Guide

Dedicated servers

A dedicated server is a single-tenant VM that runs only your databases. It is billed at one flat monthly price per server with no usage meters. Buying one puts you on the Custom plan, which covers that server and nothing else. This page covers the sizes, how a server is provisioned, how your databases land on it, and exactly what happens when you cancel.

What you get

Custom is the box: a single-tenant VM with every engine available, client-certificate (mTLS) authentication, and 30-day rolling backups on the databases that run on it. Egress is included, so there is no bandwidth metering. The server is region-pinned and always on: it is never hibernated or paused. Team seats work the same way they do on the other paid plans.

There is no database cap and no branch cap on that server. Run as many databases as fit its memory and storage - the only limits are the box's RAM and disk. All engines are available. TigerBeetle stays Alpha, but on a dedicated box it does not require a pool block.

What Custom does not include is the shared cloud fleet: no shared-pool databases, no pool blocks, and not the embedded apps (Filmroom and Secret Store). Those come with Pro at $15/mo, which runs alongside a dedicated server on the same bill. The apps can also be bought standalone on any plan.

You can add Pro at any time from the Plan page: one click adds the $15/mo base to your existing subscription, prorated for the rest of the billing period. Your server and its databases keep running untouched, and the shared cloud, pool blocks, and the embedded apps unlock immediately.

The sizes

Every preset below is self-serve. Each is a flat monthly price added to your one Layerbase bill.

Need a region or size outside this catalog, or far more memory or storage? That is what a bespoke Custom configuration is for. See the dedicated servers page to get in touch.

Buying and provisioning

You buy a dedicated server from the plan page under Dedicated servers. Pick a size and region, then pay at checkout. The server is added as a line on your existing Layerbase subscription rather than as a separate bill, and it is charged today.

You do not need Pro first. If you already have a paid plan the server is added to it; if you are on Free, buying a server runs a quick checkout that starts your Custom plan.

Provisioning is automatic. Your server is usually ready in 15 to 30 minutes and always within the hour. A banner across the dashboard shows while a server is being prepared, and we email you the moment it is live. You do not have to do anything while it builds.

How your databases land on the box

Once the server is live, you create databases on it the same way you create any Layerbase database. In the create flow, a server picker lets you place the new database on your dedicated box. Everything after that works exactly like a normal cloud database: connect strings, the query console, backups, and branching all behave the same.

You can run more than one dedicated server. Each is a separate single-tenant VM, all managed from the same dashboard and invoiced together on your one bill.

An engine's binaries download to the server the first time you create a database of that type, so nothing needs installing up front. If you want to warm one ahead of time, or take back the disk an engine you no longer run is holding, see engines on a dedicated server.

Closing a server and keeping your databases

If you want to give the server up but keep what is running on it, we can move its databases into the shared cloud first and only then tear the box down. Nothing is destroyed until every move has succeeded: if any single move fails we stop, your server keeps running, and your databases stay where they are.

The offer appears next to each active server on the plan page, and it is only enabled when the destination plan can actually take them. We check four things: every engine has to be one we can move today, the databases have to be running and free of branches, the database count has to fit your plan's limit, and the always-on memory and storage they use have to fit your pool. When something does not fit, the control is grayed out and tells you exactly what to trim, with real numbers, and offers pool blocks where extra memory or storage would close the gap.

On the Custom plan, closing your last server this way moves you to Pro at $15/mo, prorated from that day, so your databases land somewhere you still pay for rather than dropping to Free. On Solo or Pro the server simply comes off your bill and your plan is untouched.

Canceling a server

Cancellation is per server and lives next to each server on the plan page. It is a two-step, type-to-confirm dialog: you type the server's name, then confirm on a final screen. Only an active server can be canceled. A server that is still being prepared, or already winding down, shows the control grayed out with a reason.

This is the path that does not keep your databases. The dialog names how many databases are on the server so you know what goes with it, and each one is backed up before the box is destroyed. If you want to keep them, use the migrate-and-close option above instead.

The dedicated cancel policy is stricter than the reversible Solo and Pro cancel. It is immediate, with no proration or refund for the remainder of the month, and it cannot be undone. Before the server is torn down, every database on it gets a final backup. Then the box is destroyed.

After you confirm, the server moves to Winding down while the backups run and teardown proceeds, then it is gone. Your subscription is adjusted down right away. If that server was the only paid item on a Custom account, the subscription is canceled outright so you are not left paying for nothing.

Because this is irreversible and there is no grace window, export or download any data you want to keep before you cancel. The final backup is captured for safety, but the live databases and the box itself do not come back.