Servers
2,400ETB/mo
Nano: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB SSD, at 3.29 ETB an hour while it runs. Full root on a machine of your own.
How a server is builtPriced in ETB · Addis Ababa
Cloud pricing in Ethiopian Birr,with no foreign card
Every figure AletCloud charges is in Birr and comes out of a prepaid wallet, topped up through Chapa with telebirr, a bank transfer or a card. No dollar invoice, no foreign card, no forex approval. The servers are in Addis Ababa, on hardware AletCloud owns and operates inside Ethio Telecom's Bole data centre.
Figures are in ETB before VAT. The 15% VAT is added at the top-up.
How cloud billing works in Birr
Money goes into the wallet in Birr first, and each resource draws on it by the minute, never past its monthly price. One server, read three ways: running, at most, and stopped.
6.25ETB/hr
What the wallet loses an hour while a Pro server runs.
4,500ETB/mo
The most that server can take from the wallet in a month, however it is used.
0ETB
What it draws from the minute you stop it until the month ends.
- The wallet is prepaid, in Birr
- Money goes in before anything runs: a top-up through Chapa by telebirr, bank transfer or card, with 15% VAT added at that point. Everything taken out is in Birr too, so nothing is paid in foreign currency and there are no hidden fees.
- Every plan is charged by the minute
- A server, a hosted app, a database, a bucket or an email plan draws on the wallet minute by minute. Each plan carries a monthly price; the hourly rate is that figure divided down, and the minute rate is the hour divided down again. Run a server for an afternoon and the wallet pays for an afternoon.
- The monthly figure is a ceiling
- A month of running reaches the plan's monthly price and stops there, so one resource never takes more than that from the wallet in a month. Stopping or deleting a resource stops the charge at that minute, and there is no overage charge.
- Domains are the exception
- A domain is not metered. It is paid for a year when it is registered and for another year each time it renews, and the whole amount leaves the wallet at that moment.
- Each product is billed on its own
- The bill is a sum of separate lines. A server, the database behind it and the bucket beside it each take their own figure from the wallet; there are no bundles, and nothing is paid for twice.
- An empty wallet suspends, it does not delete
- An SMS and an email warn you at about 48 hours of runway and again at about 6. When your balance is exhausted your services are suspended, not deleted; data is kept while suspended. A top-up brings them back where they were.
The rules in full, with every plan and both add-ons, are on the pricing page; the billing basics are in the getting started guide.
What each product starts at
The cheapest paid plan in each family, in ETB before VAT, read from the same plan list the console sells from.
App hosting
360ETB/mo
Pro is the first paid plan, per app. Solo is free, one app per account, with no expiry date.
How deploys workManaged databases
150ETB/mo
PostgreSQL, MySQL or MongoDB. Solo is free, one per account; Pro is the first paid plan.
What is managedObject storage
50ETB/mo
A 5 GB bucket. Tiers of 5, 10, 50, 100 GB; the tier belongs to the bucket, not the account.
How buckets workDomains
1,987ETB/yr
.us for the first year, renewing at 2,473 ETB. 13 extensions, each paid a year at a time.
How domains workBusiness Email
499ETB/mo
Starter: 5 mailboxes on one domain, 15 GB in all. One plan covers one domain.
How email is set upTwo optional add-ons sit on top of a server, a public IPv4 address and extra SSD, and both are priced on the pricing page. How the same server is priced by the other providers selling to Ethiopia is on the comparison page, each figure as the provider printed it.
What is free for life
A Solo app and a Solo database come with every account, with no expiry date. The private network and the MCP endpoint are part of the account as well. Everything else, servers, buckets, domains and email, is paid for from the first minute.
One Solo app
Free for life, built and deployed on the same pipeline as the paid plans. One replica, no persistent disk.
One Solo database
PostgreSQL, MySQL or MongoDB, with a gigabyte of storage and the same engines as the paid plans. It has no automated backups, and no backups of any kind.
Private networking
A WireGuard network for the account, with as many devices on it as you add, and nothing leaves the wallet for it.
The MCP endpoint
Seventy-nine tools behind one endpoint that any client speaking the protocol can use, at no charge on any plan.
Certificates
TLS for every hosted app and for the domains you point at them, issued and renewed without a line on the bill.
Support
Call 6993 and a person answers. Free on every plan, the free ones included.
Start free
No card and no call. Top up only when there is something to run.
How to pay with telebirr, a bank or a card
Getting from nothing to a running resource takes a couple of minutes and no conversation with anybody. Payments are processed through Chapa, in Birr.
- 01
Create an account
Sign up with a phone number or with Google, and verify the number with the one-time code that arrives by SMS. No card to put on file and no call to make before the first resource.
- 02
Top up the wallet
In ETB, through Chapa, which takes telebirr, a bank transfer or a card. 15% VAT is added on the amount added, and the invoice shows it.
- 03
Create what you need
Open the console and launch a server, an app, a database or a bucket. What runs is deducted from the balance as it happens, in Birr; nothing is paid in foreign currency.
What Chapa takes
- telebirr
- Bank transfer
- Card
What the wallet has to hold
Creating a resource checks that the wallet holds a day of it. A check, not a charge and not a hold.
- A day of a Nano server
- about 79 ETB
- A day of a Pro server
- about 150 ETB
A month for a small business
A shop with a website, a database behind it, uploads in a bucket and email on its own domain. Pro is what most accounts settle on, so the server is a Pro. The total is a ceiling: anything that runs for part of the month costs part of its figure.
| Running | Plan | A month |
|---|---|---|
| Server | Pro: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM | 4,500 ETB |
| Hosted app | Solo, the free one | Free |
| Database | Pro, PostgreSQL | 150 ETB |
| Bucket | 10 GB | 90 ETB |
| Business Email | Starter, 5 mailboxes | 499 ETB |
A .com domain is 2,982 ETB for the first year, paid once a year and not in the monthly figure. WHOIS privacy on it is a paid add-on, priced per extension. Shut the server down at six each evening and over the weekend and the month comes in under the ceiling: from the minute you stop it, the server costs 0 ETB.
Monthly ceiling, before VAT
5,239ETB/mo
175 ETB a day, 7.28 ETB an hour
The figure is before VAT: 15% is added to the top-up that pays for it. The domain is bought a year at a time and is not in it either.
Create an accountChange the server, app, database, bucket or either add-on on the estimator on the pricing page; the email plans are on the email page.
Questions about paying in Birr
Short answers in the site's own words. For anything else, call 6993 and a person answers, or write to support@aletcloud.com.
Ask us something elseDo AletCloud prices include VAT?
No. Prices here and on the price list are in ETB before VAT. The 15% is added once, when the wallet is topped up, and it appears on that top-up's invoice rather than on each minute of usage.
Can I pay for cloud hosting in Birr?
Yes, and only in Birr. The wallet is topped up in ETB through Chapa, by telebirr, bank transfer or card, with 15% VAT added on the top-up; what you run is then deducted from that balance as it happens. Nothing is paid in foreign currency, so there is no dollar invoice and no foreign card to find.
Can I pay for cloud hosting with telebirr?
Yes. telebirr is one of the three ways Chapa lets you fill the wallet, next to a bank transfer and a card. The balance is usable the moment it lands, with nothing kept on file and nobody to phone first.
Am I billed monthly or by the minute in Birr?
By the minute, in Birr. The monthly price on a plan is the most it can cost: the rate per minute is worked out from it, and a resource that runs all month reaches that figure and stops there. The one thing paid up front is a domain, which is bought a year at a time.
How much do I need in the wallet before I can create something?
Enough to run it for a day. Before a resource is provisioned the platform looks at the balance and asks whether it would cover twenty-four hours of that resource. It is a check at the moment of creation, not a charge and not a hold; the minutes are billed as they pass, the same as always.
What happens to my servers when the wallet hits zero?
Your services are suspended, not deleted; data is kept while suspended. Before that happens you get an SMS and an email at about 48 hours of runway and again at about 6. Top up and everything resumes where it was. Deleting a database yourself removes it and its backups.
Will an invoice arrive at the end of the month?
No. The wallet is prepaid and there is no credit line, so nothing is billed afterwards and no invoice arrives later. Tax is handled at the top-up: prices are before VAT, and the 15% is shown at checkout and on the invoice in line with Ethiopian tax law. The console keeps the balance and every transaction taken against it, per product and per hour. For volume or invoicing arrangements, write to sales@aletcloud.com.
What do I get free before I top up?
One Solo app and one Solo database, per account, with no expiry date, plus the private WireGuard network and the MCP endpoint that every account has. Servers, buckets, domains and email have no free plan, so they wait for the first top-up.
Start building locally.
13 ETB buys you an afternoon. Signup is a phone number and one SMS.
If it does not work the way this page says it does, call 6993 and say so.