you can never overspend or end up owing money. The suspension window is there so a forgotten top-up doesn't cost you your data.