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Billing principle

Billing on captured data volume, not users or servers​

Spider is billed based on the volume of network data captured by its Whisperer agents, not on the count of user accounts, observed systems, or servers.

This billing mode allows invoicing based on usage, without any restriction on users accounts, observed systems or server count. Usage may change whenever, the billing will be regulated on the following invoice.

Data volume billing​

Spider licence is invoiced based on the volume of network data captured, in terabytes per year.

The prepaid volume pool is set at the organisation level in the Floocus Portal, and shared by every licence that organisation owns - unlike servers or user accounts, which are unrestricted, the terabyte pool is the one dimension billing is anchored on.

Data volume is gathered from the same usage statistics Spider already collects and sends to Floocus (uploaded.bytes, see Usage statistics) - no separate metering agent or configuration is required.

Pricing computation​

Prepaid plan​

  • A minimum prepaid volume (terabytes/year) is bought, based on anticipated usage, at a contracted €/TB rate.
  • Usage is aggregated daily and sent to Floocus central servers.
  • Every 6 months, any volume above the prepaid plan is billed in a regulatory invoice.

Extra volume​

Data volume above the prepaid plan is billed at a higher, contracted €/TB overage rate - never below the prepaid rate. It is best to set the prepaid plan correctly than to pay extra!

Pricing follows a marginal bracket ladder (the rate per TB decreases as the prepaid pool grows) and a minimum annual licence fee applies. See the current public rates and an interactive cost estimator on the Floocus pricing page.

Also, the prepaid plan of a licence is shared across every setup of Spider run by the same organisation - usage from all setups is pooled against the same prepaid volume before any overage is billed.