Important! This article has not been updated since May 2022 and is most likely obsolete. Please refer to the How flespi pricing works article in our knowledgebase for the up-to-date information.
On our pricing page, we did our best to explain every aspect of our pricing policy clearly and concisely. But requests for clarification keep coming. So, we are putting together a more detailed commentary and complementing it with a few examples to leave no questions unanswered.
Pricing details
Below is a slightly regrouped pricing table from the website (all prices are specified per month):
| Free | Commercial | |
| Default — all you get for a fixed fee (you can’t have less) | ||
| channels | 2 | 3 |
| streams | 1 | 3 |
| flespi devices | 10 | 1 000 |
| plugins | 1 | 2 |
| calculators | 5 | 1 000 |
| devices assigned to calculator | — | 1 000 |
| storage (see clarification below) | see limits by element type | ∞ (1 GB included) |
| tokens | 100 | 10 000 |
| subaccounts | — | 1 000 |
| limits (for subaccounts) | — | 10 000 |
| realms | 2 | 10 |
| realms users | 5 | 10 000 |
| SLA | € 0 (Best Effort) | € 0 (Priority) |
| Cost so far: | € 0 | € 100 |
| Extras — employ additional elements as your project grows (drop them if scaling down). Available for Commercial use only. | ||
| extra channel (see clarification below) | — | € 30 |
| extra stream | — | € 10 |
| extra 100 devices | — | € 1 |
| extra plugin | — | € 20 |
| extra 100 devices assigned to calculators | — | € 1 |
| extra 1 GB storage | — | € 1 |
| SLA Advanced | — | € 900 |
| Cost so far: | € 0 | € 101+ |
Quick summary:
- you cannot extend any of the limits in the Free version. E.g., you can have up to two channels, but you can’t go any further. To start scaling up, you need to switch to the Start commercial plan first.
- you will be charged for all elements of each type present in your account even if they are disabled. So, if you have six channels, three of which are disabled, you will still be charged for all six.
- even though the flespi panel shows the total storage volume for each element type, the storage is not redistributed between the elements. E.g., when you create two streams, you get 100 MB of storage for each one. Even if the first stream uses only 20 MB, the second one still has its 100 MB, not 180 MB.
- storage in the Free mode is limited based on the restrictions for each element type (see the table below).
- storage is not limited in the Commercial plans.
Platform restrictions
flespi platform imposes some storage and traffic restrictions that are generous and reasonable enough for you not to be too concerned about them. However, we want to put them straight, clarify what they mean, and give tips on how to avoid hitting them.
| Resources | Free | Start | Enterprise | Ultimate | Action if exceeded |
| Platform | |||||
| Maximum access tokens | 100 | 10 000 | 100 000 | 1 000 000 | additional access tokens are blocked |
| Maximum subaccounts | 0 | 1 000 | 100 000 | 1 000 000 | additional subaccounts are blocked |
| Maximum limits | 0 | 100 | 10 000 | 100 000 | additional limits are blocked |
| Maximum realms | 2 | 10 | 100 | 10 000 | additional realms are blocked |
| Maximum realms users | 5 | 10 000 | 100 000 | 1 000 000 | additional realms users are blocked |
| REST/MQTT traffic per minute | 50 MB | 2 000 MB | 4 000 MB | 8 000 MB | platform suspended for 1 minute |
| REST API requests per minute | 200 | 10 000 | 200 000 | 1 000 000 | platform suspended for 1 minute |
| Logs storage period | 365 days | 365 days | 365 days | 365 days | obsolete log records are deleted |
| Account inactive | 60 days | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | account is deleted |
| Telematics hub | |||||
| Maximum channels | 2 | 100 | 1 000 | 10 000 | additional channels are blocked |
| Maximum streams | 1 | 100 | 1 000 | 10 000 | additional streams are blocked |
| Maximum devices | 10 | 50 000 | 500 000 | 5 000 000 | additional devices are blocked |
| Maximum plugins | 1 | 100 | 1 000 | 10 000 | additional plugins are blocked |
| Maximum calculators | 5 | 1 000 | 100 000 | 1 000 000 | additional calculators are blocked |
| Maximum modems | 2 | 10 | 100 | 10 000 | additional modems are blocked |
| Active connections per channel | 5 | 5 000 | 50 000 | 200 000 | channel suspended for 1 minute |
| Stored data per channel | 100 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | channel suspended for 1 minute |
| Channel traffic per minute | 10 MB | 100 MB | 1 000 MB | 2 000 MB | channel suspended for 1 minute |
| Channel messages per minute | 300 | 20 000 | 200 000 | 500 000 | channel suspended for 1 minute |
| Stored data per stream | 100 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | new messages are discarded |
| Stream traffic per minute | 10 MB | 100 MB | 1 000 MB | 2 000 MB | stream suspended for 1 minute |
| Stored data per device | 100 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | new messages are discarded |
| Plugin traffic per minute | 1 MB | 20 MB | 200 MB | 1 000 MB | new messages are discarded |
| Plugin messages queue size | 100 | 5 000 | 50 000 | 200 000 | new messages are discarded |
| Storage | |||||
| Maximum containers | 20 | 10 000 | 1 000 000 | 10 000 000 | additional containers are blocked |
| Stored data per container | 100 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | new messages are discarded |
| Maximum CDNs | 5 | 1 000 | 100 000 | 1 000 000 | additional CDNs are blocked |
| Stored data per CDN | 200 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | new files are discarded |
| MQTT broker | |||||
| Active MQTT sessions | 20 | 50 000 | 1 000 000 | 10 000 000 | new sessions are discarded |
| Max subscriptions per MQTT session | 200 | 5 000 | 5 000 | 5 000 | new subscriptions are discarded |
| MQTT messages per minute | 20 000 | 5 000 000 | 50 000 000 | 500 000 000 | platform suspended for 1 minute |
| Persistent MQTT session storage | 100 MB | 1 000 MB | 1 000 MB | 1 000 MB | session is deleted |
| MQTT retained messages storage | 100 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | 10 000 MB | new retained messages are not stored |
Platform suspension means that all REST API requests are temporarily rejected.
Channel suspension means that all existing channel connections are closed and the new ones are rejected on the channel's URI.
Clarification 1: storage types and calculation
We have a few different types of storage in the flespi platform — channels, streams, devices, containers, CDNs, MQTT sessions that have dedicated space to store the data.
Which types of storage do we limit?
The data stored on the flespi platform includes messages queued in the channel, device, and stream buffers, data in containers, files in CDNs, persistent MQTT sessions, and MQTT retained messages. The platform restrictions table above specifies the limits for each element type. Exceeding the limit immediately triggers the corresponding action (the right column in the table). All limits are strict and governed by the platform architecture.
We do not limit the amount of data transferred through the channel or stream!
How do we calculate your storage use?
- We snapshot the storage used throughout the flespi platform (channels + streams + devices + containers + CDNs + MQTT sessions) every minute and calculate the daily average.
- Based on the daily average we calculate their monthly average.
- Round the resulting number up to the nearest gigabyte.
- Charge you.
Example: Say, you use a Commercial plan and had one channel and one device in the system throughout the given month. The daily storage use is illustrated in the table and diagram below.
The average monthly use amounted to 4 000 MB.
4 000 MB — 1 000 MB included in the Commercial plan = 3 000 MB => you owe us € 3!
How to make sure I do not use too much storage?
If you notice that the messages pile up in the buffer quicker than you expected but you still want to keep your storage use within certain limits, you can go one of the two ways (or both):
- reduce TTL in the element settings — this will lead to messages living less in the buffer thus not accumulating that fast.
- read messages from the element buffer more frequently — once you read the messages from the buffer into your application, you can clear the buffer.
Clarification 2: extra elements in the platform
If your infrastructure requires more elements in the flespi platform than the Commercial plans provide by default, you are welcome to go beyond the limitations by as much as you need. At an extra cost. How will we charge you? You can find the monthly prices for extra elements in the table above or on the pricing page.
What if I use the element for less than a month?
The logic is similar to storage calculation. We will collect the daily average for each element type and average it for the given month rounding up to the closest integer where necessary.
Example: You created the fourth channel on November 1 and used it for 15 days. Then created the fifth channel on November 1 and used it for the entire month (30 days). Therefore, in November you had (5*15 + 4*15) / 30 = 4.5 = 5 channels on average.
You will pay €30 * (5 total channels — 3 default channels) = €60.
Terms of hardware integration
You can request the integration of a new device model or an entirely new protocol. This process may vary in terms of required time and efforts from our engineers, so it is usually estimated on a case-by-case basis. Here's a detailed explanation of possible scenarios.
Billing terms and conditions
Once you start using the flespi Commercial account you should be aware of the order of payments and consequences of non-payment. Below is the detailed timeline of how you are billed for flespi services:
- You get the invoice from us for the reporting month (e.g. November) no later than five days after the end of the reporting month (December 5).
- You have to pay until the middle of the current month (December 15).
- You’ll get an additional reminder five days before the deadline (December 20).
- In case of non-payment of November's invoice, your account will be downgraded to the free version with consequent reduction of all limits — channels, devices, storage, etc. exceeding the free limits will be unavailable.
- Once you pay the invoice, your limits and data will be restored immediately.
- Your first invoice for the actual use of the flespi services will be issued on the first day of the month following the month in which you upgraded and will be prorated based on the number of days from the day of upgrade till the end of that month (e.g. if you upgraded on September 15, you will pay for half of a month).
See more details in the Public offer contract (Section 2. Consideration to the Company).
Downgrading
Should you for any reason decide to downgrade from a Commercial to a Free account, please learn how to do this properly.
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We understand the importance of financial matters for the business and believe that trustworthiness and openness is the best strategy. We left no aces up our sleeve and put everything in plain view. If there is still any ambiguity or confusion in our explanations, please let us know, and we’ll fix it.