Paid Plans vs Pay As You Go

DNScale offers two pricing models: subscription plans with a fixed monthly or annual fee, and Pay As You Go (PAYG) with usage-based billing. This guide explains the decision framework. For current plan names, prices, allowances, SLAs, and support terms, use the pricing page as the source of truth.

How Subscription Plans Work

With a subscription plan, you pay a fixed fee each month or year. In return, you get an included allowance of DNS zones, queries, records, and support/features defined by the current plan table. If your usage exceeds your plan's included queries, overage billing follows the current pricing terms.

Annual billing and discounts can change, so confirm the current monthly and annual options on the pricing page before budgeting.

How Pay As You Go Works

With PAYG, there is no monthly base fee. Instead, you pay for exactly what you use:

• A small per-zone fee for each active DNS zone
• A per-query fee based on how many DNS queries your zones receive

At the end of each billing period, your usage is totalled and you're charged accordingly. There is no commitment and no minimum spend. You can track your usage in real time via the DNS query usage panel in your dashboard.

Feature Comparison

The following table summarizes what is available at each tier. All plans include the same core DNS infrastructure — anycast DNS, full record type support, API access, and DNSSEC.

Comparing the Two Models

Subscription Plans

Advantages:

• Predictable costs. You know your bill before the month starts. Budgeting is straightforward, especially with annual billing.
• Lower per-query cost. Subscription plans include a large query allowance, and even excess query rates are lower than PAYG rates. The more traffic you have, the more you save.
• Higher limits. Subscription plans may offer more zones, more records per zone, and higher API limits depending on the current plan table.
• Better support. Higher-tier plans include priority email support or dedicated support, giving you faster response times when you need help.
• Advanced features. Features like detailed analytics and SLA availability are included with Pro plans and above.
• Annual savings. Annual billing options may reduce long-term cost when available; confirm current discounts on the pricing page.

Considerations:

• You pay the same fee whether you use your full allowance or not. If your traffic is well below your plan's included queries, you may be paying for capacity you don't need.
• Changing plans requires a plan switch, though you can upgrade or downgrade at any time.

Pay As You Go

Advantages:

• No commitment. There is no fixed fee and no contract. You only pay for what you use, making it easy to start and stop.
• Cost-efficient for low traffic. If you only have a few zones with light traffic, PAYG can be cheaper than the smallest subscription plan.
• Scales with usage. Your bill adjusts automatically as your traffic changes. No need to monitor usage against plan limits or worry about excess query charges.
• Simple to understand. Per-zone and per-query pricing is transparent. You can estimate your costs easily based on your current traffic.

Considerations:

• Per-query rates are higher than subscription plans. As your traffic grows, costs can exceed what you would pay on a fixed plan.
• Costs can be less predictable if your traffic fluctuates significantly from month to month.
• Zone and record limits are lower than subscription plans.
• Community support only, without the priority or dedicated support available on higher subscription tiers.

Cost Examples

To help illustrate the crossover, here are some typical usage scenarios:

Scenario 1: Personal blog (1 zone, 500K queries/month)

A personal blog with a single DNS zone and modest traffic. You have a few A records, a CNAME for www, and MX records for email.

• PAYG cost: Very low — likely under a euro per month
• Nano plan cost: Fixed monthly fee regardless of low usage
• Verdict: PAYG is more cost-effective

Scenario 2: SaaS startup (5 zones, 25M queries/month)

A growing SaaS product with five domains — production, staging, marketing site, API, and docs. Traffic is moderate and growing.

• PAYG cost: Per-query charges add up at 25M queries
• Nano plan cost: Fixed fee with queries well within allowance
• Verdict: Nano subscription saves significantly over PAYG

Scenario 3: Agency managing client domains (40 zones, 200M queries/month)

A web agency hosting DNS for 40 client domains with substantial combined traffic. Needs detailed analytics and priority support.

• PAYG cost: Check the current PAYG zone and query limits
• Subscription cost: Compare included zones, analytics, and support terms against the current plan table
• Verdict: A subscription is often a better fit for agencies with many managed zones, but use current limits before deciding

Scenario 4: Enterprise infrastructure (150 zones, 800M queries/month)

A large organization with hundreds of domains, microservice infrastructure relying on SRV records, HTTPS records, and DNSSEC across all zones.

• Higher subscription tier: Often needed for zone count, contractual SLA terms, and dedicated support
• Verdict: Use the current pricing page and sales terms to choose the tier and billing cadence

Which Option is Right for You?

PAYG is a good fit if you:

• Have one or a few domains with relatively low DNS traffic
• Want to try DNScale without committing to a monthly fee
• Have seasonal or unpredictable traffic and prefer to pay only for actual usage
• Are running a personal project, hobby site, or early-stage startup with minimal DNS needs

A subscription plan is a better fit if you:

• Manage multiple domains and need higher zone limits
• Have consistent, moderate-to-high DNS traffic where a fixed plan is more economical
• Need priority or dedicated support for business-critical domains
• Want predictable monthly costs for budgeting purposes
• Require advanced features like detailed analytics, contractual SLA terms, or higher-touch support
• Run an agency or business where DNS reliability and support response times matter

When PAYG Costs More Than a Plan

As a general rule, once your monthly PAYG bill consistently approaches or exceeds the cost of a subscription plan, it makes sense to switch. For example:

• If your zone count and query volume fit inside a paid plan's included allowance, that plan may be cheaper than paying per-zone and per-query on PAYG.
• If your zone count exceeds the current PAYG limit, you will need a subscription or custom plan.

The crossover point depends on your zone count, traffic volume, and current plan table.

Use the DNS query usage panel in your dashboard to review your actual traffic over the past months. This data makes it easy to compare your current PAYG costs against what a subscription plan would cost.

Switching Between Models

You can usually switch from PAYG to a subscription plan (or vice versa) from your dashboard. Effective dates, allowance changes, and invoice timing follow the billing rules shown in the product at the time of the switch.

If you need to update your payment method before switching, you can do that from the Settings page.

All Plans Include

Regardless of which pricing model you choose, you get:

• Full anycast DNS with Global DNS Resolution Balancing
• Support for all 14 DNS record types
• DNSSEC key management
• Zone import via file upload or AXFR
• REST API access
• Dashboard with zone and record management
• IPv4 and IPv6 support
• Multi-user account access

Still Not Sure?

If you're uncertain about your DNS traffic levels, starting with PAYG is a low-risk way to begin. Once you have a few months of usage data, you can compare your actual costs against the subscription plans and switch if a plan would save you money. You can review your usage trends at any time in the Usage tab of your dashboard.

For help choosing the right option, visit the Support page.