# Use Cases

This topic outlines specific use cases and describes how the plans are billed based on resource consumption when you have Cloud Savings Plans in your contract.

* [<mark style="color:blue;">Scenario 1: No Savings Plans</mark>](#scenario-1-no-savings-plans)
* [<mark style="color:blue;">Scenario 2: A single Savings Plan for a product</mark>](#scenario-2-a-single-savings-plan-for-a-product)
* [<mark style="color:blue;">Scenario 3: Several Savings Plans, each for different products</mark>](#scenario-3-several-savings-plans-each-for-different-products)
* [<mark style="color:blue;">Scenario 4: Several Savings Plans for the same product</mark>](#scenario-4-several-savings-plans-for-the-same-product)

## Scenario 1: No Savings Plans

You have not opted for Savings Plans.

**Billing process:** All usage is billed at the [<mark style="color:blue;">Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG)</mark>](https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/support/general-information/glossary-of-terms#pay-as-you-go-payg) price.

## Scenario 2: A single Savings Plan for a product

You have a Savings Plan defined for a single product.

**Billing process:**

| **Actual Consumption**                                           | **Billing Process**                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Less or equal** to the quantity configured in the Savings Plan | The plan's price applies to the consumption.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| **Greater** than the quantity configured in the Savings Plan     | <p>- The plan's price applies to consumption equal to the plan's quantity.<br>- The PAYG price applies to remaining consumption.<br>- The plan's rate is applied to resources chronologically, starting with those in the oldest created <a href="https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/support/general-information/glossary-of-terms#virtual-machine-vm"><mark style="color:blue;">Virtual Machine (VM)</mark></a>.</p> |

## Scenario 3: Several Savings Plans, each for different products

You have several Savings Plans, each for different products, for example, one for Cores, one for RAM.

**Billing process:** This scenario uses a billing methodology similar to [<mark style="color:blue;">Scenario 2</mark>](#scenario-2-a-single-savings-plan-for-a-product), but the logic applies independently to each product's Savings Plans. The actual consumption of each product is compared with its dedicated plan's quantity.

## Scenario 4: Several Savings Plans for the same product

**Billing process:** Savings Plans are applied to the product starting with the oldest plan. Consider two Savings Plans: Plan A (older Savings Plan) and Plan B (newer Savings Plan).

| **Actual Consumption**                                                                                           | **Billing Process**                                                                                    |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Less or equal** to the quantity configured in Plan A                                                           | Plan A's price bills the consumption. Both plans are still billed in full.                             |
| **Greater** than the quantity configured in Plan A, but less than the combined quantity configured in both plans | Consumption uses Plan A completely and partially uses Plan B, maintaining full billing for both plans. |
| **Equal** to the combined quantity configured in both plans                                                      | Both plans are consumed and billed completely.                                                         |
| **More** than the combined quantity configured in both plans                                                     | Both plans are completely consumed and overusage is billed at the PAYG price.                          |


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