Billable items: what Simbase charges for

Simbase runs on a prepaid balance. There's no monthly bill and no contract, instead, a handful of items draw down your balance as you use them. This article lists each one and what triggers it.

Rates aren't listed here. They vary by plan, profile, country, and billing currency, so the pricing page and your dashboard are the source of truth. If you haven't set up billing yet, start with Set up billing and add balance.

Connectivity

Data

Charged per MB, at the rate of the coverage plan attached to each SIM. Different plans have different per-MB rates and coverage footprints, see Coverage for what each plan includes.

Usage is recorded when the network operator reports a closed session, then deducted from your balance. For how this is measured and why deductions can lag, see Data usage and overages.

SMS

Charged per message, sent or received. The rate depends on the plan and SMS type: MT (Mobile terminated) or MO (Mobile originated).

See SMS for how to send and receive messages.

Daily fee for enabled SIMs

A daily fee applies to every SIM in the Enabled state, whether or not it passes data that day. SIMs in the Disabled state don't incur it.

This is the main lever you control. If a SIM isn't deployed yet, register it as Disabled and enable it when it goes into the field, see Register a SIM and SIM state.

The daily fee applies to Simbase's pay-as-you-go profiles: Black, Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, and Cyan. Green profile SIMs are billed differently, see below.

Green profile subscription

Green profile SIMs (commonly known as High Data SIMs) are prepaid rather than pay-as-you-go. Instead of the daily enabled-SIM fee, each Green SIM is billed as a monthly subscription that includes a set data allowance, prorated for partial months. Data used beyond the allowance is billed as overage at a flat per-GB rate.

Every other profile is pay-as-you-go: no allowance, no overage, just per-MB data plus the daily fee. See Data usage and overages for how the two models differ, and SIM profiles for how Green compares to the rest.

Networking

Public IPs

Charged daily per assigned IP address, for as long as the IP is assigned to a SIM.

RememberA public IP keeps billing for as long as it's assigned, even if the SIM is disabled. Disabling a SIM stops its daily fee, but the IP allocation is a separate resource with its own fee until you release it.

If you no longer need a fixed IP on a SIM, release it from Public IPs to stop the charge.

Private networks

A private network gives a group of SIMs static IPs on a gateway dedicated to your account, connected over WireGuard or IPsec. Billed per network, per day, with pricing depending on the subnet size you choose.

Like public IPs, a private network keeps billing for as long as it exists. Disabling the SIMs assigned to it doesn't stop the fee, you need to remove the network itself.

See Private networks and WireGuard setup.

IPsec tunnels

Billed per tunnel, per day, in addition to the private network the tunnel connects to.

See IPsec to set up or migrate a two-way tunnel.

Add-ons and subscriptions

Optional subscriptions, billed monthly. Most are activated from Add-ons in the dashboard; the rest are arranged with the sales and/or support team.

Paid support plans

Every account includes standard email support and access to these docs at no cost. The Priority and Instant plans add guaranteed, SLA-backed response times and are billed as a monthly subscription.

See Support plans for what each tier covers.

Wholesale pricing

A monthly subscription that unlocks discounted data rates across your account. Two models are available:

Rate Plan Pricing, a wholesale discount applied on top of Simbase's standard rate plans. Self-serve, activates immediately, no configuration per SIM.
Network Pricing, custom per-network rates built around your coverage needs. Set up with the Simbase team.

The subscription fee covers access to the lower rates. Data is still billed separately, at the discounted rate. There's no minimum data spend, and you can cancel at the end of any month.

See Wholesale pricing.

Private APNs

A private APN routes your SIMs' traffic over a dedicated network path instead of the shared Simbase APN. There's no published rate, pricing is arranged directly with your account representative or sales@simbase.com.

See APN for the difference between Simbase's default APN and a private one.

Increased API quotas

The API is included with every account within standard rate limits. Higher request quotas are available as a paid add-on, arranged with support.

What isn't billed

Registering SIMs. There's no charge to add SIMs to your account. Billing starts when a SIM is enabled.
Disabled SIMs. No daily fee, no data, no SMS. Public IPs and private networks attached to them are still billed.
Changing SIM state. Enabling or disabling a SIM is free, there's no charge for the action itself. Billing follows the resulting state: enabled SIMs incur the daily fee, disabled SIMs don't.
The dashboard and API. Included with every account, within standard rate limits.
Standard support. Email support and these docs are free on every account.

How charges are deducted

Every charge above comes straight out of your account balance, there's no separate invoice for usage. Invoices are issued only when you add balance, one per top-up. See Account balance and invoices.

Charges are billed in your account's billing currency, set when you created your account and permanent after that.

Where to see current rates

Rates vary by plan, country, and currency, so this article deliberately doesn't list numbers. For the rates that apply to your account:

Open the dashboard.
Go to the plan details on an individual SIM.
Rates are shown in your account's billing currency.

Public rates for connectivity, wholesale, and add-ons are on the pricing page.

Common questions

Only if it's Enabled. Register SIMs as Disabled and enable them when they go into the field, see Register a SIM.

Almost certainly a public IP or a private network. Disabled SIMs don't accrue the daily charges, but an assigned public IP keeps billing until released, and a private network keeps billing until it's removed. See Public IPs and Private networks and WireGuard setup.

High Data SIMs or Green profile SIMs are prepaid: you pay a monthly subscription that includes a data allowance, instead of the daily fee plus per-MB rate that applies to pay-as-you-go profiles. See Data usage and overages.

No. Connectivity is prepaid with no minimum spend. The optional subscriptions, support plans and wholesale pricing, are the only recurring monthly fees, and wholesale can be cancelled at the end of any month.

There's no published rate, it's arranged directly with your account representative or sales@simbase.com.

No. Usage is deducted from your balance continuously. Invoices are issued only for top-ups, see Account balance and invoices.

No, your billing currency is set when you create your account and can't be changed afterwards. See Create a Simbase account.

Data usage and overages, how usage is measured and what overage means per profile
Set up billing and add balance, funding your account and balance alerts
Account balance and invoices, checking your balance and downloading invoices
Payment methods, how to fund your balance
Auto top-up, avoid running out of balance
Usage limits, cap how much a SIM can use
Public IPs, assign or release a fixed IP
Private networks and WireGuard setup, set up a private network
IPsec, set up or migrate a two-way IPsec tunnel