Preview environment compute
Charged only while an environment is building or running, for the CPU and memory allocated to your application services.
- CPU
- Memory
VeilStream system services are included and are not separately billed.
Pay for environments while they exist
VeilStream bills preview environments for the compute they use while running, plus metered governed Postgres usage. When an environment is destroyed, compute billing stops.
- No platform fee
- No monthly minimum
- No per-seat pricing
- First $20/month free
First $20 of usage each month is free. No credit card required.
How VeilStream pricing works #
You pay for two categories of usage. There is no charge simply for having a project, repository, branch, or user configured.
Governed database usage
Metered across the Postgres access you use through VeilStream. No separate proxy license.
- Storage
- Traffic
- Queries
A worked example
A preview environment with 2 services, 500m CPU (0.5 core) each, 1 GiB memory each, running 4 hours uses:
…
Database usage is added separately. Image builds use the same CPU and memory rates for the minutes they take.
What does a typical preview environment cost? #
A concrete monthly number is easier to judge than five independent unit rates.
Small application
- 2 services
- 250m CPU (0.25 core) per service
- 512 MiB memory per service
- 4-hour average lifetime
- 20 preview environments / month
- Light database usage (2 GiB storage, 10,000 queries)
≈ … / month
Average per environment: …
Your usage may be higher or lower. Use the calculator below for your own workload.
Usage rates #
These are the rates most teams pay. Query rates decrease at higher monthly volume. Higher-volume compute customers may qualify for discounted rates — talk to us.
Preview environments
Only pay while environments are building or running.
CPU
…
500m = 0.5 CPU core
Memory
…
1 GiB ≈ 1 GB of memory
Governed Postgres
No separate proxy license or platform fee.
Database storage
…
Provisioned hosted database storage, averaged over time.
Database traffic
…
Data returned to clients through the governed gateway.
Database queries
…
Starting rate for the first 100,000 queries each month.
Estimate your cost #
Start from a reference workload, then adjust. The estimate is runtime compute plus monthly database usage — builds add a small extra amount at the same CPU and memory rates.
Example: small application / light preview usage
Preview environments
Resources per service and how often you spin up preview environments.
Each deployed service normally runs as one Kubernetes pod.
Database usage
Average monthly storage, traffic, and query volume across your databases.
Provisioned hosted database storage, billed as average stored gigabytes over the month.
Bytes returned to clients through the governed gateway (result traffic out).
SQL statements executed through the governed gateway.
Estimated monthly cost
…
Average per environment …
- Preview environments
- …
- Database usage
- …
Show calculation
CPU
Memory
Database
Stop paying when the environment stops #
VeilStream automatically tears down preview environments when they are no longer needed. Compute billing stops with them.
- Pull-request environments are destroyed when the PR is merged or closed.
- Branch environments expire after a maximum lifetime, or after idle time with no traffic — whichever you configure.
- You can destroy an environment manually at any time.
That is what makes usage-based pricing fit ephemeral environments: an always-on staging namespace keeps charging; a VeilStream preview does not.
Included at no additional platform fee #
No per-seat pricing. Developers, Claude, Cursor, and automation all use the same environment and database meters — there is no separate agent or MCP fee.
- GitHub integration
- Preview URLs
- Environment orchestration
- Build and runtime logs
- Automatic cleanup
- MCP and API access
- Data access policies
- Team members
- Projects and repositories
Predictable even though it’s usage based #
Set limits on environment size and lifetime, configure spend alerts and a monthly cap, and review usage in the console before the billing period ends.
Pricing FAQ
When does compute billing start and stop?
Compute billing starts when an environment begins building or running, and stops when the environment is destroyed or scaled to zero. Pull-request environments are removed when the PR closes. Branch environments follow the lifetime or idle timeout you set.
Are builds billed?
Yes. Image builds are billed at the same CPU and memory rates as running services, for the minutes the build takes. The calculator above estimates runtime; a typical build is a few extra minutes per environment.
Do you charge per developer or seat?
No. There is no per-seat, per-developer, or per-agent fee. AI agents use the same pricing model as people: they consume the environment and database resources they use.
What happens when a pull request is closed?
The preview environment is destroyed. Compute billing for that environment stops. Database storage continues only for databases you still have provisioned.
What counts as a database query?
Each SQL statement executed through the governed gateway counts as one query.
What does database storage mean?
Hosted database storage is the provisioned size of databases VeilStream holds for you, billed by average gigabytes over time. Sanitized seed snapshot files stored for restores are a separate, smaller meter.
Is there a free allowance?
Yes. The first $20 of usage each month is free, and you can start without a credit card. Without a payment method, $20 is also the monthly cap — deployments pause until you add a card. With a card on file, you pay only for usage above the free allowance.
Are there volume discounts?
Query rates decrease automatically at higher monthly volume. CPU, memory, storage, and traffic use a single published rate. For higher-volume compute, talk to us.
Can I set spending limits?
Yes. You can set a monthly spend cap, usage alerts, environment lifetime, idle timeout, and per-service CPU and memory limits.
Can I see usage before being billed?
Yes. The console shows current-period usage and estimated spend so you can see consumption before the month closes.
Running VeilStream at scale? #
For higher-volume workloads or organizations that need additional deployment, security, invoicing, or self-hosted options, talk to us.
Talk to usSee what your real workload costs
Start with the free allowance and pay only for the infrastructure you actually use. First $20/month free. No credit card required.