Published: 24 October 2026
Most of the time a server needs very little DDoS protection. Then comes the one weekend that matters: a product launch, a tournament final, a big announcement, a sale that half the internet is waiting for. Those are the days attacks are most likely and most expensive, and the rest of the month they are not. On an hourly VPS, our paid DDoS tiers are billed by the hour like the server itself, so you can raise protection for the days that need it and drop back afterwards. Here is what that costs and how to plan it.
How hourly DDoS billing works
Every hourly KVM VPS includes 100 Gbps of always on DDoS protection at layers 3 and 4, plus five attacks a month above that cap, at no cost. The paid tiers cost their monthly price divided by 720 for each hour they are active. Change the tier and the new rate applies from that hour on. There is no upfront invoice and no minimum term, and the hours are billed together with the server.
| Tier | Per month | Per hour | 48 hours | 72 hours | 7 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Gbps, L3/L4 | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| 500 Gbps, L3/L4 | €156.45 | €0.2173 | €10.43 | €15.65 | €36.51 |
| 1 Tbps, L3/L4 | €523.95 | €0.7277 | €34.93 | €52.39 | €122.25 |
| 2 Tbps, L3/L4 | €1,048.95 | €1.4569 | €69.93 | €104.90 | €244.76 |
| 5 Tbps, L3/L4 | €2,623.95 | €3.6444 | €174.93 | €262.40 | €612.26 |
| 10 Tbps, L3/L4 and Layer 7 | €4,723.95 | €6.5610 | €314.93 | €472.39 | €1,102.25 |
Prices exclude VAT. A 1 Tbps tier for a three day launch costs €52.39, about a tenth of a full month at that tier. Our guide to the DDoS tiers covers what each one filters.
Three events, priced
| Event | Setup | Cost of the event |
|---|---|---|
| Weekend tournament | VPS III for 48 hours with 500 Gbps protection | €0.67 for the server, €10.43 for protection |
| Three day product launch | VPS IV for 72 hours with 1 Tbps protection | €1.60 for the server, €52.39 for protection |
| One week sale for a known target | VPS VI for 7 days with 2 Tbps protection | €13.54 for the server, €244.76 for protection |
Server prices are the Bucharest hourly rates. The tournament and the launch could just as well run on a server you keep all year: raise the tier on the Thursday, drop it on the Monday, and the rest of the month costs what it always did. For the tournament case, our post on renting servers for a weekend esports tournament covers the hardware side.
Plan it a day early
- Raise the tier the day before. In the client area, open the VPS, go to its upgrade options and change the DDoS Protection option to the tier you want.
- Ask us to confirm it is active. Open a ticket that says when the event starts. We confirm the new tier is in place on your address before the traffic arrives, which is the point of doing this early.
- Harden the server too. Close unused ports, keep admin access on a second address, and put a website behind a CDN or a reverse proxy. A bigger filter does not fix an exposed login page.
- Watch from outside during the event. A probe in another country tells you what users see. Our guide to uptime probes from five countries shows how.
- Drop the tier afterwards. Change the option back to the included 100 Gbps once the event is over and the attacks have stopped. Billing at the paid rate ends from that hour.
Do not wait for the attack
The included tier still mitigates five attacks a month above 100 Gbps. From the sixth in the same month, the targeted address is null routed until the attack stops or the server moves up a tier. That is fine for a server that gets hit by surprise once in a while, but a launch is not a surprise. If you know the date and you know you have enemies, raise the tier before the first packet, not after the null route.
What about monthly servers?
Monthly VPS, streaming VPS and dedicated servers can change tier the same way, from the client area. Raising a tier charges the difference for the rest of the billing period, and stepping back down returns the unused part as credit on your account. The net cost lands close to the days you actually used, though the money moves at the start of the event instead of the end.
For a project that only needs a server around an event, an hourly VPS is the simplest of the two. Our guide to when hourly beats monthly does the maths for the server itself.
Get started
Deploy an hourly VPS from €0.0056 an hour. It comes with the included 100 Gbps of protection from its first minute, and the paid tiers are there in the DDoS Protection option whenever you need them. The full tier list is on our DDoS protection page.