Pricing details

Pro-rated hourly pricing, suitable for any workload

Pricing is based on provisioned throughput capacity that is allocated and data storage that is used. It is prorated hourly with a starting provisioned throughput capacity that you can increase or decrease by using the user interface or API. Costs are calculated for the provisioned throughput capacity that is allocated and isn't on the metered volume of requests.

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Plan Free tier Standard
  • Description
  • Try Cloudant at no cost, no time limits. Limited throughput and capacity.
  • Serverless scaling. Pay only for what you need. Control capacity.
  • Provisioned throughput capacity
  • Fixed at:
  • 20 reads/sec
  • 10 writes/sec
  • 5 global queries/sec
  • Fixed ratio of:
  • 100 reads/sec
  • 50 writes/sec
  • 5 global queries/sec
  • Read capacity
  • Not applicable
  • USD 0.00034/hr
  • USD 0.25/mo
  • Write capacity
  • Not applicable
  • USD 0.00068/hr
  • USD 0.50/mo
  • Global query capacity
  • Not applicable
  • USD 0.0068/hr
  • USD 5.00/mo
  • Storage
  • 1 GB included
  • USD 1.00/GB/mo
  • 20 GB included
  • Dedicated hardware
  • Not applicable
  • USD 5,000.00/mo add-on
  • Monthly pricing
  • No charge – only in multi-tenant
  • Starting at USD 75.00

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Frequently asked questions

How does provisional throughput capacity pricing work?

Provisioned throughput capacity (PTC) is based on a reserved amount of throughput operations you select for your IBM® Cloudant® instance and peak allowed number of operations per second. The throughput allowed rate is limited on a per-second PTC throughput capacity set for the instance at that time. Pay prorated hourly charges based on the capacity set.

How do I know I exceeded the capacity limit that I set?

You will receive a 429 status code (that is, “too many requests”) response if the number of operations per second exceeds the provisioned throughput capacity (PTC) allocated for a given request class. Various user interface (UI) and application programming interface (API) options are available to view throughput consumption and number of rate-limited operations.

Where can I see my usage data?

You can see your current and historical usage bills in the IBM Cloud® dashboard. Go to Manage > Billing and usage > Usage to see the total charges and usage for the month by service, plan or instance. Only hourly costs accrued for the current month and time are available.

Can I change my capacity setting?

You can change your provisioned throughput capacity (PTC) and see your current capacity settings in the IBM Cloud dashboard. Launch the IBM Cloud dashboard, choose Cloudant instance page > Manage > Capacity to view and change your PTC and see the hourly and approximate monthly costs. See the documentation for more information.

How does the pricing for data usage work?

Each plan has a base storage limit; more storage can be purchased in all but the Free tier. The Free tier includes 1 GB of storage at no cost. The Standard plan includes 20 GB of storage; additional storage is available at USD 0.0014/GB/hr.

What happens if I exceed the 1 GB storage limit on the Free tier?

Storage usage is checked daily. If you exceed your 1 GB storage limit, requests to the IBM Cloudant instance receive a 402 status code. That is, “Your Free tier account contains over 1 GB of data, and is restricted." To remove the restrictions on your account, upgrade to a paid plan or delete data (link resides outside IBM) to reset storage to below the 1 GB limit.

How many Free tier instances can I create?

You’re limited to one IBM Cloudant Free tier instance per IBM Cloud account. If you already have one Free tier instance, you cannot create a second Free tier instance or change a Standard plan instance to a Free tier. To create a new instance, either delete your existing Free tier instance or select a paid plan.

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