This article describes the current billing system at Hetzner. It covers the billing of products, the structure of invoices since October 2024, and the distribution of billing days from April 2024 and August 2025.
Basic billing principle
- We have pro-rated billing (you pay AFTER you use them).
- Each invoice contains the services for the entire previous month.
- Billing begins when we give you access to a product. We will use the hourly price as long as the product has not been used for almost the entire calendar month. After that, we use the month price, which is lower.
- We round up partial hours.
The total costs is never more than the monthly price.
If a product still exists on your account, we will invoice you for it, even if you are not actively using it or it is turned off. If you want to stop paying for something, you need to actively delete or cancel it on your account. A few products have annual billing (not hourly), such as domains or SSL certificates. We always bill licenses for full calendar months.
Invoice date
Since April 2024, we have sent out invoices throughout the month. The aim is to even out the total volume of invoices throughout the month and to give you faster response times to billing support requests. Our system automatically picks the specified invoice; you cannot pick a date of your choice. In August 2025, we changed the distribution again for some of the existing customers in order to further optimize this more. The change only affected the invoice creation date; the billing itself remained unchanged.
You can see your invoice date any time on your account: https://accounts.hetzner.com/invoice
Minimum amount for invoicing
Our system only generates invoices when the amount is more than five euros.
Our system will continue to add up smaller invoices until you reach €5. If your amount remains below €5 for three months, we will then send you an invoice for your total amount. This will happen at the latest at the end of three months.
This does not happen with the very first invoice for new customers.
Structure of invoices since October 2024
A new invoice layout has been in use since October 1, 2024. The first page provides a summary of the total costs and a breakdown by product category and by the customer interfaces, such as konsoleH, Robot, or Hetzner Console.
The individual items are listed on the following pages. Similar items are grouped together if the product, unit of measure, and unit price are identical. This keeps the invoice clear, even if there are many individual items.
Individual consumption values are not shown in the PDF invoice, but are provided in a separate individual consumption statement. You can see it by using a QR code on the invoice, via a link in the PDF, or directly on your account under “Invoices” > “Overview.”
The individual consumption statement contains detailed consumption information, calculation bases for backups, discounts, or add-ons, as well as reference numbers for assigning individual add-ons. You can see this in the browser or download it as a CSV file. You will need to use your customer number to see this information.
Included add-on domains and other included services are displayed as hourly consumption in the new layout.
Example invoices
Example: You have two servers, Server A and Server B under the old billing model.
Server A had a service period of 21 February to 20 March. Server B had a service period of 27 January to 26 February.
In February you received, as usual, an invoice for both servers with their two different service periods:
In March, you will NOT see any products on the invoice that will have a service period that extends into April 2024.
To be specific in this example, only Server B would appear on March's invoice because its service period does not fall into April. It only goes from 27 February to 26 March.
Server A, on the other hand, has a service period that would extend into April. So it would NOT be calculated on the March 2024 invoice. That's why the invoice for this example for March would be smaller.
Now let's imagine that you order another server, Server C, in March, and Hetzner gives you access to the server on 15 March.
The April invoice will be the first retro-active invoice. It will include the service period of March for any products that have not already been calculated in March's invoice:
- Server A for 21-31 March (previous invoice calculated in February)
- Server B for 27-31 March (previous invoice calculated in March)
- Server C for 15-31 March (new product; first invoice)
The calculation for these invoices is based on hourly usage.
Now let's imagine that you cancelled Server A and that cancellation takes effect on 31 March. To replace this server, you order a new one, Server D, which Hetzner gives you access to on 20 April.
The invoice for May will include the service period from the previous month, April. So you would see the full service period for April listed for each server. Since you used Server B and Server C for the whole month, you would see the full monthly price there. And since you only used Server D for part of the month of April, you would see the calculation there based on hourly usage.
Information on the transition phase in 2024 (historical)
March 2024
- Start of the transition to retrospective billing
- Products with service periods extending into April were no longer billed in March.
- March bills may therefore have been lower.
- Missing portions were recalculated in April.
April 2024
- First complete retrospective invoice
- Hourly-based recalculation of all open periods from March
- Partial delay in invoice dispatch
- Introduction of the new logic for invoice days
May 2024
- Completion of the changeover
- From this point on, all invoices included the complete services for the previous month.
Frequently asked questions and support
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can I change my billing date? | No. It is not possible to change this. |
| How are hours calculated? | It starts when we give you access to the product. We round up partial hours. You always pay the lower price and never more than the monthly price. |
| When does monthly billing apply? | When you use a product for almost all of a month, or for a complete month. The billing is pro-rated. For licenses, we always charge full calendar months, even if you only use it for a few days. |
| When does hourly billing apply? | For pro-rata use for part of a month, like a few hours, 3 days, or 20 days. Once the hourly costs reach the monthly price, we the monthly price. |
| When does hourly billing start? | From the moment we make the product available to you, even if you cancel or delete it a short time later. |
| Can I get an yearly invoice? | No. Our system only has monthly invoices. To make it easier to pay, you can make automated payments via SEPA direct debit or credit card. |
| I rarely use my product. Do I pay less? | No. The resources for your product are just for you. As long as you have them, we cannot give them to another customer. As long as a product exists on your account, we will invoice you for it. |
| Where can I find my customer number? | On every invoice. In your account under ‘Contact details’. |
| Can I try out a product before I buy it? | No, you cannot try out products before purchasing them. However, most products have hourly billing. |