Buy a Savings Plan or Reserved Instance
Configure a Savings Plan or Reserved Instance, buy it from its own page, and follow it from Queued to Active, including the upfront payment approval.
Buying a commitment takes two steps. First you configure it on the purchase page, which saves it as Queued. Then you buy it from its own page. For how a commitment discounts your usage and how it's billed, see Savings Plans and Reserved Instances.
Before you begin
- Commitments belong to the whole subscription. To buy one, you need the Owner or Billing Operator role on the subscription, or a custom role there with Manage access to Billing & Cost.
- With Read access to Billing & Cost on the subscription, as with the Contributor or Reader role, you can open the purchase page and see the savings preview, but the platform refuses the purchase.
- A role on a single project can't view or buy commitments. The console shows Subscription-level access required.
- To choose the size of a Reserved Instance in the console, you also need Read access to Compute / Instances, for example with the Reader role.
- Decide on the hourly amount first. Size it to the part of your compute usage that runs around the clock. See How coverage works.
Configure the commitment
In the console, go to BillingCommitments, and select Purchase commitment.
Under Commitment type, select Savings Plan or Reserved Instances.
Under Term & payment, select the Term and the Payment option.
Under Hourly commitment, drag the slider to the amount that you commit to spend per hour.
Under Coverage, select what the commitment covers. For a Savings Plan, select All eligible classes or one compute class. For a Reserved Instance, select one family and size.
Check Savings preview, and select Purchase commitment.
This doesn't buy the commitment yet. The console saves it as Queued and returns to the commitments list. A queued commitment costs nothing and covers nothing. To buy it, see Buy the commitment.
| Field | Options and rules |
|---|---|
| Commitment type | Savings Plan, the default, or Reserved Instances. |
| Term | 1 year, the default, which is 365 days, or 3 years, which is 1,095 days. |
| Payment option | All upfront, Partial upfront, the default, or No upfront. It decides what you pay at purchase, and whether the commitment waits for a payment approval. See How a commitment is billed and What happens after you buy. |
| Hourly commitment | More than 0. In the console, you set it with the slider. |
| Coverage, Savings Plan | All eligible classes, the default, or one compute class. The list shows the compute classes that have a priced size in your subscription's default region and a commitment discount. Each class shows its discount for the selected term and payment option. |
| Coverage, Reserved Instance | One family and size, under Family & size. Required. The platform refuses a size whose class it doesn't discount, or a size that has no price in your subscription's default region. |
Read the savings preview
The preview runs the same checks and uses the same current prices as saving the commitment, but saves nothing. It updates as you change the form.
| Line | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Estimated monthly savings | What the covered usage saves against list rates in a month, if your usage uses the whole commitment every hour. Below it, the same savings over the whole term. |
| Effective discount | The discount for your selection. |
| Committed / mo | Your hourly commitment over a month. |
| Upfront due | What you pay at purchase. None with No upfront. |
| Break-even | How many months of savings pay back the upfront part. Immediate without an upfront part, and No break-even within term when the savings don't pay it back before the term ends. |
Buy the commitment
In the console, go to BillingCommitments, and open the commitment with the status Queued.
Select Purchase.
Only a queued commitment can be bought. Buying it keeps the discount and the upfront amount that were calculated when you saved it. A queued commitment stays queued until you buy it: its term doesn't start by itself. A queued commitment can't be deleted.
What happens after you buy
The payment option decides whether the commitment takes force at once:
| From | What happens | To |
|---|---|---|
| Queued | You buy it with No upfront. | Active |
| Queued | You buy it with All upfront or Partial upfront. A charge for the upfront part is created, awaiting approval. | Pending activation |
| Pending activation | The platform's finance team confirms that your upfront payment arrived. | Active |
| Pending activation | The platform's finance team rejects the upfront payment. | Rejected |
You pay the upfront part offline, by bank transfer. See Invoices and payments. While the commitment waits, its page shows Awaiting Finance approval, and its start date shows On approval. Usage isn't covered in the meantime.
The term starts when the commitment becomes Active: at purchase with No upfront, and at the approval with an upfront part. It runs for one full term from then.
A Rejected commitment never takes force and is closed: it can't be bought or renewed. To commit again, configure a new commitment.
Renew a commitment
Renewing a commitment is available through the API only. Use POST/scopes/{scopeId}/billing/commitments/{commitmentId}/actions/renew.
| Rule | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Which commitments | Active ones. A queued, pending, or rejected commitment is refused. |
| New expiry date | One term after the current expiry date, or one term after the renewal if that date has passed. |
| Status | Active right after the renewal. |
| Upfront part | With All upfront or Partial upfront, the upfront part is charged again for the new term. |
| Requests | Send each renewal once, with an Idempotency-Key. |
To see when a commitment's term ends, check its expiry date. See The life of a commitment.
Result
An Active commitment covers your usage from the start of its term. Its utilization, coverage, and savings appear on its page and in the commitments list. See Utilization, coverage, and savings.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| The console shows Subscription-level access required. | Your role covers a single project. | Ask a subscription owner for a role with Manage access to Billing & Cost on the subscription, such as Owner or Billing Operator. |
| The preview works, but the purchase is refused. | Your role has Read access to Billing & Cost, but not Manage access. | Ask for a role with Manage access to Billing & Cost on the subscription, such as Owner or Billing Operator. |
| The Reserved Instance sizes show Couldn't load compute sizes for this region.. | The sizes couldn't be loaded, or your role has no Read access to Compute / Instances. | Select Retry. If the message stays, ask for a role with Read access to Compute / Instances, such as Reader. |
| The form shows Pick a compute family and size to reserve. | A Reserved Instance needs a size. | Under Coverage, select a family and size. |
| The Savings Plan coverage shows No commitment-eligible services are available in this region yet. | No compute class in your subscription's default region has both a price and a commitment discount. | The platform sets which classes have a discount. To ask about commitments in your region, see Contact. |
| Purchase isn't on the commitment's page. | The commitment isn't queued: it's already bought, waiting for approval, or rejected. | See What happens after you buy. |
Related
- Savings Plans and Reserved Instances
- Analyze spend with Cost Explorer: find the steady part of your compute spend before you commit.
- Invoices and payments: pay the upfront part.
- Use built-in and custom roles