Pricing
Cost model for Alien Network resources.
Alien provisions Network infrastructure in the customer's cloud when the deployment uses create or a provider-specific default mode that requires cloud resources. The customer pays the cloud provider for the underlying network resources. Alien currently lists Network as a free auto-managed resource on Pricing.
Cost Components
| Component | Applies When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NAT Gateway / Cloud NAT | Private services need outbound internet access | Usually the largest network fixed cost for small deployments. |
| Public IP addresses | NAT gateways or public load balancers need public IPs | Pricing varies by provider and region. |
| Load balancers | Containers expose public ports | Billed under the Container or ingress cost shape, but depends on Network. |
| Data processing | NAT, load balancing, and cross-zone traffic | Charged by provider-specific data processing dimensions. |
| Data transfer | Internet egress or cross-region traffic | Charged by provider and destination. |
Mode Impact
| Mode | Network Resources Billed Through Alien-created Infra? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
create | Yes | Alien creates VPC/VNet, subnets, NAT, routing, and firewall/security primitives as needed. |
use-default | Sometimes | AWS/GCP use provider defaults; Azure creates VNet/NAT infrastructure because Azure has no default VNet. |
byo-vpc-aws | No | Customer-owned VPC costs remain with the existing network. |
byo-vpc-gcp | No | Customer-owned VPC costs remain with the existing network. |
byo-vnet-azure | No | Customer-owned VNet costs remain with the existing network. |
Cost Control
- Use BYO modes when the customer already has central NAT, inspection, or egress controls.
- Use
createwhen the deployment should own its network lifecycle and cleanup. - Review NAT and egress costs before deploying many small environments; fixed NAT hourly charges can dominate low-traffic deployments.
- Public containers add load-balancer and data-processing charges on top of network baseline costs.