File Backup Essential Edition provides basic backup and recovery features for files on your ECS instances. Billing is based on the total block storage capacity of your backed-up ECS instances. Each Alibaba Cloud account receives a persistent 100 GiB free quota.
Benefits
Free quota: 100 GiB of block storage backup capacity.
Applicable regions: An Alibaba Cloud account and its RAM users share the free quota across all regions.
Automatic application: The free quota is applied automatically.
Deduction rules
The free quota is applied to your usage charges in chronological order.
Overage billing
After you exceed the free quota, charges are calculated using the following formula.
Billing formula
Parameter | Description |
Total backed-up block storage capacity | The daily bill is calculated using the total block storage capacity of the ECS instance after the day's final backup completes (before 24:00). |
Free quota | Each Alibaba Cloud account (primary account) and its RAM users share a 100 GiB free quota across all regions. This quota is applied automatically during billing. |
Daily unit price | Charges are calculated daily, and usage details are generated daily. Billing starts on the day your first backup completes. The price is consistent across all regions and can be offset by a resource plan. For specific pricing, see the Pricing page. |
Billing example
Assume you are using the service for the first time and have scheduled daily file backups at 05:00. Your first backup runs on September 1, 2025. The ECS instance has one 40 GiB system disk and one 20 GiB data disk. At 09:00 on September 2, 2025, you add a 70 GiB data disk. The unit price is CNY 0.037/GiB/month.
The prices shown are for example purposes only. Refer to the Pricing page for actual prices.
Backup date | Cost calculation |
September 1, 2025 |
|
September 2, 2025 |
|
September 3, 2025 |
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FAQ
How to view your free quota
Go to the ECS console - File Backup page and check your free quota usage in the All Regions view.
How to stop billing
To stop charges for an ECS instance, you must cancel its backup. This action deletes all of its backup points.
A backup point is a file backup of a partition, such as the C: or D: drive in Windows or the
/directory in Linux. Backup points cannot be deleted manually and are retained for 30 days by default.Log on to the ECS console - File Backup page. At the top of the page, select the region where your target instance is located.
Find the target instance. In the Actions column, click Cancel Backup. In the dialog box that appears, click OK.
ImportantAll backup points for the instance will be deleted, and the data cannot be recovered. Proceed with caution.
How to query detailed bills
View detailed bills and usage data for File Backup Essential Edition in the Expenses and Costs center to track your spending.
Log on to the Expenses and Costs console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
Select the appropriate tab, set the Product Name filter to Cloud Backup, and view the usage details for the ECS File Backup Essential Edition billable item.
References
For instructions on activating and configuring file backup for an ECS instance, see Configure automatic file backup and recovery for an ECS instance.