# Getting started: prepaid usage (hourly billing from your balance) in 5 minutes

https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/prepaid-usage-getting-started

- **What you will learn**: How Gyro Cloud Istanbul and Gyro Containers are billed, how to top up your balance, how the hourly charge is deducted and where to see your spending.
- **Time**: 5 minutes
- **Who this is for**: Anyone using these two services for the first time.
- **What you need**: A Gyro customer account and at least 250 TRY to top up by card or bank transfer.

## 1. What does prepaid mean?

**Gyro Cloud Istanbul** servers and **Gyro Containers (ECS)** environments are **prepaid** instead of billed monthly:

- You first **top up your account balance**.
- While your service runs, the charge for **every hour that starts** is deducted from the balance automatically.
- **No separate invoice** is issued for this usage. The invoice (with VAT) is issued when you top up.
- If the balance runs out, your service is suspended. It starts again when you top up (details: [Low-balance warnings, suspension and deletion](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/low-balance-warnings-suspension-deletion)).

Your other Gyro services (hosting, domains, Turkey VDS and so on) are still invoiced monthly or yearly as before.

> **Info**
> 
> Prices are fixed in euros and shown **excluding VAT**. When a charge is deducted it is converted to Turkish lira at the day's rate. In this guide prices are written as "€ (TRY at the current rate)"; you see the exact TRY amount in the panel.

## 2. Start in five steps

1. In the client area open **Account Balance**, choose **Top Up** and add at least **250 TRY** ([Topping up and the first-order rule](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/topping-up-balance-and-first-order-rule)).
2. Order your service: a [Gyro Cloud Istanbul server](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/gyro-cloud-istanbul-getting-started) or a [Gyro Containers environment](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/gyro-containers-getting-started). The order total shows **0 TRY**; the cost is deducted from your balance hourly.
3. When the order is approved, the first hour is deducted at once and provisioning starts.
4. Open **Spending** from the left menu: you see your balance, hourly cost and **estimated time left**.
5. When you are done, **delete** the service ([Stopping and deleting a prepaid service](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/stopping-and-deleting-a-prepaid-service)). Just powering it off does not stop the charge.

> **Warning**
> 
> **Powering off** a server (shutdown) does not stop billing, because its resources stay reserved for you. To stop the charge you must **delete** the service.

## 3. Five rules to know

| Rule | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Hourly price | Monthly price ÷ 672. Every hour that starts is charged up front. |
| Monthly cap | In one calendar month you never pay more than the monthly price for an item (after 672 hours the rest of the month is free). |
| Powered-off server | A powered-off but not deleted server is charged in full. |
| Invoice | No invoice for usage; the balance top-up gets an invoice with VAT. |
| Refund | Topped-up balance is spent on services and is **not refundable**. |

For worked examples see [How the hourly price is calculated](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/how-the-hourly-price-is-calculated).

## 4. How much balance is enough?

Before an order, the panel checks that your balance covers the **first 24 hours** of the service. If it does not, the order does not complete and the panel shows the amount you need and a top-up link. In practice, topping up roughly the monthly cap of the service you plan to run keeps it from being suspended if you forget to top up. The panel also warns you at **72, 24 and 6 hours** remaining.

## 5. Frequently asked questions

**Will my data be deleted if my balance runs out?**

Not at once. Your service is first **suspended** (the charge stops). If you top up within 72 hours it starts again. After 72 hours it is deleted with its data; a final warning is sent 12 hours before that.

**Can I get my balance back?**

No. A balance top-up is invoiced, so it is not refunded; it is spent on Gyro services.

**Is there a fixed monthly option?**

For now these two services are sold hourly (prepaid) only. Thanks to the monthly cap, what you pay in a month never exceeds the monthly price.

**Where do I see my spending?**

Under **Spending** in the left menu. You can download the hour-by-hour ledger as CSV or PDF ([The Spending page](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/spending-page-hour-by-hour-ledger)).

## Next step

- Top up: [Topping up and the first-order rule](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/topping-up-balance-and-first-order-rule)
- Server or containers? [Gyro Cloud Istanbul — Getting started](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/gyro-cloud-istanbul-getting-started) · [Gyro Containers — Getting started](https://www.gyrohosting.com/en/knowledgebase/article/gyro-containers-getting-started)