--- title: How are external identity providers billed? description: External identity providers allow users to log in via third-party services like Google or Azure AD. Monthly usage is calculated by averaging the number of activated providers per day across all instances, excluding inactive configurations. --- [Skip to content](https://help.zitadel.com/what-is-an-external-identity-provider#main-content) [![zitadel-logo\_text-dark (1)](https://help.zitadel.com/hs-fs/hubfs/zitadel-logo_text-dark%20(1).png?width=210&height=60&name=zitadel-logo_text-dark%20(1).png)](https://help.zitadel.com/?hsLang=en) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Documentation](https://zitadel.com/docs) [Documentation](https://zitadel.com/docs) How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [ZITADEL Knowledge Base](https://help.zitadel.com/?hsLang=en) 2. [Account & Subscription](https://help.zitadel.com/account-subscription?hsLang=en) 3. [Billing (Pro)](https://help.zitadel.com/account-subscription?hsLang=en#billing-pro) April 1, 2026 # How are external identity providers billed? ### What is an external identity provider? In Zitadel, an External Identity Provider (IdP) is a third-party identity service —like Google, GitHub, Microsoft, Okta, Entra ID etc. —that you connect to your Zitadel instance. Instead of users creating a brand-new username and password for your app, they can "Login with Google." Zitadel acts as the broker: it sends the user to the external provider, gets a confirmation that they are who they say they are, and then logs them into your system. ### How Billing is Calculated in Zitadel Cloud In ZITADEL Cloud, external IdPs are treated as a *usage-based unit*. While you can configure as many as you like, you are billed based on how many are activated (ready for use) across your instances. To calculate the monthly amount, we take the sum of of activated external identity providers over all instances on each day and calculate the average over a given month, rounded up to the next integer. Excluded are configured identity providers that are not activated. - [Getting Started](https://help.zitadel.com/getting-started?hsLang=en) - [User Management](https://help.zitadel.com/user-management?hsLang=en) - [Authentication & Login](https://help.zitadel.com/authentication-login?hsLang=en) - [Security & Compliance](https://help.zitadel.com/security-compliance?hsLang=en) - [Troubleshooting](https://help.zitadel.com/troubleshooting?hsLang=en) - [Account & Subscription](https://help.zitadel.com/account-subscription?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Support](https://help.zitadel.com/account-subscription?hsLang=en#support) - [Billing (Pro)](https://help.zitadel.com/account-subscription?hsLang=en#billing-pro) - [Billing (Enterprise)](https://help.zitadel.com/account-subscription?hsLang=en#billing-enterprise) - [Zitadel Cloud Account](https://help.zitadel.com/account-subscription?hsLang=en#zitadel-cloud-account) - [Service Description](https://help.zitadel.com/account-subscription?hsLang=en#service-description) - [Default Settings](https://help.zitadel.com/default-settings?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Web Keys](https://help.zitadel.com/default-settings?hsLang=en#web-keys) - [Self-Hosting](https://help.zitadel.com/self-hosting?hsLang=en) [![zitadel-logo\_text-dark](https://help.zitadel.com/hs-fs/hubfs/zitadel-logo_text-dark.png?width=210&height=60&name=zitadel-logo_text-dark.png "zitadel-logo_text-dark")](http://zitadel.com) 1 Embarcadero Center, Suite 1200 San Francisco, CA 94111 Copyright © 2025 All rights reserved.