The Billing page in the Blue Matador app is where you can view and manage your subscription to Blue Matador. It can be accessed via Account > Billing.
Billing Plan
Blue Matador does not have tiered subscription plans that result in higher charges for more features. Instead, we simply bill based on the size of the infrastructure that is being monitored, and all customers receive all features. In general, Blue Matador bills only for compute resources, which we call hosts. For a detailed explanation for what counts as a host, view the section on How Hosts Are Counted below.
Blue Matador charges $14 per host per month when billed monthly, or $12 per host per month when billed annually. For environments with 20 or fewer nodes, you'll be charged based on your actual host count. Once you exceed 20 hosts, your Blue Matador account manager will contact you to discuss enterprise pricing options for your growing business.
For environments with more than 20 hosts, Blue Matador charges $14 per host per month when billed monthly, or $12 per host per month when billed annually ($144 per host per year).
A consistent monthly or annual bill will help you get budget approved for Blue Matador. This is why we have introduced consistent billing. With consistent billing, your monthly or annual price will be locked in as long as your usage is reasonably close to the amount you subscribed for. This means if you subscribed for 40 hosts, but some months use 42 hosts, 45 hosts, or 38 hosts, your bill will stay consistent at your initial 40 hosts price; however, if your account is significantly over the initial amount (a change of more than 10%), Blue Matador will automatically increase your bill based off of your actual usage. If you have further questions about usage billing, please feel free to meet with one of our team members.
How Hosts Are Counted
Blue Matador bills based on number of active hosts that are monitored. Blue Matador automatically monitors dozens of types of resources, but only compute resources are considered a billable host. Here is how the number of hosts for your account is calculated:
Base host counting:
Each server (installed Linux or Windows agent, Amazon EC2 Instance, Amazon ECS Instance, or Kubernetes Node) = 1 host
Every 10 Amazon Lambda functions = 1 host (rounded up)
Every 10 Amazon ECS Tasks = 1 host (rounded up)
Every 10 Kubernetes Pods = 1 host (rounded up)
Deduplication credits: Since some resource types can overlap, Blue Matador attempts to deduplicate host counting where possible to reduce your bill:
Any server that is multiple resource types (agent + EC2 instance + Kubernetes node) is only counted as 1 server, even if it shows up in the Resources page multiple times
Every ECS Instance provides 10 credits towards ECS Tasks
Every Kubernetes Node provides 10 credits towards Kubernetes Pods
Example 1: Simple server setup
You have 10 Linux agents and 2 Windows agents installed across 12 EC2 instances, and no other resources.
Your usage is 12 hosts.
Example 2: Serverless-only setup
You are serverless with no agents or EC2 instances. You have 112 Lambda functions and 87 ECS Tasks in Fargate.
112 Lambda functions = 12 hosts
87 ECS Tasks = 9 hosts
Your usage is 21 hosts.
Example 3: Mixed server and serverless setup
Your account uses both server and serverless compute resources:
10 Linux agents on Kubernetes Nodes (also EC2 instances) running 300 pods
5 Windows agents (not on EC2)
40 ECS Tasks in Fargate
80 ECS Tasks on 8 ECS Nodes
120 Lambda functions
Host calculation breakdown:
Server resources:
10 Linux/Kubernetes/EC2 instances = 10 hosts + 100 Kubernetes pod credits
300 Kubernetes pods - 100 credits = 200 remaining pods = 20 hosts
5 Windows agents = 5 hosts
8 ECS instances = 8 hosts + 80 ECS task credits
Serverless resources:
120 ECS tasks (40 Fargate + 80 on nodes) - 80 credits = 40 remaining tasks = 4 hosts
120 Lambda functions = 12 hosts
Total: 10 + 20 + 5 + 8 + 4 + 12 = Your usage is 59 hosts.
Auto Scaling
Many production workloads do not use a static amount of resources. When Blue Matador is determining how many hosts to bill for, we take auto scaling into account in order to save you money. The number of hosts on your account is tracked throughout the day, and when you are ready to subscribe to Blue Matador, we use the average number of hosts that were observed over the past 14 days to determine the number of billable hosts. This number may increase or decrease throughout your trial based on which integrations have been enabled and where the agent has been installed.
We recognize that counting hosts is a difficult problem and the automatic solution may not exactly fit your needs. We encourage you to contact sales to work on a custom billing option if our automated method of determining billable hosts does not suit your needs.
Subscribing
Subscribing to Blue Matador is very simple. Either during your trial, or after your trial is over, go to the billing page via Account > Billing.
Select a billing plan that best suits your needs. The total cost of the subscription is displayed with either the monthly or annual plan. The number of hosts you are billed on is based on the calculations described in the How Hosts Are Counted section. If your trial is active, the most recent 14 days of usage are used to calculate the average host count. If your trial is over, the 14 days of usage leading up to the end of your trial are used.
Enter your billing email address. This is where billing receipts will be emailed, and where you will be contacted about any billing issues. Also enter the US State where your company is headquartered, or “Not in the US” if your company is not in the US. This is used to determine how much, if any, sales tax must be collected on your subscription.
Enter your credit card information.
Blue Matador does not store, process, or handle any payment information. We use Stripe as our payment processor.
Review the information and click Confirm. If your trial has already ended, your card will be charged immediately, and your account will be fully reinstated. If your trial is not over, your credit card will not be charged until the end of your trial, and your service with Blue Matador will continue uninterrupted.
Your actual billed amount may be slightly higher than the plan cost if sales tax must be collected for the US State your company is headquartered in.
Viewing Your Subscription
Once you have subscribed to Blue Matador, the Billing page will show your current subscription. The number of hosts, current plan, billing email address, and last 4 digits of your credit card are shown. You can edit your subscription, credit card, or email address by clicking on the edit icons on the page.
Viewing Your Billing History
You can view your billing history by clicking on the Billing History link from the Billing page. Your billing history will show the recent charges made to your account with the newest item first.
Each item shows the following information:
Date: when the charge occurred.
Total: the total amount of the charge.
Reason: the reason for the charge.
Paid: indicates if the charge was successfully paid.
Stripe Link: a link to open the receipt from Stripe, which will have detailed information about the charge.
Updating Billing Information
You can update your billing information at any time after your initial subscription. Some updates may incur an immediate charge on your account, while others will not. The most common billing update scenarios are covered below.
Updating Your Credit Card
If your credit card has expired, a charge has been declined, or if you simply want to change which credit card is used for your Blue Matador subscription, you can update your credit card. Update your credit card by clicking on the edit icon next to the displayed last 4 digits of your credit card. Then enter your new payment information and click Confirm.
Updating your credit card does not cause a charge on the new card unless you have an outstanding, unpaid charge. In any case, updating your credit card information will cause all future charges to go to the new card, and the old one will no longer be charged.
Updating Your BIlling Email
To change your billing email address, select the edit icon next to your billing email address, and enter a new email address and click Update Email. Future billing-related communication will now be delivered to the new email address.
Canceling Your Subscription
To cancel your Blue Matador subscription, contact your account manager or send an email to support@bluematador.com.