Pay-per-Second compute.
Adaptive compute platform for modern workloads. You pay active seconds, not idle.
What is pay-per-second compute?
Pay-per-second is a billing model for compute workloads where you pay only for the seconds your workload actually consumes CPU cycles. Once load drops to zero, the workload pauses automatically — and billing stops.
Unlike classic cloud instances that run 24/7 and bill at full rate even when idle, pay-per-second compute scales with your real usage. Game servers, AI agents, microservices — anything without continuous load benefits measurably.
A typical game server runs 4 hours in the evening and sits idle 168 hours per week. Always-on pricing bills you for all 168 hours. Pay-per-second only for the 28 active hours — about 83% less.
Idle compute is the most expensive compute time there is: you're paying for nothing to happen.
How pay-per-second works
Three steps from account to running workload:
Deploy a workload
Pick a container image or modpack, set resources, deploy. Under 60 seconds from click to running service.
Scale adaptively
Workload starts on load and pauses on idle. Cluster-grade autoscaling, zero configuration on your end.
Bill per second
You see exactly how many active seconds each workload ran. Storage and egress itemized separately.
Billing per started second of active compute. No setup fee, no minimum term.
Pay-per-Second vs. always-on compute
Direct comparison of the two billing models:
| Feature | Pay-per-Second (xape) | Always-on (hyperscaler) |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | Per active second (from €0.063/h) | Fixed monthly or hourly rate |
| Idle cost | €0 — workload pauses automatically | Full price even at 0% load |
| Contract | None — cancel anytime | Often 12-month or reserved instances |
| Cold-start | < 60 seconds | Instant (workload runs 24/7) |
| Scaling | Automatic (scale-to-zero to cluster) | Manual sizing, often locked in |
| Data location | EU data centers, GDPR-compliant | Often US / unclear |
| Best for | AI agents, game servers, microservices | Workloads with constant high load |
Which workloads are pay-per-second a fit for?
Adaptive compute fits anywhere workloads aren't continuously busy:
AI agents and LLM backends
An AI agent is idle 95% of the time and only reacts when a user types. Pay-per-second eliminates exactly those idle costs — the agent is back in under a second.
Game servers (Minecraft, survival)
A friend group plays 4h per evening. At 30h active per month you save up to 85% versus always-on. World and data stay persistent.
Microservices with bursty load
Webhooks, ETL pipelines, batch workers — anything that runs in bursts and idles between. Scale-to-zero shuts them down automatically.
Test and staging environments
Staging clusters sit unused at night and on weekends. Pay-per-second pauses them automatically and saves 60-70% of compute cost.
Event workloads
Conference apps, tournament servers, short-lived demos — run for a few hours, then stop. You pay only the active time.
Cost examples
Concrete numbers for typical workloads:
Reacts to user requests, idle otherwise
About 2h per evening, 5 evenings per week
Active during the day, idle nights and weekends
Examples based on the Small plan (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, €0.114/h) plus 10 GB storage (€1/month).
Cost calculator
Pros and cons
Pay-per-second is the right call for many workloads — but not all:
Pros
- Up to ~85% cost savings on workloads with idle time
- No contract, no minimum term
- Per-second billing, transparent per workload
- EU-hosted, GDPR-compliant
- Self-service API for automation and CI/CD
- Adaptive scaling, no manual sizing
- Cluster-grade infrastructure (Kubernetes, Cilium, KEDA)
Cons
- Cold-start ~60 seconds for paused workloads
- More expensive than reserved-instance pricing at constant high load (>500 h/month)
- Not optimal for always-on public services with constant traffic
- Stateful components need explicit persistent volumes
If your workload has any idle component — true for >80% of modern workloads — pay-per-second is the more efficient choice.
Frequently asked questions
What happens when load drops to zero?
How fast is cold-start?
Is there a monthly cost cap?
Which container images are supported?
When is pay-per-second not worth it?
Where does my compute run?
Ready for pay-per-second?
Create an account and deploy your first workload. Per-second billing, EU-hosted, no contract.
EU-hosted · Self-service API · Per-second billing