ZSoftly Cloud Platform

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers on cost, lock-in, sovereignty, support, and migration. Don't see what you need? Contact us and we'll respond within one business day.

Billing

How does billing work?
Choose Prepaid or Postpaid during signup. This choice is permanent for the account. With Prepaid, add account credit before provisioning and usage draws down the balance. Active usage or renewals can leave a negative balance, and the next top-up clears it first. With Postpaid, use eligible hourly or monthly services first. We then invoice usage and charge the credit card saved through Stripe.
Which billing option should I choose?
Choose Prepaid to pay in advance or for quarterly and longer billing cycles. You need enough account credit to create a service. Choose Postpaid for eligible hourly or monthly services billed after use. Postpaid requires a credit card saved through Stripe. When usage reaches the initial billing threshold, CA$100 for personal accounts or CA$300 for organization accounts, we issue an invoice and charge your saved card automatically. A new threshold cycle then begins. The threshold is neither account credit nor a spending cap. Your choice at signup is permanent for the account.
What payment methods do you accept?
Prepaid customers can add account credit with a Visa, Mastercard, or American Express card through Stripe, or with PayPal. For bank transfer or wire, contact sales to arrange payment. Postpaid accepts only a credit card saved through Stripe so we can charge invoices automatically.
Are there egress fees?
No. Ingress and egress are free and unmetered across ZCP public cloud services, and traffic between ZCP services is free as well. The surprise data-transfer bills that erode hyperscaler budgets simply do not exist here, so the price you model is the price you pay.
What currency is billing in?
All billing is in CAD. There is no USD conversion or mid-contract FX adjustment. ZCP is available to customers anywhere in the world. Your invoice is denominated in CAD regardless of where you are based.
Do you offer monthly or annual contracts?
Monthly billing is standard. 1-year reserved pricing is available at a 15% discount over on-demand rates, still billed monthly. Larger commitments with custom terms are available. Contact sales.
Are volume discounts available?
Yes. Accounts running 10-24 VMs receive a 20% volume discount. For 25+ VMs, contact sales for a custom quote.

Infrastructure

Where is my data hosted?
Your data lives in the region you select, and stays there. Two regions are live today (YUL-1 and YOW-1), with five more planned across North America and Europe: YVR, BUF, LAX, LHR, and AMS. All ZCP infrastructure is operated by ZSoftly engineers end to end, with no hyperscaler and no reseller layer between you and your data. ZCP-managed services never move your data between regions without your action, which gives you a clear, defensible answer on data residency for your board, your customers, and your auditors.
What technology is the platform built on?
The platform runs on a proven open-source foundation: KVM virtualization on dedicated bare-metal servers, distributed replicated block storage, and fully S3-compatible object storage. Because nothing is proprietary, your team is never locked into a stack only one vendor can run. Full technical detail is in our documentation at https://docs.zcp.zsoftly.ca.
Is your object storage S3-compatible?
Yes. The AWS CLI, boto3, rclone, s3cmd, and other S3-aware tools work without modification. No code changes required to migrate from AWS S3.
What SLA and support can we count on?
Reliability is backed by a written SLA: Basic plans include 99.5% uptime, Pro plans 99.9%, and Enterprise plans 99.95% with 24×7 coverage and a 1-hour P1 response time. Support comes from the engineers who actually build and run the platform, not an outsourced first-line tier.
Do you offer private networking?
Yes. Three network types are available. L2 networks are free: flat Ethernet connectivity between VMs, no virtual router, no internet access. Isolated networks are $3/mo: a virtual router with outbound internet and inbound port forwarding on a flat network. VPC networks are $3/mo: subnets, route tables, and gateways for multi-tier architectures. In both cases the $3/mo covers the one SourceNAT public IP acquired by default. Additional public IPs are $3/mo each. All managed from the self-service portal.

Migration

Is migration from AWS, Azure, or GCP supported?
Yes, and you do not have to do it alone. Our team runs migration consultations to plan your workload transition, and our Professional Services team can lead the project end to end so your own people are not pulled off their roadmap. Contact us to discuss your environment and timeline.
How do I move data in?
Ingress is always free. Use rsync, rclone, the AWS CLI, or any S3-compatible tool. We also assist with migration planning and execution.
What OS images are available?
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (recommended), Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Rocky Linux 9 and 10, AlmaLinux 10, and Oracle Linux 10. Ask us for other images or a custom ISO.
What if I want to leave ZCP?
You can, at any time, with no penalty. Data portability is a core principle and a deliberate guardrail against lock-in. Your VMs use standard KVM disk images, object storage uses the S3 API, and Kubernetes clusters run standard manifests, so everything exports with standard tools. Choosing ZSoftly is a commercial decision you can revisit, not a trap.

Security and Compliance

Who owns and operates ZSoftly?
ZSoftly Technologies Inc., an independent, Canadian-owned company, owns and operates the platform end to end. There is no reseller, no hyperscaler underneath, and no white-label intermediary, so you always know exactly who is accountable for your infrastructure and your data. The legal entity is named in the terms of service.
Does ZCP support specific regulatory frameworks?
The platform is built so data residency, isolation, and jurisdiction selection are enforced at the infrastructure layer, which is exactly what most compliance regimes hinge on. We support assessments for the frameworks tied to your industry and region. Bring your compliance requirements to the scoping call and we will tell you plainly what is attested today and what is on the roadmap, so you can plan with confidence.
Are dedicated hosts available?
Dedicated hosts are available for enterprise customers. Contact sales to discuss requirements.
Do you have a government or public sector offering?
Yes. We offer compliance packaging for government and public sector organizations. Contact sales to discuss your requirements.

Promotions

What credit do new accounts get?
Eligible new accounts get CA$100 in promotional credit automatically at sign-up, valid for 30 days. You can then earn an extra CA$200 in promotional credit by spending CA$200 on the platform, for up to CA$300 in promotional credit in total. The extra CA$200 promotional credit is valid for 60 days. The offer is available until December 31, 2026.
How do I get the extra $200 credit?
Once you have spent CA$200 on the platform, email info@zsoftly.ca from your account email address with your account number and the subject "$200 Credit Request". We will apply CA$200 in promotional credit to your account directly, valid for 60 days. Available until December 31, 2026.
Why is a payment required to create an account?
For Prepaid accounts, a minimum CA$1.00 verification payment is added to account credit and remains available to spend. Postpaid accounts require a credit card saved through Stripe for automatic invoice charges. Promotional credit is separate from account credit and Postpaid billing thresholds.
Which plans are eligible for the credit?
Promotional credit applies to Small, Medium, Large, and XLarge plans (CI1-1 through CI1-8 and their CA1 / CA2 equivalents, from $12/mo to $96/mo on-demand). It is not valid on plans larger than XLarge, private cloud, professional services, or managed services.
What happens when the credit runs out or expires?
Billing continues in the mode selected at signup. This choice is permanent for the account. With Prepaid, add enough account credit before creating new services. With Postpaid, we invoice usage and charge the credit card saved through Stripe when the billing threshold is reached. A new threshold cycle then begins. Promotional credit does not change your billing mode or create an account-credit balance.
Is the credit reusable or shareable?
No. Promotional credit is issued once per organization, is non-transferable, and has no cash value. It cannot be combined with other promotions.

Portal and Access

How do I access the cloud portal?
The self-service portal is live. No waitlist, no invitation required. Visit the portal link from the navigation to create an account and start provisioning.
What does the portal support?
The portal supports VM provisioning (Quick Deploy and Advanced Deploy), volume and snapshot management, networking configuration, DNS zone management, Kubernetes cluster management, object storage, autoscaling, billing, and support tickets.
Is there an API?
The portal exposes a full API. Contact us for API documentation and integration support.

Get started

Start building on sovereign cloud today.

Eligible new accounts get CA$100 in promotional credit for 30 days. Spend CA$200 on eligible compute plans, then request another CA$200 in promotional credit, for up to CA$300 total. For prepaid accounts, a CA$1.00 verification payment is added to account credit and remains available. No long-term contract. Or talk to our team about a private cloud build-out.

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Eligible new accounts only  ·  Offer ends Dec 31, 2026  · Terms apply ·  ZSoftly Technologies Inc., Ottawa ON