Subscription billing makes sense when your storage needs are ongoing and steady. When they're not, or when you simply prefer paying upfront over recurring monthly charges, it's a poor fit. Today we're launching prepaid billing for datastores: pay upfront for a fixed period, no ongoing subscription, and a 200 GB minimum instead of 500 GB.
Key Takeaways
- Prepaid datastores start at 200 GB, lower than the 500 GB subscription minimum
- Starting price: €1.70/month (200 GB × €8.50/TB), paid upfront for your chosen period
- Billing periods: 1, 3, 6, or 12 months (your choice at creation)
- At period end, the datastore auto-renews from your balance if funds are available
- Each datastore independently uses either prepaid or subscription billing
How Prepaid Billing Works
When you create a prepaid datastore, you choose two things: the size (200 GB minimum) and a billing period of 1, 3, 6, or 12 months. The full cost for that period is charged upfront from your account balance. The datastore is provisioned immediately and runs until the period ends.
At the end of the period, the datastore auto-renews for the same duration if your balance covers it. If your balance is insufficient, the datastore expires. You'll get a low-balance notification before that happens so you have time to top up.
The size is fixed for the duration of the period. There's no autoscaling on prepaid datastores.
This is different from subscription billing, where charges recur automatically each month against your payment method. With prepaid, no charge happens without a prior explicit top-up action on your part.
Lower Entry Point: 200 GB
The subscription minimum is 500 GB (€4.25/month). Prepaid starts at 200 GB.
That difference matters for workloads that genuinely don't need half a terabyte. A personal homelab with a handful of VMs and config files. A dev environment where you want a real offsite target without the full subscription footprint. A secondary datastore for a specific project with a known end date.
At 200 GB for one month, the cost is €1.70. Choose a longer period and that same rate applies: 3 months at 200 GB is €5.10, paid upfront.
When Prepaid Makes More Sense Than Subscription
Subscription billing is the right fit for persistent, ongoing workloads. Prepaid is better when:
You prefer upfront payment. Some users and organizations prefer discrete, pre-authorized charges over automatic monthly renewals. With prepaid, you decide when money moves. Nothing happens without a top-up.
Your storage requirements are small. If your backup data fits comfortably under 400–450 GB after deduplication, the 500 GB subscription minimum means paying for capacity you don't use. Prepaid starts at 200 GB.
The workload has a defined duration. A migration project, a contract engagement, a seasonal workload. Choose a period that matches the timeline and the datastore ends when you're done. No cancellation required.
Per-project cost tracking. For MSPs and resellers, a prepaid datastore per project or client makes costs visible and attributable without ongoing subscription entanglements.
Subscription is still better for long-running, large workloads
If you're running backups at 1 TB or more on an ongoing basis, subscription billing is simpler. You get autoscaling and don't need to think about balance levels.
Creating a Prepaid Datastore
From the dashboard, go to Datastores → Create New. Choose Prepaid as the billing type, set your size (200 GB minimum), and pick your billing period. The cost for the full period is deducted from your balance immediately and the datastore is provisioned.
Existing subscription datastores are not affected. Billing type is set at creation and each datastore manages its billing independently.
Pricing
The rate is the same as subscription: €8.50/TB/month. With prepaid you pay the full period cost upfront. A 200 GB datastore for 3 months costs €5.10, charged immediately from your balance. A 500 GB datastore for 6 months costs €25.50. All prices are net, excluding VAT.
The balance never expires. Top up anytime and every top-up receives a 10% bonus automatically.
Wrapping Up
Prepaid gives you a lower minimum, upfront billing, and a fixed period that matches the lifecycle of your workload. If the 500 GB floor or the automatic monthly charge has been a barrier, this removes both. Create a prepaid datastore from the dashboard today.
Ready to try prepaid backup storage?
Create a prepaid datastore from the dashboard. 200 GB minimum, pay upfront for 1, 3, 6, or 12 months.
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