Search Node Costs
For clusters on AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure, Atlas supports deploying separate Search Nodes for Atlas Search.
When you first deploy the Search Nodes by clicking create in the Create New Cluster page, Atlas charges you immediately for your selected configuration. Atlas uses the following to calculate the cost of Search Nodes on your Atlas cluster:
Number of Search Nodes on your Atlas cluster.
Choice of search tier.
Amount of data transferred between the Search Nodes and database nodes.
Number of Search Nodes
You can increase and reduce the number of Search Nodes that you deploy for your cluster when you create or modify a cluster. You can deploy a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 32 Search Nodes on your Atlas cluster. Atlas charges hourly for each search node on your cluster.
When you add a search node, Atlas charges you for the new configuration, including the new node, immediately. When you remove a search node, Atlas charges for the new configuration, excluding the node that you removed, immediately. Atlas charges you for a full hour even if you had a search node running for only part of the hour. If an unhealthy node is being replaced, Atlas doesn't charge for the replacement node and your charges will reflect the cost of only one node.
Search Tier
Atlas provides different search tiers. Each search tier has a default RAM capacity, storage capacity, and CPU. Each search node's per-hour usage charge (as shown in the Atlas UI during cluster creation) is calculated based on these default values.
When you create a cluster, Atlas calculates a per-hour usage charge based on the default values for the search tier. You can modify the search tier for your Search Nodes anytime. When you change instance size, Atlas charges for both instances for the first hour. After one hour, Atlas charges you for only the new instance.
Network Transfer
You will be charged for network traffic between Search Nodes and the database nodes on your Atlas cluster. You will see the charges for data transfer at the cluster level. Atlas doesn't reflect the charges for the Search Nodes separately. Your network charges reflect the cost of the whole Atlas cluster, including the Search Nodes.