Billing and Orders

View monthly cloud service consumption

On the Billing Overview page of the Expenses and Costs console, you can view the bills of all cloud services that incurred charges, by month and by enterprise, organization, or account. Individual accounts are not supported. Based on the OutStanding Amount, you can top up your account to settle the outstanding bills.

In the left-side navigation pane, choose Billing Management > Monthly Bill Overview. You can filter bills by billing cycle range, account, and status, and you can use Export Bill Files. The bill list displays the billing cycle, billing date, consumption amount (invoiceable), paid amount, overdue amount, due date, and status. In the Actions column, click View Details or Pay Now.

View bill details

On the Billing Details page, you can customize the Statistical items and Statistical cycle to view your bill details.

In the left-side navigation pane, choose Billing Management > Bill Details and click the Details tab. Set the billing cycle, select the target product from the Product drop-down list, such as Elasticsearch, and then click Search to view the corresponding pay-as-you-go and subscription billing records.

The bill details page uses the following field:

Amount payable: the amount that you actually need to pay after all discounts, savings plans, and coupons are applied.

Expiration of subscription instances

1. Before expiration

   • If your account balance is sufficient and auto-renewal is enabled, the system starts the automatic deduction 9 days before the instance expires. Cancel auto-renewal before the first deduction.

   • The system sends expiration reminders 7 days, 3 days, and 1 day before the instance expires.

2. Service is suspended immediately after expiration

   The instance is suspended and data cannot be read or written, but all data is retained. You can manually renew the instance to restore the service.

3. The instance is released on the 8th day after expiration

   At 00:00 on the 8th day after the instance expires, the system automatically releases the instance and immediately performs the following operations:

   • Data deletion — After the instance is released, the data is permanently deleted within 24 hours and cannot be recovered.

   • Physical resources — The instance is released (physically deleted) and cannot be recovered.

Overdue payments for pay-as-you-go instances

1. Within 24 hours after the payment becomes overdue

   • When your account balance is less than 0 CNY, the system sends you an overdue payment notification.

   • The instance remains available and billing continues.

   • Recommended action — Top up your account to avoid service suspension after the payment has been overdue for more than 24 hours.

2. Service is suspended after the payment has been overdue for 24 hours

   • The instance is suspended (data cannot be read or written) and billing stops.

   • Deferred suspension benefit — If you have enabled overdue payment suspension exemption, the service period can be extended (billing continues as usual during this period).

   • Recommended action — Top up your account so that the balance is greater than 0 CNY to restore the service.

3. Within 7 days after the service is suspended

   If you top up your account during this period (balance greater than 0 CNY), you can continue to use the instance.

4. The instance is released 7 days after the service is suspended

   After 7 days, the system automatically releases the instance and immediately performs the following operations:

   • Data deletion — After the instance is released, the data is permanently deleted within 24 hours and cannot be recovered.

   • Physical resources — The instance is released (physically deleted) and cannot be recovered.

• Freeze Instance — Each instance supports a maximum of 3 freeze operations. The instance is frozen for 24 hours. During this period, you can:

  • Restore the instance — After the instance is restored, normal billing resumes.

  • Delete the instance immediately — The data in the instance is released and cannot be retrieved. The instance no longer appears in the instance list, and the instance resources are completely cleared after 24 hours and cannot be recovered.

• Delete the instance immediately — The data in the instance is released and cannot be retrieved. The instance no longer appears in the instance list, and the instance resources are completely cleared after 24 hours and cannot be recovered.

Renewal rules

• Renewals of subscription instances fall into two categories, depending on whether the renewal is completed before expiration:

  • Renewal before expiration (the instance is in the normal state) — After the renewal succeeds, the instance continues to run normally without suspension.

  • Renewal after expiration (the instance is in the frozen state) — The instance is suspended after it expires and automatically resumes after the renewal succeeds.

• For pay-as-you-go instances, you only need to make sure that your available account balance is sufficient. No renewal is required.

Manual renewal

1. In the Elasticsearch or Logstash instance list, click Renew to the right of the target instance.

2. On the Renew page, select a renewal duration and pay the fee.

Auto-renewal

If you are concerned that you may forget to manually renew an instance, you can configure auto-renewal for the instance. The system then automatically renews the instance before it expires.

• Configuring auto-renewal only sets the renewal cycle. The renewal does not take place immediately. The system performs the first renewal deduction 9 days before the instance expires. If the deduction fails, the system retries once a day until 1 day before the instance expires or until the renewal succeeds.

• You can cancel auto-renewal at any time after it is configured, in two ways: set the instance to not renew upon expiration, or switch back to manual renewal. To avoid the renewal charge, cancel before the first deduction. For instructions, see Cancel auto-renewal.

  Configure auto-renewal in either of the following two ways:

• When you create a subscription instance, select Auto-renewal.

  After you select this option, the auto-renewal cycle is monthly, and the fee is automatically deducted at the real-time price before the instance expires. You can cancel auto-renewal at any time.

• Log on to the Renewal Management page. On the Manual Renewal tab, select one or more products that you want to renew and click Renew or Enable auto-renewal.

  On the renewal page, select a Duration (1 month, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, or 5 years) and select the Auto-renewal check box to avoid service suspension or resource release when the resource expires.

View the current renewal method of an instance

To check whether an Elasticsearch instance currently uses auto-renewal or manual renewal, log on to the Renewal Management page, find the target instance in the instance list, and check the Renewal Method column to confirm the current status. To switch between auto-renewal and manual renewal, operate on the same page.

Cancel auto-renewal

If you no longer need an instance to be automatically renewed after the current billing cycle ends, you can cancel auto-renewal in advance. After auto-renewal is enabled, the system starts the automatic deduction 9 days before the instance expires. Cancel auto-renewal before the first deduction to avoid the renewal charge.

1. In the console, find the instance for which you want to cancel auto-renewal and click Renew.

2. Click Renewal.

3. Select the product for which you want to cancel the renewal and click Nonrenewal.

   You can confirm the current renewal method of an instance in the Renewal Method column on the Renewal Management page.

Prerequisites

• The instance is in the normal state, and no unpaid orders exist under the Alibaba Cloud account to which the instance belongs.

• The data node specifications are not 1-core 2 GB or 2-core 2 GB.

• The ES version is not 7.4.

  Since May 2021, Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch no longer supports the purchase of new 7.4 instances (version 7.10 is recommended). Existing instances are not affected.

Convert from pay-as-you-go to subscription

1. In the Elasticsearch or Logstash instance list, click Switch to Subscription or Switch to Subscription to the right of the target instance.

   Alternatively, click the ID of the target instance. On the Basic Information page, in the Cluster Statistics section, click Switch to Subscription.

2. On the Switch to Subscription Billing page, select a duration (at least 1 month) and pay the fee.

Convert from subscription to pay-as-you-go

Subscription instances can be converted to the pay-as-you-go billing method. After the conversion, you are billed based on actual usage and the remaining subscription fee is refunded.

Unsubscription rules

• Starting from 10:00 on May 21, 2025 (UTC+8), Alibaba Cloud will upgrade the refund rules for subscription products in batches. If you used a voucher as a deduction when you purchased a subscription cloud service, the voucher can be refunded in proportion to the payment fund structure when you unsubscribe and request a refund. For more information, see Notice on the upgrade of the refund rules for subscription products on Alibaba Cloud.

• Starting from 10:00 on August 19, 2025 (UTC+8), Alibaba Cloud will upgrade the refund rules for public cloud resource plans in batches. If you used a voucher as a deduction when you purchased a resource plan, the voucher can be refunded in proportion to the payment fund structure when you unsubscribe from the resource plan. For more information, see Resource Plan Unsubscription Rule Update.

  The following table describes the unsubscription rules for each billing method.

Unsubscription procedure

1. Log on to the Unsubscription Management page and check whether the order for your ES instance has taken effect.

   • Order has taken effect — The instance appears on the Unsubscribe Resource or Unsubscribe from In-use Resources tab. If you decide to unsubscribe, not only the existing order (the order that has taken effect) is unsubscribed, but the renewal orders that have not taken effect are also unsubscribed (the services that have not yet started are canceled).

   • Order has not taken effect — The instance appears on the Unsubscribe Renewal That Does Not Take Effect or Cancel Renewals tab. If you decide to unsubscribe, the orders that have not taken effect are unsubscribed, while the service that you are currently using (the part that has taken effect) remains valid and is not affected.

2. On the Unsubscription Management page, switch between the tabs of common cloud resources, resource plans, Alibaba Cloud Marketplace products, and virtual hosts to find and unsubscribe from the target order.

3. On the Unsubscribe Resource page, carefully verify the information of the resource to be unsubscribed, confirm the unsubscription terms and the unsubscription amount, and then complete the unsubscription as prompted by the console.

   After you complete the unsubscription, check the status of the unsubscription order on the Unsubscription Management page. Before the order is processed, the instance is still billed in the original billing method.

Other refund scenarios

• Scaling down nodes

  • Subscription — The fee for the scaled-down nodes is refunded based on the remaining billing period.

  • Pay-as-you-go — You are billed based on the actual number of nodes used.

• Resource downgrade or billing method change — Refunds are processed according to the unsubscription rules. When you convert a subscription instance to pay-as-you-go, the refund amount and the service fee are calculated as described in Convert from subscription to pay-as-you-go.

Refund destination

After a resource is unsubscribed, the system returns the refund amount to your payment account through the original channel. The whole process may take some time to complete. During this period, you can view the refund status and the refund amount on the Expenses and Costs > My Orders page of Alibaba Cloud.

• For orders paid by Alipay, if the unsubscription occurs within 18 months (548 days) after the payment on or after March 29, 2019, the refund is returned to the Alipay account used for the payment. If the refund fails, the amount is returned to your Alibaba Cloud account balance.

• For orders paid by online banking, if the unsubscription occurs within 90 days after the payment, the refund is generally returned to the original bank card. If the bank refund fails, the amount is returned to your Alibaba Cloud account balance.

• For orders paid by account balance, the refund is returned directly to the account balance.

• For orders paid by other payment methods (such as WeChat Pay and UnionPay QuickPass), the refund is returned through the original channel first. If that fails, the amount is returned to your Alibaba Cloud account balance.

Unsubscription FAQ

Why am I still charged after I unsubscribe from an Elasticsearch instance?

Troubleshoot in the following order:

1. Check whether usage was incurred before the unsubscription. A subscription instance no longer incurs new fees after it is unsubscribed, but the consumed portion is not refunded (unsubscription amount = amount actually paid for the order - consumed amount). A pay-as-you-go instance is used first and paid for later, and refunds are not involved. The usage incurred before the instance was released is still billed the next day.

2. Verify that the unsubscription order is complete. Log on to the Unsubscription Management page and check the status of the unsubscription order for the target instance. Before the order is processed, the instance is still billed in the original billing method.

3. Check whether related resources have not been unsubscribed. After an Elasticsearch instance is released, the instance itself is no longer billed. However, other cloud service resources that you separately activated and used together with the instance are not unsubscribed with the ES instance, and you must handle them separately in the corresponding service consoles. For example, an OSS bucket used as a custom snapshot repository (fees are incurred according to OSS billing rules) and a separately purchased Logstash instance.

4. Locate the specific billing source. On the Billing Details page, click the Details tab, select Elasticsearch from the Product drop-down list, and check by billing cycle and instance ID whether the fees really come from the unsubscribed instance. If you still cannot confirm the source, submit a ticket.