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 nodes. For a detailed explanation for what counts as a node, view the section on How Nodes Are Counted below.
For environments with 20 or fewer nodes, Blue Matador charges a flat $360/month when billed monthly. If you select annual billing, you receive two months free and pay $3600/year. This price is locked in until you exceed 20 nodes, at which point your Blue Matador account manager will contact you to work out the needs of your growing business.
For environments with more than 20 nodes, Blue Matador charges $18/node/month when billed monthly. If you select annual billing, you receive two months free! This works out to $15/node/month or $180/node/year when billed annually.
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 nodes, but some months use 42 nodes, 45 nodes, or 38 nodes, your bill will stay consistent at initial 40 node price. If your account is significantly over the initial amount, your Blue Matador account manager will contact you to work on a new plan that fits your needs. Blue Matador does not automatically increase your bill without reaching out to you to ensure we are on the same page about your usage.
How Nodes Are Counted
Blue Matador bills based on number of active nodes that are monitored. Blue Matador automatically monitors dozens of types of resources, but only compute resources are considered a billable node. Here is how the number of nodes for your account is calculated:
- Each server (installed Linux or Windows agent, Amazon EC2 Instance, Amazon ECS Instance, or Kubernetes Node) is 1 node
- Every 10 Amazon Lambda functions is 1 node (rounded up)
- Every 10 Amazon ECS Tasks is 1 node (rounded up)
- Every 10 Kubernetes Pods is 1 node (rounded up)
Since some resource types can overlap, Blue Matador attempts to deduplicate node counting where possible to reduce your bill. These are the ways that your node count is reduced:
- Any server that is multiple resource types such as agent, EC2 instance, and Kubernetes node, is only counted as 1 server even if it shows up in the Resources page multiple times
- Every ECS Instance counts as 10 credits towards the number of ECS Tasks
- Every Kubernetes Node counts as 10 credits towards the number of Kubernetes Pods
Example 1:
You have 10 Linux agents and 2 Windows agents installed across 12 EC2 instances, and no other resources.
Your usage is 12 nodes.
Example 2:
You are serverless and have no agents installed, and no EC2 instances. You have 112 Lambda functions and 87 ECS Tasks in Fargate.
112 Lambda Functions = 12 nodes
87 ECS Tasks = 9 nodes
Your usage is 21 nodes
Example 3:
Your account uses both server and serverless compute resources. You have 10 Linux agents running on 10 Kubernetes Nodes that are also EC2 Instances. This Kubernetes cluster runs 300 pods. You also have 5 Windows agents that are not installed on EC2 instances. You run 40 ECS Tasks in Fargate, and 80 ECS Tasks on 8 ECS Nodes. You also have 120 Lambda functions.
10 Linux/Kubernetes/EC2 = 10 nodes and 100 Kubernetes Pod credits
300 Kubernetes pods - 100 credits = 200 pods = 20 nodes
5 Windows agents = 5 nodes
8 ECS Instances = 8 nodes and 80 ECS Task credits
40 + 80 ECS Tasks - 80 credits = 40 ECS Tasks = 4 nodes
120 Lambda Functions = 12 nodes
Your usage is 10 + 20 + 5 + 8 + 4 + 12 = 59 nodes
Auto Scaling
Many production workloads do not use a static amount of resources. When Blue Matador is determining how many nodes to bill for, we take auto scaling into account in order to save you money. The number of nodes on your account is tracked throughout the day, and when you are ready to subscribe to Blue Matador, we use the average number of nodes that were observed over the past 7 days to determine the number of billable nodes. 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 nodes 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 nodes 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 nodes you are billed on is based on the calculations described in the How Nodes Are Counted section. If your trial is active, the most recent 7 days of usage are used to calculate the average node count. If your trial is over, the 7 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 nodes, 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.
Updating Your Subscription
You can update your subscription to update the number of billed nodes, or to switch from monthly to annual billing.
To update your subscription, click on the edit icon. You can then select a monthly or annual plan, and click Update Plan to confirm your changes.
If you are switching from monthly to annual billing, you will be charged the new annual amount for your plan minus the unused amount from your current billing month. Subsequent charges will occur annually for the amount for your plan. When switching from monthly to annual billing, you will be immediately charged unless your account is still in trial. If your account is in trial, you will be charged the annual amount at the end of the trial.
At this time, switching from annual billing to monthly billing is not allowed
If you have been contacted by your account manager to update your billing because of a significant increase in the number of billable nodes, you can update your plan to the new amount. Doing so will cause an immediate charge on your account for the amount of your new subscription less the unused time from your current billing cycle, and update your billing date to the current date. Once your subscription has been updated, you will continue to receive consistent billing at the new amount.
Canceling Your Subscription
To cancel your Blue Matador subscription, contact your account manager or send an email to support@bluematador.com.