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Kris Akins avatar image
Kris Akins asked

PlayFab billing not clear

I'm pretty frustrated that I just got a $40 charge from PlayFab that I wasn't expecting. I had a couple of standby multiplayer servers deployed and was keeping an eye on the billing page each time I logged in. For weeks it had showed $.10 to be billed, and that did not change each time I logged in. I figured since I was not using those servers, but that they were in standby mode, that I was not getting charged. However suddenly today that amount jumped up to $40. It's very frustrating that the amount to be charged is not current and I have no idea of my actual usage and bill until PlayFab suddenly decides to charge me.

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Seth Du avatar image
Seth Du answered

Stand-by server will consume the quota meanwhile it is counted when the VM shuts down. It is also the reason of suddenly generated cost. If it is in development mode, it is not necessary to keep the server running in stand-by mode as it is a feature for improving players gaming experiences and get them connect to the server fast.

You may navigate to [Game Manager] -> [Servers] -> [Total Usage] to review the details.

Please remember to set 0 for stand-by servers and shutdown all the running servers when test is done.

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Kris Akins avatar image Kris Akins commented ·

I understand that now, however it was very much not apparent day by day as I was checking my dashboard for accumulated costs. Why is the dashboard cost there if it is not accurate day to day? I feel like I was tricked into believing I owed $0 when I actually now owe $40.

"It is also the reason of suddenly generated cost."

It seems like this is a common scenario, so why not make it so that your users understand exactly what they are paying each time they check the dashboard? If a more detailed view of the accrued cost is available, then it's probably better to just not show that main amount on the dashboard and force the user to go look at the actual cost. This is pretty upsetting to me, I don't like unexpectedly paying $40, especially when I'm just in dev mode of my game, not even in production.

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Seth Du avatar image Seth Du ♦ Kris Akins commented ·

For now, the cost only displays when the VM shuts down. We have similar threads mentioning about the issue and have reported this to the product team. Please also feel free to send a thread on https://community.playfab.com/spaces/24/index.html. More vote from developers can help with the priority. Thanks for your understanding.

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