> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hivenet.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Using vCPUs

> Learn how vCPUs work in Compute with Hivenet, when to use them, and what instance sizes are available.

vCPUs (virtual CPUs) let you run general-purpose workloads without a GPU. They’re ideal for everyday computing tasks, development, or background services where GPU acceleration isn’t required.

## What is a vCPU?

A vCPU is a portion of a physical CPU made available to your instance. In Compute with Hivenet, vCPUs come in preconfigured sizes that include matching RAM, disk, and bandwidth so you can get started quickly.

## Available vCPU setups

From the console, you can choose between GPU-powered instances or CPU-only instances. The CPU-only option gives you these configurations:

| vCPU | RAM   | Disk space | Bandwidth | Price (/h) |
| ---- | ----- | ---------- | --------- | ---------- |
| 2    | 4 GB  | 50 GB      | 250 Mb/s  | €0.035     |
| 4    | 8 GB  | 100 GB     | 250 Mb/s  | €0.07      |
| 8    | 16 GB | 200 GB     | 500 Mb/s  | €0.14      |
| 16   | 32 GB | 400 GB     | 1000 Mb/s | €0.28      |
| 32   | 64 GB | 800 GB     | 1000 Mb/s | €0.56      |

## When to use vCPUs

vCPUs are a good fit when your workload doesn’t need GPU acceleration. Common use cases include:

* Running lightweight web servers or APIs
* Hosting databases for development or testing
* Running CI/CD pipelines and automated builds
* Data processing scripts that don’t rely on GPU parallelism
* Background services or always-on workloads

If your workload depends heavily on parallelism (like machine learning training, video rendering, or simulations), a GPU instance is usually the better choice.

## Things to keep in mind

* **Scaling**: Start with 2 vCPUs and scale up as your project grows.
* **Billing**: Instances are billed per second via credits, with the hourly rate shown in the console.
* **Flexibility**: You can stop and start vCPU instances without losing data on attached disks.

## See also

* [Choosing between GPU and vCPU instances](/articles/guides/choosing-between-cpu-gpu)
* [Using GPUs in Compute with Hivenet](/articles/essentials/create-instance)