How does hourly billing work at checkout?

There's nothing to pay up front — hourly lines are zeroed on the order invoice and the service activates right away. From that moment the plugin meters active hours, and each monthly renewal invoice bills the actual usage.

Can a client ever pay more than the monthly price?

No. Every billing cycle is capped at the package's full monthly price, no matter how many hours the month has. The monthly price is the ceiling — use less, pay less.

Which packages can bill hourly?

Any package with a 1-month pricing. Tick Bill Hourly on the plugin's admin page and its services start metering; rates derive from each currency's monthly price divided by your hours-per-month setting (672 by default), or you can set explicit per-currency rates.

What about addons, config options and plan changes?

Addon services meter independently and config-option lines scale proportionally with usage. Mid-cycle plan changes settle at the old rate first, so past hours are never re-billed at new prices.

Do hourly rates show on my order forms?

Yes. The hourly rate is annotated next to every price on the standard, wizard and ajax order templates — and third-party templates too — along with a clear pay-per-use banner, so clients know exactly what they'll pay.

What happens when a service is suspended or cancelled?

Suspended time is free by default (you can choose to bill it), and the meter resumes on reactivation. Cancelling mid-month produces a final invoice for just the unbilled hours.

Hourly Billing for Blesta

Your client spins up a server for a weekend — so they pay for a weekend, not the month. Hourly Billing brings cloud-style pay-per-use to your Blesta store: nothing due at checkout, one clean invoice a month, and a bill that never climbs past the plan's monthly price.

Order Now Knowledge Base

Blesta order form showing an hourly rate next to the monthly price with a pay-per-use banner

$0: due at checkout — services go live instantly
Monthly price: the most a client will ever pay per cycle
24/7: metering through the real service lifecycle
Any currency: rates and minimum charges per currency

How it works

Three steps, all automatic. You flip a switch on a package — the plugin handles everything from the order form to the invoice.

1

They order, it's live

No upfront charge and no waiting: hourly items are zeroed on the order invoice, the service activates on the spot, and the meter starts counting.
2

Hours tick only while it runs

Suspend a service and the meter stops; bring it back and it resumes. Cancel mid-month and only the hours used get billed. Nobody pays for downtime.
3

One honest invoice a month

Each renewal invoice shows the exact usage window and hours × rate — and it's always capped at the package's monthly price, however long the month.

Metered billing that runs itself

Everything you need to sell pay-per-use — pricing, metering, invoicing and admin control — without touching a spreadsheet.

Win the customers who won't commit

Zero due at checkout removes the biggest reason to hesitate. Hourly items cost nothing up front, the service activates immediately, and billing happens in arrears — each monthly invoice bills exactly the hours that ran.

Nobody pays for downtime

Active hours are tracked through the real service lifecycle: suspensions pause the meter, reactivations resume it, and a mid-month cancellation bills only the unbilled hours. Every cycle stays capped at the monthly price.

Set it once, sell in every currency

Hourly rates derive automatically from each currency's monthly price, with optional per-currency rate overrides and a per-currency minimum charge per cycle. Config options scale proportionally and addons meter independently.

You choose what bills hourly

Enable hourly billing per package, then opt individual services in or out from a native tabbed admin page with search, filters and pagination — plus an hourly summary panel right on each package's edit page.