Billing
This topic describes the billing rules and methods of HTTPDNS. You can refer to this topic when selecting a billing method.
Billing rules
This section introduces the billable items and billing cycle information for HTTPDNS.
Billable items
Billable item | Description |
HTTP protocol parsing count | Refers to the number of single domain name resolution requests (either IPv4 or IPv6 type) initiated to the HTTPDNS server through HTTP protocol (plaintext), where the server successfully returns a non-empty IP address list. |
Only resolution requests sent to the HTTPDNS server are billed. When the HTTPDNS SDK local cache is hit, no server resolution request is triggered, so no billing occurs.
Only resolutions that return IP addresses are billed. Resolution requests that do not return IP addresses from the HTTPDNS server due to non-existent domains, domains not added to the resolution whitelist, non-existent AAAA records, or other reasons are not billed.
If a batch resolution request resolves N domain names (either IPv4 or IPv6 type) simultaneously, it is counted as N resolutions.
Encrypted request conversion rules
HTTPDNS supports encryption at both transport and application layers to further enhance resolution security. Encrypted resolution requests will be converted to standard HTTP resolution counts for billing according to the following ratios:
Encryption method | Conversion ratio (billing conversion to HTTP protocol resolution count) |
HTTP + AES content encryption | 3 times |
DoH (DNS over HTTPS) | 4 times |
HTTPS (transport layer encryption) | 5 times |
HTTPS + AES (transport layer + content encryption) | 8 times |
Example: If this month you have 800,000 HTTP protocol resolution requests, 2 million HTTP protocol resolution requests with AES encryption, 500,000 DoH protocol resolution requests, 200,000 HTTPS protocol resolution requests, and 500,000 HTTPS protocol resolution requests with AES encryption, then the billable HTTP protocol resolution count for this month is: 1×800,000 + 3×2,000,000 + 4×500,000 + 5×200,000 + 8×500,000 = 13.8 million times.
Billing cycle
The system collects billing statistics and generates bills daily for the usage of HTTPDNS resources. After your free quota and quotas of resource plans are exhausted, you are charged for the extra resources that you use each day.
The free quota is set on a monthly basis and is cleared on the first day of each month. If the amount of resources that you use in a month does not exceed the free quota, you are not charged for resource usage. If the amount of resources exceeds the free quota, you are charged for the excess amount.
Bill Generation
Upfront bill: When you purchase a resource plan, a bill is generated.
Pay-as-you-go bill: If you use the services that are provided by Enterprise Mobile Application Studio (EMAS) based on the pay-as-you-go billing method, a bill is generated each day based on your resource usage of the previous day.
The daily bill is generated at approximately 3:00 (UTC+8) the next day. The actual point in time when a bill is generated prevails. To view your bills, go to the Bills page of your Alibaba Cloud account.
Sales Model
The following billing methods are available for HTTPDNS.
To use multiple products simultaneously, we offer more cost-effective package purchase options. For more information, see EMAS package plans.
Free quota
For each Alibaba Cloud account, HTTPDNS offers 1,500,000 resolutions per month free of charge.
Resource plans
Resource plans are billed upfront and are more cost-effective in most cases. You can purchase multiple resource plans. When you have multiple resource plans, their resources are offset based on the order in which they are purchased. For more information, go to the buy page of Purchase resource package.
Resource plan specifications | Validity period (months) | Resource plan price (CNY) | Unit price per 10,000 requests (CNY) | Discount compared with pay-as-you-go pricing |
5 million | 12 | 16.8 | 0.0336 | 16% off |
50 million times | 12 | 150 | 0.03 | 25% off |
500 million times | 12 | 1350 | 0.027 | 33% off |
2 billion times | 12 | 4800 | 0.024 | 40% off |
The resource package follows a monthly deduction mechanism. For example, if a user purchases a resource package with a quota of 10 million queries and uses 5 million queries in the first month, 1.5 million free queries will be deducted first. The remaining 3.5 million queries will then be deducted from the resource package, reducing its balance to 6.5 million queries. This remaining quota will continue to be used for deductions in the second month.
A resource plan is valid for one year. A resource plan takes effect immediately after it is purchased. A resource plan is available until the validity period of the resource plan ends or until the resources in the resource plan are used up.
View resource plan usage: User Center > Resource Instance Management > Resource Plan.
Pay-as-you-go
Fees are based on the pay-as-you-go prices for the usage of billable items.
HTTP Parse Count | Price (CNY) |
10,000 | 0.04 |
Offset order
Offset order example
Assume a user purchases an HTTPDNS resource plan with a quota of 50 million resolutions, which is valid for 12 months. The user also has a free monthly quota of 1.5 million resolutions. If the number of resolutions in a month exceeds 1.5 million, the excess amount is deducted from the resource plan. After the resource plan is exhausted, the pay-as-you-go billing method is automatically applied.
Overdue payments
The HTTPDNS grace period for overdue payments refers to the period of time during which the HTTPDNS API continues to provide services for an account after the account becomes overdue.
HTTPDNS provides a 24-hour grace period for overdue payments. If an overdue payment is not settled after the grace period elapses, HTTPDNS stops providing services.
To resume a suspended service, you must pay the overdue payment.
Refunds
You can apply for refunds on your HTTPDNS resource plans only if the resource plans are not used. You can apply for a refund on a resource plan only before the validity period of the resource plan ends.
To apply for a refund, ticket system.