> ## 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. # Understand Hivenet Object Storage usage and billing > Understand shared credits, hourly storage charges, access when funds run out, and monthly invoicing for direct customers. Hivenet Object Storage has two billing arrangements. Self-service organizations use prepaid credits shared with Compute and Hivenet Inference Service. Direct customers with an invoicing agreement receive a monthly invoice after use. ## Your organization's price The list price is **€9.99 per TB per month**. Your organization may have an agreed rate or discount. Egress and API operations are included. * **Self-service:** Storage charges are deducted from the shared organization balance each hour. The €50 monthly invoice minimum does not apply. Credit purchases have the minimum shown in the payment dialog. * **Invoiced customers:** A **€50 monthly minimum** applies. Payment terms follow your organization's contract. Changes to your rate do not alter charges for a previous billing period. ## How storage is metered Charges depend on both the amount stored and how long it is stored. Changes in stored data affect metered usage over time. There is no minimum storage duration for an individual upload. Storage sizes and prices use decimal units: **1 TB = 1,000 GB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes**, and **1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes**. The hourly rate per TB is your organization's monthly price divided by the actual hours in that calendar month: 744 for a 31-day month, 720 for a 30-day month, and 672 or 696 for February. The console's cost and estimate cards and monthly invoicing use this same calculation. A full month at an average of 1 TB incurs €9.99 in storage usage charges at the list rate. The €50 monthly minimum still applies to invoiced customers. Calculations retain full precision. Amounts displayed in the console and on invoices are rounded half-up to two decimal places. For example, storing 500 GB for all of November at the list rate costs €4.995 before rounding and displays as **€5.00**. For self-service billing, each hourly deduction applies the change in the rounded month-to-date total, so rounding does not accumulate across hourly charges. The usage API reports **KiB-hours**, a measure of storage over time, where 1 KiB is 1,024 bytes. Billing converts this binary meter to decimal TB-hours: `KiB-hours × 1,024 ÷ 1,000,000,000,000`. Do not apply the price per TB directly to the raw KiB-hours value. Deleting objects ends their contribution to future storage usage. It does not remove charges already incurred. Stored data continues to accrue charges while access is restricted. ## When credits run out When a self-service organization's balance reaches zero or becomes negative, storage changes to **Read only** or **Disabled**, depending on the organization's configured access mode. Reaching zero does not immediately delete data or revoke access keys. | Action | Full access | Read only | Disabled | | - | - | - | - | | List bucket names | Available | Available | Available | | List and download existing objects through an S3 client | Available | Available | Blocked | | Upload or modify objects | Available | Blocked | Blocked | | Delete objects or create buckets | Available | Blocked | Blocked | The console's bucket view is locked while the organization is out of credits. In **Read only** mode, you can still list and download existing objects through a configured [AWS CLI](https://docs.hivenet.com/documentation/object-storage/aws-cli.md), [SDK](https://docs.hivenet.com/documentation/object-storage/sdks.md), or [rclone](https://docs.hivenet.com/documentation/object-storage/rclone.md) client. In **Disabled** mode, authenticated object listing and downloads are also blocked. Do not assume downloads remain available after credits run out. Stored data continues to incur charges, so the balance can become negative. Adding credits first pays that outstanding amount. For example, adding €10 to a balance of −€2 leaves €8 for further usage. > [!WARNING] > > After seven days without funds, stored data becomes eligible for deletion. Add enough credits to clear any outstanding balance and cover continued storage. Existing [share links](https://docs.hivenet.com/documentation/object-storage/share-objects.md) remain valid until expiry even when the access mode changes, as long as the object still exists. If you are unsure which access mode applies to your organization, contact support. ## Add credits and restore access The organization **Owner** manages payments. If you cannot add credits, ask the Owner to do so. 1. Open **Object Storage** and select **Add credits** in the warning banner. 2. Enter an amount or choose a credit bundle. Follow the minimum shown in the dialog. 3. If an outstanding balance is shown, add enough to clear it and leave a positive balance for continued usage. 4. Select **Continue to payment** and complete the Stripe checkout. 5. Return to the console and check the balance and restored access. A payment that leaves the balance at zero or below does not restore full access. Once the payment leaves a positive balance, the credit-related access restrictions are lifted. If the balance has updated but the page remains locked, refresh it and contact support if the problem continues. The Owner can also use **Billing** to add credits or configure auto top-up. See [Billing information](https://docs.hivenet.com/documentation/account-billing/billing-info.md#add-credits). Compute, inference, and self-service storage draw from the same balance, so account for their combined usage. ## How monthly invoicing works For direct customers with an invoicing agreement, storage is billed externally instead of drawing from the prepaid balance. The prepaid-credit warnings and lockouts above do not apply to this arrangement. After each month ends, Hivenet reviews the organization's metered storage usage and agreed rate, applies the €50 monthly minimum, and issues a formal invoice. Follow the payment terms in your contract. ## Read the cost cards Open **Object Storage** to review usage and the displayed billing period. | Card | How to read it | | - | - | | **Storage used** | The current amount of data stored across your organization, not accumulated usage over time. | | **Cost this month** | Storage cost accumulated so far in the displayed period, using your organization's configured rate. | | **Estimated cost this month** | Cost so far plus the projected cost of keeping the current amount of data stored for the remaining hours of the calendar month, using your organization's hourly rate per TB. It can change when you upload or delete data. | | **Estimated egress savings** | Outbound traffic in decimal GB multiplied by the AWS comparison rate of €0.09 per GB, rounded to cents, such as “up to €1.82 saved.” This is an estimate, not a credit or payment. | These cards describe storage usage. The shared prepaid balance also reflects charges from other products and any credit purchases. For invoiced customers, charges are handled externally. A zero charge in the console does not mean contracted storage is free; use the formal invoice and contract to confirm what is due. Transfer data is aggregated hourly, so the egress comparison is not a real-time meter. It is shown for the organization, not individual buckets. ## Review a billing question Check the organization, billing period, configured rate, and changes in stored data. For prepaid billing, also check the outstanding balance and credit purchases. For invoiced billing, check the monthly minimum and invoice reference. If you need help, ask your Hivenet contact or use **Chat with us** in the console. Include those details without sending credentials. See [Manage objects](https://docs.hivenet.com/documentation/object-storage/objects.md) to review or remove stored data. 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