# Sleep, always-on and priority

> Choose how long an endpoint stays awake after the last request, keep it always on to remove cold starts, or turn on priority so cold starts never wait for a spare GPU.

Source: https://bitsrun.com/docs/endpoints/sleep-and-always-on/
Updated: 2026-11-09

Three settings decide how quickly your endpoint answers and what it costs. Open **Settings** on the endpoint card.

![The endpoint Settings dialog with Name, Sleep after, an Always on checkbox and a Priority checkbox, each with its price](https://bitsrun.com/docs/img/endpoint-settings.png "Settings shows the price of each option before you save.")

## Sleep after

How long the endpoint stays awake after the last request before it goes to sleep. Choices: 1, 2 (default), 5, 10 or 30 minutes, or 1 hour. In the CLI any time from 60 seconds to 1 hour works.

The endpoint is billed while it waits, because the GPU stays on, ready to answer at once.

- **Short (1 to 2 minutes):** cheapest for occasional use. More requests hit a cold start.
- **Long (10 minutes to 1 hour):** better for bursty traffic or a person chatting with pauses. You pay for the quiet minutes.

The minimum is 60 seconds so a long streaming answer is never cut off midway.

```bash
bitsrun update "Support chat" --idle 10m
```

## Always on

Keeps one copy of the model running all the time on a dedicated GPU, so there are no cold starts. It is billed by the second while it is on, at a monthly-priced rate:

| GPU | Always on, per month | Per second |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA L4 | $1,180 | $0.000449 |
| NVIDIA L40S | $3,974 | $0.001512 |
| 4x NVIDIA L4 | $6,843 | $0.002604 |

- Turning it on needs at least one day of credit for that GPU (for an L4, about $39).
- Saving starts the GPU now.
- If your credit runs out, always-on stops and we email you.

```bash
bitsrun update "Support chat" --always-on on
bitsrun update "Support chat" --always-on off
```

## Priority

When GPUs are in short supply, a cold start can wait up to 3 minutes for a spare one. With **Priority**, a cold start skips that wait and launches on a dedicated GPU right away. It costs 1.7 times the normal rate while running, from the next start:

| GPU | Normal, per second | Priority, per second | Priority, per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA L4 | $0.000264 | $0.000449 | $1.62 |
| NVIDIA L40S | $0.000889 | $0.001512 | $5.44 |

Priority is not offered on 4x L4 yet. On the Business plan, cold starts go first in the launch queue at the normal rate.

```bash
bitsrun update "Support chat" --priority on
```

## Which should I use?

| Situation | Setting |
|---|---|
| Testing, internal tools, overnight jobs | Default: sleep after 2 minutes |
| A person chatting, with pauses | Sleep after 10 to 30 minutes |
| A demo or a launch where every second counts | Priority, plus Start before you begin |
| Production traffic all day, every day | Always on |

## Keep it awake while you work

The [bitsrun coding agent](https://bitsrun.com/docs/agent/) keeps its BitsRun endpoint awake while you use it, and lets it sleep when you stop. The mobile apps' playground will do the same once the apps are out.