Billing and Payment

Aiven uses a transparent, usage-based billing model managed at the organization level. Billing groups allow you to consolidate costs across projects and use the same payment details for multiple projects within your organization.

Billing overview

All billing is managed at the organization level. You cannot share billing information between different Aiven organizations.

Payment Methods

Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex)
Bank transfers
AWS Marketplace
Google Cloud Marketplace
Azure Marketplace

Billing Cycle

Hourly billing - Pay only for actual usage
Monthly invoices - Consolidated at billing group level
No minimum commitment - Start and stop services anytime
No hidden fees - Backups and regional data transfer included

To access billing information, you must be an Organization Admin or have the organization:billing:read or organization:billing:write permission.

Billing groups

Billing groups store payment details in one place, allowing you to use the same payment method, billing address, and contacts across multiple projects.

What’s in a billing group?

Payment method

Credit card, bank transfer details, or marketplace subscription

Billing address

Company address for invoicing and tax purposes

Shipping address

Optional separate shipping address

Billing contacts

Email addresses to receive invoices and billing notifications

Credits

Trial credits or promotional credits applied automatically

Billing group benefits

Consolidated invoices - One invoice per billing group covering all assigned projects
Cost categorization - Group projects by department, environment, or cost center
Simplified management - Update payment details once for multiple projects
Automatic credits - Trial and promotional credits applied to all projects in the group

Creating billing groups

Aiven Console
Aiven CLI
API

Navigate to Billing

In the organization, click Admin → Billing

Create billing group

Click Billing groups → Create billing group

Configure settings

Enter billing group name
Add payment method
Set billing address
Add billing contacts

Assign projects

Go to each project’s settings and select this billing group

# Create a billing group
avn billing-group create \
  --organization-id <ORG_ID> \
  --billing-group-name "Production Services"

# List billing groups
avn billing-group list --organization-id <ORG_ID>

# Assign project to billing group
avn project update \
  --project my-project \
  --billing-group-id <BILLING_GROUP_ID>

# Create billing group
curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "billing_group_name": "Production Services",
    "billing_currency": "USD"
  }' \
  https://api.aiven.io/v1/organization/{org_id}/billing-group

# Assign project to billing group  
curl -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "billing_group_id": "bg123abc"
  }' \
  https://api.aiven.io/v1/project/{project}

Organizing with billing groups

By Department

Engineering Billing Group
├── backend-dev
├── backend-prod  
└── api-services

Analytics Billing Group
├── data-warehouse
└── streaming-pipeline

By Environment

Development Billing Group
├── backend-dev
├── frontend-dev
└── analytics-dev

Production Billing Group  
├── backend-prod
├── frontend-prod
└── analytics-prod

Every project with active services must be assigned to a billing group. Services cannot be created in projects without a billing group.

Payment methods

Credit card payments

The most common payment method for Aiven services:

Add payment card

Navigate to Admin → Billing → Billing groups → Select group → Payment method

Enter card details

Provide card number, expiration, CVV, and cardholder name

Automatic charging

Card is charged automatically at the end of each billing period

# Update payment card via CLI
avn billing-group card-update \
  --billing-group-id <BILLING_GROUP_ID> \
  --card-number "4111111111111111" \
  --exp-month 12 \
  --exp-year 2025 \
  --cvc 123

Aiven uses PCI DSS compliant payment processors. Card details are never stored on Aiven servers.

Bank transfer

Available for customers with negotiated payment terms:

Net 30/60 terms - Available with approved credit
Wire transfer details - Provided on invoices
ACH/SEPA - Available in select regions

Contact your account team or sales@aiven.io to set up bank transfer payments.

Marketplace subscriptions

Pay for Aiven through your existing cloud marketplace subscription:

AWS Marketplace
GCP Marketplace
Azure Marketplace

Find Aiven in AWS Marketplace

Link account

Follow prompts to connect your Aiven organization

Use AWS credits

Charges appear on your AWS bill and can use committed spend

# List marketplace subscriptions
avn billing-group list-marketplace-subscriptions \
  --organization-id <ORG_ID>

Marketplace subscriptions must be set up at the time of organization creation or by contacting Aiven support.

Service pricing

Aiven uses transparent, predictable pricing based on service plans:

Understanding service costs

Base hourly rate

Each service plan has a fixed hourly rate that includes:

Virtual machines and compute
Storage (disk space)
Automated backups
Data transfer within the same region
Maintenance and updates

Additional costs

Cross-region data transfer - Charged by cloud provider rates
Static IP addresses - Small hourly fee per IP
Additional storage - Beyond plan’s included storage
BYOC infrastructure - Billed separately by your cloud provider

No hidden fees

No charges for:

API calls
Number of databases
Number of connections
Backup storage in same region

Service plan tiers

Hobbyist

Single node, no high availability
Limited backups
Best for: Development, testing, learning
Starting at $10-15/month

Startup

High availability with multiple nodes
Full backup coverage
Best for: Small production workloads
Starting at $50-100/month

Business

Enhanced performance and resources
High availability
Best for: Production workloads
Starting at $200-500/month

Premium

Maximum performance and resources
Dedicated infrastructure options
Best for: Mission-critical workloads
Starting at $1,000+/month

Calculating monthly costs

# Get service pricing for a specific plan
avn service types --project my-project

# Example PostgreSQL Business-4 plan:
# Hourly rate: $0.50/hour
# Monthly cost: $0.50 × 730 hours = $365/month

# View current month costs for a project
avn project billing-summary --project my-project

Service costs are calculated per hour. If you run a service for only part of an hour, you’re charged for the full hour.

Invoices and reporting

Accessing invoices

View invoices

Navigate to Admin → Billing → Invoices

Download invoices

Click on any invoice to download PDF or view details

Email delivery

Invoices are automatically emailed to billing group contacts

# List invoices via CLI
avn billing-group invoice-list \
  --billing-group-id <BILLING_GROUP_ID>

# Download specific invoice
avn billing-group invoice-get \
  --billing-group-id <BILLING_GROUP_ID> \
  --invoice-number INV-2024-001

Invoice details

Each invoice includes:

Billing period - Start and end dates
Breakdown by project - Costs separated by project
Breakdown by service - Individual service charges
Service type - PostgreSQL, Kafka, Redis, etc.
Hours used - Actual hours each service ran
Applied credits - Any promotional or trial credits
Total amount - Final amount charged

Cost breakdown API

Export detailed cost information for business intelligence tools:

# Get cost breakdown for a billing group
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  "https://api.aiven.io/v1/billing-group/{billing_group_id}/invoice" \
  | jq '.invoices[] | {date: .invoice_date, amount: .total_inc_vat}'

# Get project-level costs
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  "https://api.aiven.io/v1/project/{project}/costs" \
  | jq '.costs[] | {service: .service_name, cost: .cost}'

Use the Invoice API to integrate cost data with your accounting or BI systems.

Credits and trials

Trial credits

New Aiven accounts receive trial credits:

$300 credit - For new signups (amount may vary by region)
30-60 days - Credits expire after promotional period
Automatic application - Applied to billing group automatically
No credit card required - Start using services immediately

Promotional credits

Aiven occasionally offers promotional credits:

Event credits - From conference attendance or partnerships
Referral credits - For referring new customers
Migration credits - When migrating from other platforms

# View available credits
avn billing-group credits-list \
  --billing-group-id <BILLING_GROUP_ID>

Credits are automatically applied to charges for any project assigned to the billing group. Credits cannot be transferred between billing groups or organizations.

Tax information

Value Added Tax (VAT)

EU customers - VAT charged unless valid VAT ID provided
Reverse charge - Available for EU businesses with VAT ID
Rate varies - Based on billing address country

Sales tax

US customers - Sales tax charged based on state regulations
State-specific - Rates vary by billing address

Updating tax information

Navigate to billing group

Admin → Billing → Billing groups → Select group

Edit billing address

Click Billing address → Edit

Add VAT ID

Enter your VAT ID or tax identification number

Verify

Aiven validates VAT IDs against official databases

Tax information must be accurate. Incorrect tax details may result in incorrect charges or compliance issues.

Billing permissions

Control who can view and manage billing with granular permissions:

organization:billing:read

Permission

View billing - Read-only access to:

All billing groups
Payment methods (masked)
Invoices and cost breakdowns
Billing addresses

Best for: Finance team members who need visibility without management access

organization:billing:write

Permission

Manage billing - Full access to:

Create, edit, delete billing groups
Add, update, remove payment methods
Edit billing and shipping addresses
View and download invoices

Best for: Finance managers and administrators

# Grant billing read permission to a user
avn organization user-permission-grant \
  --organization-id <ORG_ID> \
  --user-email finance@company.com \
  --permission organization:billing:read

# Grant billing write permission to a group  
avn organization group-permission-grant \
  --organization-id <ORG_ID> \
  --group-id <GROUP_ID> \
  --permission organization:billing:write

Organization Admin and Super Admin roles have full billing access by default.

Best practices

Use multiple billing groups

Separate costs by department, environment, or cost center for better tracking and chargeback

Set up billing contacts

Add multiple email addresses to ensure billing notifications reach the right people

Monitor usage regularly

Review cost breakdowns weekly or monthly to catch unexpected charges early

Use tags for allocation

Add tags to projects and services for more detailed cost attribution

Set up alerts

Enable notifications for approaching credit limits or unusual spending patterns

Automate cost reporting

Use the Invoice API to export cost data to your BI or accounting systems

Right-size services

Regularly review service plans and scale down unused or over-provisioned services

Use Hobbyist for dev/test

Development and testing workloads don’t need high availability

Troubleshooting

Cannot create services in project

Cause: Project not assigned to a billing group or payment method expiredSolution:

Verify project has a billing group: avn project get --project my-project
Check billing group payment method is valid
Update payment method if expired

Invoice shows unexpected charges

Cause: Services running longer than expected or additional features enabledSolution:

Review cost breakdown in invoice
Check service uptime: avn service list --project my-project
Verify no unwanted services are running
Contact support if charges still unclear

Credits not applying

Cause: Credits assigned to different billing group or expiredSolution:

Verify credits: avn billing-group credits-list --billing-group-id <ID>
Check credit expiration dates
Ensure project is in correct billing group

Payment declined

Cause: Insufficient funds, card expired, or fraud preventionSolution:

Update payment method with valid card
Contact your bank if card should work
Try alternative payment method
Contact Aiven support for payment plan options

Next steps

Organizations & Projects

Learn how to organize projects for cost allocation

Users & Permissions

Grant billing permissions to finance team

Service Integrations

Set up cost monitoring with metrics integrations

Aiven API

Automate billing and cost reporting

​Billing overview

Payment Methods

Billing Cycle

​Billing groups

​What’s in a billing group?

​Billing group benefits

​Creating billing groups

​Organizing with billing groups

By Department

By Environment

​Payment methods

​Credit card payments

​Bank transfer

​Marketplace subscriptions

​Service pricing

​Understanding service costs

​Service plan tiers

Hobbyist

Startup

Business

Premium

​Calculating monthly costs

​Invoices and reporting

​Accessing invoices

​Invoice details

​Cost breakdown API

​Credits and trials

​Trial credits

​Promotional credits

​Tax information

​Value Added Tax (VAT)

​Sales tax

​Updating tax information

​Billing permissions

​Best practices

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

Organizations & Projects

Users & Permissions

Service Integrations

Aiven API

Billing overview

Billing groups

What’s in a billing group?

Billing group benefits

Creating billing groups

Organizing with billing groups

Payment methods

Credit card payments

Bank transfer

Marketplace subscriptions

Service pricing

Understanding service costs

Service plan tiers

Calculating monthly costs

Invoices and reporting

Accessing invoices

Invoice details

Cost breakdown API

Credits and trials

Trial credits

Promotional credits

Tax information

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Sales tax

Updating tax information

Billing permissions

Best practices

Troubleshooting

Next steps