Is there any way to shutdown my VM once I hit the 2tb bandwidth limit?

Although there is no way to automatically delete a Linode once it reaches a network limit in Cloud Manager, there are a few ways you may be able to achieve this goal.

The first would be to setup Email Alerts which warn you when you are approaching Transfer Quotas on your account. Your Transfer Limit however is a shared pool between all Linodes, so if you have more than one Linode active during a month, you may need something more granular.

Instead, you could attempt to create your own monitor using our API, specifically monitoring each Linode's Network Transfer usage:

• Linode Instances | Linode Docs

Keep in mind that we do still charge for Linodes that are powered off but are not deleted. This is because even while powered off, the virtualization resources remain exclusively reserved for your immediate use and your data is actively preserved on your disk allocations. A simple comparison would be renting a storage locker - you are charged regardless of how you use it since no one else can utilize that locker while it is in your possession.

In order to stop accruing charges on any service, that service will need to be fully deleted not simply shutdown. Depending on your use case, any overage charges may still be affordable since we only charge $0.005-$0.015/GB ($5-$15/TB) based on which data center used the excess traffic.

For more general information about Network Transfer Allowances, be sure to review the following page:

• Network Transfer Usage and Costs | Linode Docs

I am not asking about deleting a VM once it reaches the bandwidth limit, that would be dumb. What I am asking is if I am paying for $x a month VM then you should only charge that much, nothing more and not charge for more bandwidth even if I go over the limit. Either suspend the VM for the rest of the term or stop charging extra. This is kind of false advertisement.

Each Linode plan's allocated monthly Network Transfer is advertised on our Plans & Pricing Page though, you are only charged for overages if you exceed that value. Billing is retroactive, so when you receive your invoice, you are paying for services which have already been used - network transfer included:

• Cloud Computing Services | Pricing

Since we are primarily an unmanaged service provider, we are not responsible for account administration including activation or deactivation of your services. Powering off or suspending a Linode still accrues charges since virtualization resources are reserved for your immediate usage and your data is preserved on our disks.

Deleting your services is the only way to stop billing if you are concerned about receiving higher-than-desired charges.