Billing Breakdown and Optimization
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Depending on whether you use a Flex cluster or a dedicated cluster, your bill may include different line items and information for you to consider.
Understanding Flex Clusters vs. Dedicated Clusters
Flex Clusters
Flex clusters are ideal for learning and exploring MongoDB inexpensively. Flex cluster considerations include:
Multiple clusters share hardware. The underlying compute is on a large machine that hosts many Flex clusters, which impacts maximum performance and storage capacity.
Despite the shared hardware, all data is secure and accessible only by you.
Flex clusters do not have access to advanced features such as query diagnosis tools and horizontal scaling, which makes them a good fit for non-production use cases.
Dedicated Clusters
Dedicated clusters (M10 and higher) are designed for more robust workloads, offering greater control and guaranteed resources:
Your cluster's hardware is dedicated to your workload. Dedicated hardware provides granularity in the control of hardware specifications like RAM, vCPU, and storage.
We guarantee the availability of the specified resources, which ensures consistent performance.
Backup settings are more robust in dedicated clusters. You can configure backup settings for dedicated clusters with granularity as low as one-second intervals.
You have access to our premium diagnostic tools such as Performance Advisor and Query Insights.
Billing Breakdown for Each Tier
Flex cluster Billing
Billing for Flex clusters is straightforward and designed to keep costs low and predictable. Flex clusters have a maximum charge of $30 per month.
For more information, refer to the Atlas Flex Costs page.
Dedicated Cluster Billing
Billing for dedicated clusters is more complex, which reflects the enhanced capabilities and resources:
Starts at $60 per month, which typically includes compute and included storage costs.
There may be usage fees for services such as backups (depending on frequency and configuration), storage beyond the default cluster tier threshold, and data transfers.
The selected tier impacts the structure of your invoice, with various line items reflecting different aspects of your cluster's usage.
Investigating Your Invoice
Key Areas to Monitor
If there are unexpected charges on your invoice, monitor the following areas:
Cloud computing costs. These are often the most significant portion of the bill. You can review them by going to the Billing page in Atlas, and clicking Summary By Service. This view shows the costs of all clusters by provider, tier, and region. If you find any clusters that are no longer needed, pause or terminate them to avoid unnecessary costs.
Storage limits. Each cluster tier comes with a specific storage limit. To manage storage costs, enable the auto-scaling feature, which adjusts storage capacity based on usage and the thresholds you set. For example, if you’re using less than 50% of your allocated storage, the system will scale down your storage capacity automatically.
Backups. Backups are crucial for production workloads but can also be a significant cost driver. For non-critical clusters, consider reducing the backup frequency or disabling continuous cloud backups to reduce costs.
Data transfer costs. Data transfer costs vary depending on where the data is being transferred. Transfers within the same region are the least expensive, followed by transfers between different regions. Internet transfers are the most costly.
Billing Optimizations
Consider these strategies for optimizing your Atlas costs.
Optimize Workload
Optimize Queries
Queries that take a long time to execute can increase resource usage, requiring higher-tier clusters. Optimize these queries to reduce resource consumption and lower costs.
Index Management
Create indexes for frequent queries and ensure that the indexes you create include all fields being queried. Also consider running unindexed queries on separate nodes. For dedicated clusters, the Performance Advisor recommends indexes to create or drop.
Query Result Filtering
Filter and limit query results based on input and feedback from the end user. Ensure that you're only returning important results to reduce the amount of data returned, and thus save on egress costs.
Optimize Cluster Costs
Optimize Data Transfer Patterns
Whenever possible, deploy resources to the same provider and region to minimize data transfer costs. Only use inter-region or internet transfers when necessary.
Underutilized Clusters
Use auto-scaling for both cluster tier and storage to match your usage and prevent over-provisioning.
For dedicated clusters, consider scaling down to a lower tier or pausing the cluster if you won't use it for an extended period.
Create a separate cluster tier for aggregation queries to help isolate analytics work and ensure operational queries remain fast and responsive without affecting costs associated with the primary workload as your analytics needs change or grow over time.
Optimize Storage
Use features like online archive or TTL indexes to move older data from more expensive hot storage to less expensive cold storage. After you archive data, you can access the data through Atlas Data Federation.
Atlas supports scaling Azure IOPS independently from storage. You can increase storage performance without increasing storage.
You can increase storage to up to 14 terabytes per replica set for single-region clusters.
High Backup Frequency
If continuous backups aren’t necessary for a cluster, disable this feature to reduce costs.
Lower the frequency of backups for less critical clusters.
Optimize Network Costs
Lower network egress volume between the driver and Atlas by up to 50%, at only a slight increase in compute.
Avoid cross-region egress costs for multi-regional businesses, while also reducing latency.
Reduce inter-AZ data transfer costs by directly targeting nodes.
Analyze Spend
Monitor Spending with Cost Explorer
Regularly use the Cost Explorer tool to monitor spending patterns at the organization, project, cluster, and service levels. Set a frequency that works for your needs.
Set Alerts
Configure billing alerts for key thresholds, such as when your monthly costs exceed a certain amount. For example, set an alert when costs exceed $100. This proactive approach helps you avoid surprises.
Review Invoices
Each month, review your invoice to assess the highest-cost services using the previous billing optimization suggestions. This is a recommended best practice to identify cost reduction opportunities.
Support Resources
Atlas Basic Support: Available for all customers at no additional cost, providing a foundational level of assistance.
Developer and Premium Support: For teams that require faster response times and end-to-end database support.
Consulting Sessions: For complex workloads, consider consulting sessions to focus on optimization and cost reduction strategies.