Idle web container continues accruing container-hour charges at zero traffic

Goal

Reduce infrastructure cost for a low-traffic web application on Scalingo by determining whether application containers can scale to zero running instances when there is no traffic.

Constraints and uncertainty

Scalingo bills running application containers by container size and duration, so an idle container can accrue container-hour charges around the clock. Autoscaling can add containers under load but typically enforces a configurable minimum instance count, and it is unclear whether that minimum can be set to zero for web containers. Managed add-ons remain billed independently, and stopping containers may interrupt active connections or add latency when traffic resumes.

Assumes current Scalingo pricing and autoscaling behavior as published in the platform documentation; verify plan names and free allowances before acting.

Questions

• Can the autoscaling minimum instance count for a web container be set to zero on Scalingo?
• If zero instances are permitted, does the platform restart a container automatically when a request arrives?
• Which costs, if any, continue to accrue for an application with zero running web containers but active add-ons?