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Comment by dindresto | Hacker News Reader

That's incorrect, dedicated Hetzner servers do not have hourly pricing. That only applies to Hetzner Cloud.

No, they switched to per-hour billing for their dedicated servers a while ago. I also tested this last week when I cancelled a dedicated server we had with them and they did indeed only charge for part of the month.

There's a difference in being charged a partial amount for the month vs an hourly amount for something you need for just 2 hours.

I have a dedicated machine with Hetzner, and AFAIK they charge me the full amount regardless of whether it's on or off. If I cancel on day 3 of the month, it makes sense to be charged for only those days' hours. However that's different to "turn it on for 6 hours" kind of hourly pricing.

That's incorrect. Dedicated servers do now offer hourly pricing. See this page which lists the hourly pricing for the new GEX130 server:

https://www.hetzner.com/dedicated-rootserver/matrix-gpu/

But, as far as I know (hence the sibling question), you still need to pay the setup fee each time you launch.

Actually rechecking the terms of the GPU server, it states:

> Cancellation period: 30 days to the end of the month

To me that indicates it's not possible to order the server for only a few hours.

That term appears on all servers, but seems to be in conflict with their billing FAQ: https://docs.hetzner.com/general/others/new-billing-model/

Either way... it's a mess. They added hourly billing for dedicated servers six months ago, there's not much excuse for still having contradictory information hanging around.

Yes, the GEX130 has a *one-time* setup fee. And yes, it is possible to cancel it on an hourly basis in most situations. For example, if you only had it for 3 days of a billing period, you would pay the hourly rate. We are currently in the process of updating our billing systems. There are a few situations where the 30 day to the end of the month policy still applies. For most situations the current cancellation process is more generous and flexible for the customer. And for the rest, it has stayed the same. If customers want to stop paying for a server, they need to cancel it. We have a number of products that do not include setup fees, including our Server Auction dedicated servers and our cloud servers.

To be frank, after reading your reply I'm still not 100% sure what the policy is. What are the situations where there are 30 days of notice? How does that interact with hourly billing? If I'm a week through the second month and cancel, does that mean I get charged 2 months 1 week plus the setup fee in total?

I'm a big fan of Hetzner and have used it off and on for ten years now, including auction, dedicated and cloud. I've had very few complaints over the years. But I stand by my post above - the information on your site is not clear and contradictory, and really needs to be cleaned up.

We are currently in the process of updating our billing system. A big part of that process is already done, but there are still some changes to come. That is why we have not yet updated our terms and conditions. The new policies are more generous to the customers, and for the most part allow to cancel most products on an hourly basis, including dedicated servers like the GEX130. --Katie

That's great news. Thanks!

I guess now with the pricing confusion they've fully embraced the cloud industry

You’re right, the billing is hourly (until you reach the monthly cap) but you also have this cancellation period. That’s weird?

Thanks for the link, seems like a major flaw to combine hourly pricing with a setup fee. :')

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