Each cloud instance includes a generous monthly bandwidth allocation. Bandwidth is pooled across all your instances in each region, and overage charges are minimal.
Bandwidth Allocations
Bandwidth allocations vary by instance size. Typical allocations include:
Check your specific instance flavor in the Cloud Control Panel for exact bandwidth allocations.
How Bandwidth is Counted
- • Outbound traffic to internet
- • Both IPv4 and IPv6
- • Inbound traffic
- • Private network traffic
Bandwidth Pooling
Bandwidth is pooled across all instances in the same region. This means:
- If you have 3 instances with 2 TB each, you have 6 TB total
- Any instance can use any amount of the pooled bandwidth
- One instance using 5 TB and others using 1 TB is fine
- Pooling is per-region (Seattle instances don't share with New York instances)
Monitoring Usage
Access Cloud Control Panel
- Log into the Cloud Control Panel
- Navigate to Project → Compute → Overview
- View bandwidth usage graphs and statistics
- Or select an individual instance to see its usage
Bandwidth Overages
If you exceed your monthly allocation:
- Overage Rate - $0.01 per GB over your allocation
- No Throttling - Your service continues at full speed
- Billed Monthly - Overages appear on your next invoice
Example Calculation:
Network Speed
- Standard instances - 1 Gbps port
- High-performance instances - 10 Gbps port
- No artificial throttling - Use full port speed anytime
- Burst capability - Handle traffic spikes easily
Reducing Bandwidth Usage
If you're concerned about bandwidth usage:
Enable Compression
Use gzip for web content
Optimize Images
Compress and resize images appropriately
Use CDN
Offload static content to a CDN
Cache Content
Implement proper caching headers
Tip: Inbound traffic is always free, so you're only paying for data leaving your servers. This makes cloud instances ideal for applications with high download ratios.
Private Network Traffic
To avoid bandwidth charges for inter-instance communication:
- Create a private network in your region
- Attach all instances to the private network
- Configure services to use private IPs for internal communication
- Traffic between instances on private network is free and unlimited
See our Private Networks guide for setup instructions.