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?
On-demand VMs are billed hourly and invoiced at the end of each month. 1-year reserved instances are also invoiced monthly. Creating a new account requires a minimum CA$1.00 payment for verification and validation; the amount you add is yours to spend as infra credit. Monthly spend caps are available on request.
What payment methods do you accept?
You can pay by card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or PayPal directly in the portal, processed securely through Stripe. For bank transfer or wire, contact our sales team and we will arrange the manual payment and apply the funds to your account as infra credit.
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?
At launch: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (recommended), Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, and Rocky Linux 9. Additional images and custom ISOs are available on request.
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?
Every new account gets $100 CAD in credit automatically at sign-up, valid for 30 days. You can then earn an extra $200 CAD by spending $200 on the platform, for up to $300 CAD in total. The offer is available until December 31, 2026.
How do I get the extra $200 credit?
Once you have spent $200 CAD 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 $200 CAD in credit to your account directly, valid for 60 days. Available until December 31, 2026.
Why is a payment required to create an account?
Creating an account requires a minimum payment of CA$1.00. This verifies and validates your account and confirms you are a real customer. The amount you add becomes infra credit you can spend, so you keep the full value.
Which plans are eligible for the credit?
The 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?
Standard billing begins automatically. You will only be charged for what you use. Cancellation or downgrade is available at any time before your credit is exhausted.
Is the credit reusable or shareable?
No. The 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.

New accounts start with $100 in credit, valid 30 days, and can earn up to $300 total. Creating an account requires a minimum CA$1.00 payment for verification and validation, which is added as infra credit you can spend. No commitment. Or talk to our team about a private cloud build-out.

Create account, up to $300 credit Talk to our team

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