With the Start/Stop feature in Compute, you can control when your instances are active. If you need to take a break, save on costs, or just pause a project, you can stop an instance and resume it later—no need to recreate anything.
View your instances
Go to your Compute dashboard.
Select the Instances tab.
Here you'll see all of your instances—running or stopped—with details like uptime, resource usage, and hourly cost.
To create a new instance, click Create new instance in the top-right corner.
Stop an instance
To stop billing and pause usage:
Click the ••• next to the instance you want to stop.
Select Stop from the dropdown.
The instance status will update to Stopped, and you will no longer be billed. Your configuration and data will be saved.
Start a stopped instance
To resume activity:
Find your stopped instance in the Instances tab.
Click the ••• next to it.
Select Start.
Review the configuration details, then click Start instance to confirm.
The instance will return to a Running state and billing will resume.
If resources aren't available
If the network can’t allocate resources immediately, you’ll see a message asking you to try again later. Your data and settings will remain safe while you wait.
Need help?
If you have questions or run into issues, email us at [email protected]. We're happy to help.