FAQ for Confluent Cloud Billing

Q: What does Confluent Cloud charge for Schema Registry?

Schema Registry is included with every Confluent Cloud environment as part of a Stream Governance package. The Essentials package has no base charge. The Advanced package adds an hourly base charge. Each package includes a set number of schemas, and additional schemas are billed per schema per hour. For package details and limits, see Manage Stream Governance Packages in Confluent Cloud. For current Stream Governance pricing, see Confluent Cloud pricing page.

This page answers common questions about Confluent Cloud billing, including pricing, free trials, marketplace billing, cost factors, and account management. For the full billing overview, see Manage Billing in Confluent Cloud.

Pricing and billing basics 

How does pricing and billing work for Confluent Cloud?

Confluent Cloud bills are based on consumption across several dimensions, including cluster capacity, data ingress and egress, storage, connectors, ksqlDB, Flink SQL, Tableflow, audit logs, and support. Cluster capacity is measured in Confluent Units for Kafka (CKUs) or Elastic Confluent Units for Kafka (eCKUs). Billing accrues hourly with monthly invoicing. For detailed billing information, see Manage Billing in Confluent Cloud.

When exactly does billing start and stop for my resources?

Billing starts immediately when you create a resource and stops when you delete it. Confluent Cloud bills in hourly intervals of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Any partial hour is charged as a full hour. Accrued usage for the current billing cycle appears on your next invoice. For detailed billing information, see Manage Billing in Confluent Cloud.

What happens to my bill if I resize my cluster?

For Dedicated clusters, when you expand or shrink a cluster, you are billed for the new CKU value starting in the next hour following the capacity change. For Basic, Standard, Enterprise, and Freight clusters, billing automatically adjusts based on your actual usage up to your cluster’s ceiling. For more information, see CKU and eCKU.

What’s the difference between a CKU and an eCKU?

A Confluent Unit for Kafka (CKU) charges for provisioned capacity. An Elastic Confluent Unit for Apache Kafka® (eCKU) charges for actual usage.

Unit	Used for	What you pay
CKU	Dedicated clusters	The number of CKUs you configure, regardless of actual usage.
eCKU	Basic, Standard, Enterprise, and Freight clusters	Only the capacity you actually use, up to your cluster’s ceiling, with a minimum charge if there’s any usage.

For detailed information, see CKU, eCKU, and Compare billing units for Kafka clusters.

Why am I charged for storage when I have a replication factor of three?

Confluent Cloud charges for the total post-replication volume of data stored. Because Confluent Cloud has a built-in replication factor of three for high availability, the amount of data stored typically exceeds the volume of data you write. For more information, see Storage.

Do I get charged for internal topics created by Kafka Streams or ksqlDB?

For Basic and Standard clusters on the legacy billing model, internal topics prefixed with an underscore (_) and created by Confluent components, such as ksqlDB and Kafka Streams, count toward partition billing. Topics internal to Kafka itself, like consumer offsets, don’t. For more information, see Partitions.

What if I exceed my annual commitment?

If you exceed your annual commitment, you continue using Confluent Cloud at your discounted rate with no service interruption and no penalty for exceeding your committed amount. For more information, see Annual commitments.

Can I cancel my annual commitment early?

Contact your Confluent account team to discuss options for your annual commitment.

Free trial 

How does the Confluent Cloud free trial work?

When you sign up for Confluent Cloud, your organization receives $400 USD in credit. This credit is automatically added to your billing account. However, to create any resources in Confluent Cloud, you must add a payment method. Your payment method isn’t charged until your free trial ends. The free trial ends after 30 days or after you use your $400 USD credit, whichever happens first. For more information, see Confluent Cloud Free Trial, or start a trial directly from the Confluent Cloud free trial page for the current offer.

Why do I have to add a payment method during the free trial?

A payment method is required to create any resources in Confluent Cloud. However, your payment method isn’t charged until your free trial ends.

Can I pause the free trial?

No, you can’t pause the free trial. To request a trial extension, contact the Confluent sales team.

How can I remove my payment method before the trial ends?

You can’t remove your payment method before the trial ends. However, you can manage your payment method by following the steps in Manage your payment method.

Payment methods and account 

What payment methods does Confluent Cloud support?

Confluent Cloud supports the following payment methods:

Credit card: The default option. Add a credit card from the Payment details and contacts tab in the Confluent Cloud Console. For instructions, see Manage your payment method.
Cloud Marketplace billing: Connect your Confluent Cloud account to a cloud marketplace and pay through your cloud provider. Follow the relevant pay-as-you-go guide:
Automated Clearing House (ACH): An automated bank transfer option. To use ACH, follow the steps in Manage your payment method. After setup, your account is billed through ACH, and payments are withdrawn automatically from your connected bank account.

What can I do if my company won’t allow me to add a payment method?

If you can’t add a payment method, contact the Confluent sales team and explain your use case. For example, some companies don’t allow you to add a payment method. In such cases, the Confluent sales team can help you.

Can I have multiple payment methods on the same organization?

No, each Confluent Cloud organization can have only one active payment method. You can change your payment method, but you can’t have multiple payment methods active simultaneously. For information about managing payment methods, see Manage your payment method.

How do I access account and billing information?

Access account and billing information from the Administration menu in the Confluent Cloud Console. You can also create API access keys from this menu.

Administration dropdown menu showing Billing and payment, Organization settings, and API access key options

How do I change my billing email address?

You can change your billing email address from the Payment details and contacts page in the Confluent Cloud Console, or you can contact your account team. The invoice can only be sent to a single email address. For step-by-step instructions, see Billing profile and payment.

How do I cancel or delete my Confluent Cloud account?

To close your Confluent Cloud account, delete your organization from the Confluent Cloud Console. You can’t delete an organization that has active clusters, an active cloud marketplace subscription, or an active minimum spend commitment. Deleting an organization removes all resources and data and can’t be undone. For step-by-step instructions, see Delete an organization.

How do I cancel my Confluent support plan?

You can change or cancel your support plan from the Support plans page. To cancel paid support, switch to the Free plan. Downgrade restrictions apply. Your current support level stays in effect until the end of the current calendar month. If you downgrade within the month you purchased your plan, your current level continues through the end of the next full calendar month. For more information, see Confluent support plans.

Where do I find my contract?

If you have a sales-assisted contract, contact your Confluent account team for a copy of your signed contract. If you signed up online and pay as you go, you don’t have a separate contract. Your agreement is the Confluent Cloud Terms of Service that you accepted at signup.

Marketplace billing 

What are Confluent Consumption Units?

Confluent Consumption Units (CCUs) are the billing units used in cloud marketplace deployments. Each CCU captures your Confluent Cloud usage based on underlying metrics such as data stored, ingress, egress, and other resource consumption. For current CCU pricing, see the marketplace listing. For detailed information about CCUs, see Manage Billing in Confluent Cloud. For marketplace setup guides, see Pay As You Go on the AWS Marketplace, Pay As You Go on the Google Cloud Marketplace, Pay As You Go on the Azure Marketplace, and Commitments on the Jio Marketplace.

How do I switch from direct Confluent billing to marketplace billing?

To switch from direct Confluent billing to marketplace billing, you can sign up through your preferred cloud provider’s marketplace. Follow the relevant guide for your cloud provider:

Can I reuse my Confluent account email for marketplace signup?

No, Confluent Cloud requires your email address to be unique across all organizations. If you’ve previously registered for Confluent Cloud, you must use a different email address when signing up through a cloud marketplace. Alternatively, you can choose to link your existing account during the marketplace signup process.

How does marketplace pay-as-you-go differ from commitment billing?

Pay-as-you-go billing charges monthly for actual usage with no commitment. Commitment billing offers discounted rates in exchange for an annual minimum spend.

Billing type	How it works	Commitment
Pay-as-you-go	You pay monthly for only what you use.	None
Commitment	You get discounted rates in exchange for a minimum spend amount. If you exceed your commitment, you continue to pay at the discounted rate.	Annual minimum spend

For more information about commitments, see Annual commitments.

What happens to my billing if my marketplace subscription is canceled?

Cancellation itself happens through your cloud provider’s marketplace, not the Confluent Cloud Console. If your marketplace subscription is canceled, Confluent Cloud access is suspended and eventually deactivated after a provider-specific grace period. You can restore access before deactivation by creating a new subscription through your cloud provider. For detailed information, see Marketplace Organization Suspension and Deactivation in Confluent Cloud.

Why don’t I see my cloud provider charges immediately?

If you’re using marketplace billing, your cloud provider might not show billed usage for Confluent Cloud until six to 24 hours after the usage occurred. This delay is normal for marketplace billing integrations. If charges still don’t appear after this window, contact your cloud provider’s billing support.

What if my organization is suspended or deactivated?

To reinstate a suspended account, create a new subscription through your cloud provider’s marketplace using the same billing account. The process varies by provider. If your account has already been deactivated, it can’t be recovered. For detailed instructions, see Marketplace Organization Suspension and Deactivation in Confluent Cloud.

Managing and reducing costs 

How can I estimate my Confluent Cloud costs before getting started?

You can use the Confluent Cost Estimator to estimate your costs based on your expected usage. The estimator can explain how different factors like data volume, retention, and cluster type affect your costs. For more information about billing dimensions, see Billing Dimensions in Confluent Cloud.

How do I estimate my Flink SQL compute costs?

To estimate Flink SQL compute costs before you run a workload, review the pricing examples in Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink Billing. The examples show how costs accumulate for both short-running interactive queries and long-running streaming statements. Flink SQL bills you per Confluent Unit for Flink (CFU)-minute that a statement actually runs, not for the provisioned size of a compute pool. For current CFU pricing, see Confluent Cloud pricing.

To cap what a workload can cost once it’s running, set MAX_CFU on a compute pool to limit its maximum hourly spend. For more information, see Update a compute pool. To alert on usage approaching that limit, see Best practices for alerting.

What are the main factors that affect my Confluent Cloud bill?

Four main factors affect your Confluent Cloud bill: compute capacity, data transfer, storage, and additional services.

Compute capacity: CKUs for Dedicated clusters or eCKUs for Basic or Standard clusters
Data transfer: Ingress and egress
Storage: Total post-replication volume of data stored
Additional services: Connectors, ksqlDB, Schema Registry, Support plans

For detailed information about each billing dimension, see Billing Dimensions in Confluent Cloud.

How do I reduce my Confluent Cloud costs?

You can optimize costs by:

Configuring appropriate topic retention settings (retention.bytes and retention.ms). For more information, see Configuration Reference for Topics in Confluent Cloud.
Properly sizing your clusters based on actual usage. For more information, see CKU and eCKU.
Using data compression to reduce storage and transfer costs.
Considering annual commitments for volume discounts. For more information, see Annual commitments.

How long does it take for usage to appear on my bill?

Usage appears in the Confluent Cloud Console immediately, but cost data can take up to 72 hours to become available through the Costs API.

How do I get notified about my Confluent Cloud usage?

Confluent Cloud sends usage notifications in the Billing and licensing category. During the free trial, you’re notified when free usage is 80% consumed, when free usage expires in three days, and when 50% or more of your free trial usage is consumed. If you have an annual commitment, you’re also notified when your commitment is 80% consumed and 30 days before it expires. For the full list of billing and licensing notifications and how to configure them, see Notifications for Confluent Cloud. To track spend, use the Costs API or cost allocation.

For Flink SQL, you can also alert on compute pool usage approaching its CFU limit. For more information, see the monitoring best practices in Best practices for alerting.

Can I set a hard spending limit or cost cap on Confluent Cloud?

Confluent Cloud doesn’t have a hard, dollar-based spending cap. The closest alternatives are usage notifications and annual commitments, which lock in a predictable rate. To break down where your spend is going, see Cost Allocation in Confluent Cloud.

Viewing your bill 

How do I view my organization bill and ID in Cloud Console?

To view your organization bill and Cloud Organization ID, open the Administration menu in Cloud Console and go to Billing and payment. The Billing page shows current accrued charges, and the Payment details and contacts tab shows your Cloud Organization ID. For step-by-step instructions, see Billing profile and payment.

How do I download detailed billing information?

You can download billing information as a CSV file from the Billing and payment screen in Confluent Cloud Console. For programmatic access, use the Costs API. For detailed instructions, see View or download invoices and Retrieve costs for a range of dates.

How do I get cost visibility per cluster or environment?

The Billing page in Confluent Cloud Console breaks down charges by environment: choose an environment to see a statement of resource, usage, and cost per unit. For more information, see View or download invoices.

For programmatic access, the Costs API and the confluent billing cost list CLI command return each cost line item with its cluster (resource.id) and environment (resource.environment.id). Filter or aggregate by either dimension. For more information, see Retrieve Invoices and Costs in Confluent Cloud.

To attribute costs further, down to the service account, user, or identity pool that drove them, see Cost Allocation in Confluent Cloud.

How does Confluent Support billing work?

You pay the higher of a minimum monthly charge or a percentage of your total Confluent Cloud usage costs. The percentage applies when it exceeds the minimum. Support charges count toward your annual commitment. For current minimum costs by plan, see the Confluent Cloud support plans page. For detailed information, see Confluent support plans.