The instance detail page's Billing tab has three controls: the Renew in Advance button, the Auto Renew switch, and the Stop Billing switch. This page covers renewing a prepaid instance and turning on auto-renewal, and one action that looks harmless but is not.
These three controls sound related but do different things:
| Control | What selecting it does | Can it delete the instance |
|---|---|---|
| Cancel on a renewal invoice | Cancels that invoice | Yes, immediately, for invoices you are allowed to cancel |
| Stop Billing | When turned on, the instance is deleted automatically the next time it expires | Yes, by design, once expiration is reached |
| Auto Renew | When turned on, the platform pays the next renewal from your balance before expiration | No, turning it off does not by itself delete anything |
Stop Billing's own description states its effect plainly: "When enabled, the instance will be automatically deleted upon expiration." That deletion is expected and intentional. The deletion caused by Cancel is not something its label tells you about at all.
Cypacky creates renewal invoices for a prepaid instance in two different ways: you generate one manually with Renew in Advance (or receive one automatically when the instance is first created), or the platform generates one automatically before each expiration date. The two behave differently when you select Cancel:
| What happens | What does not happen |
|---|---|
| Canceling a manually generated renewal invoice — from Renew in Advance, or from first creating the instance — deletes the instance almost immediately | No dialog asks you to confirm the deletion; the button just reads Cancel |
| A system-generated periodic renewal invoice that goes unpaid still deletes the instance, about 48 hours after it expires, even if you never select Cancel | Doing nothing is not automatically safe; the 48-hour window is a grace period, not a permanent pause |
| Existing backups and custom images are not deleted along with the instance | The instance itself — its IP addresses, running state, and disk — is not preserved; only the backup files survive |
| Selecting Cancel on a system-generated periodic renewal invoice is rejected by the backend | The instance is not deleted when the rejection happens, but the invoice is not canceled either |
The rejection for a periodic invoice is covered in "When an action is rejected" further on this page.
- Applies to prepaid instances only. Usage-based instances are billed by the hour, have no renewal invoice, and show no Renew in Advance button.
- Permissions. Your role needs the instance billing permission. Project viewers can see billing information but cannot generate invoices or change either switch.
- The instance must be eligible for renewal. If it is not, the Billing Settings card shows an explanation instead of the switches.
- On the instance detail page, select the Billing tab.
- In the Billing Information card, confirm the instance uses a fixed billing cycle rather than usage-based billing. Renew in Advance only appears for fixed-cycle instances.
- Select Renew in Advance.
- The platform generates an invoice for the next billing cycle and confirms: "Renewal invoice has been successfully generated, please pay in time."
- The new invoice appears in the Related Invoices card. Select it to open the invoice detail page and pay it.
Generating the invoice does not renew the instance by itself. The instance renews once the invoice is paid.
- On the instance detail page, select the Billing tab.
- In the Billing Settings card, locate the Auto Renew switch, described as "Automatically pay using balance before expiration."
- Select the switch to turn it on or off. The change applies immediately; there is no confirmation dialog.
- The dashboard confirms with "Auto-renewal enabled" or "Auto-renewal disabled."
With Auto Renew on, the platform tries to pay the next renewal from your balance three days before expiration. Turning it off does not generate an unpaid invoice by itself and does not immediately put the instance at risk, but it also means nothing pays the renewal on your behalf. You still need to pay a renewal invoice manually, or the instance follows the timeline described in "If you do nothing."
- In the Related Invoices card, select the new renewal invoice to open its detail page.
- Review the amount, then select Go to Payment or Continue Payment to pay it.
- If you no longer want this renewal, you can select Cancel instead. Only do this if you also intend to delete the instance — the platform does not ask you to confirm that separately.
If a renewal invoice, manual or system-generated, goes unpaid, the instance does not disappear the moment it expires:
| Time after expiration | Instance state | Instance deleted |
|---|---|---|
| 0 hours (Expiration Time) | Still marked as expiring; no action taken yet | No |
| About 24 hours later | Stopped and marked delinquent | No |
| About 48 hours later | Deleted | Yes |
Once an instance is stopped for nonpayment, the dashboard's delinquent-instance message states: "This instance is delinquent, so you cannot operate it. Pay the associated invoices or delete the instance. Contact Cypacky Networks Support if you have questions." Paying the outstanding invoice before the 48-hour mark stops the deletion. Auto Renew, when turned on, tries to pay automatically three days before this timeline even starts.
If there are unpaid invoices, please pay them first
An instance cannot carry two open renewal invoices at the same time. Pay or resolve the existing invoice before generating another.
Selecting Cancel on a periodic renewal invoice you did not generate yourself is rejected. The dashboard shows:
Failed to cancel invoice.
[!NOTE] The exact rejection text shown to the user is not fully confirmed. The backend's internal rejection reason is "current invoice status does not allow cancellation," but that string does not appear in the
billing.jsonlocale files, so the interface may instead be showing the generic message quoted above. Verify which text actually renders before treating this as final.
This rejection is expected. System-generated renewal invoices cannot be canceled by design, and rejection does not mean the invoice is stuck — it still follows the timeline described in "If you do nothing."
Failed to update auto-renewal
Retry the switch. If it keeps failing, contact Cypacky Networks Support with the instance ID.
Cannot generate renewal invoice
The instance's current billing state does not allow a new renewal invoice right now. Resolve its current billing status, such as an existing unpaid invoice, before trying again.