ECR flow log billing
Express Connect Router (ECR) flow log billing consists of two parts: a traffic collection service fee and a Simple Log Service usage fee.
Billing item
The billing items of ECR Flow Log consist of the traffic collection service fee of Express Connect and the Simple Log Service (SLS) fee.
Traffic collection service fee
Currently, the ECR Flow Log feature only supports delivering generated flow logs to Log Service for log analysis. That is, the traffic collection service fee is the fee incurred by delivering flow logs to Log Service.
Billing cycle and bill generation time: The ECR traffic collection service fee is billed on an hourly basis. Fees are settled once every hour at the top of each hour (based on UTC+8 time). After settlement, a new billing cycle begins. If your usage duration is less than 1 hour within a billing cycle, it is counted as 1 hour.
The bill generation time is usually about 3 to 4 hours after the current billing cycle ends. The actual bill generation time is subject to the system.
The ECR traffic collection service fee uses tiered cumulative billing based on the monthly log usage generated in each region (the region where the current Border Router is located). The usage in each region is billed separately at the region granularity, and cross-region accumulation is not supported.
NoteCurrently, each Alibaba Cloud account (primary account) has a 5 GB time-limited free quota per month in each region. Please follow product updates for the expiration time.
The tiered pricing of the traffic collection service fee is shown in the following table.
Flow log generation volume tier (per month) | Pricing (CNY/GB) |
0 TB to 10 TB (inclusive) | 2.5 |
10 TB to 30 TB (inclusive) | 1.25 |
30 TB to 50 TB (inclusive) | 0.5 |
Greater than 50 TB | 0.25 |
Simple Log Service usage fee
The log information captured by Flow Log is stored in Alibaba Cloud Log Service. You can view and analyze the relevant data in Log Service, and Log Service charges corresponding storage and retrieval fees. For more information, see Simple Log Service billing.
Billing examples
Example 1
Suppose you enable the Flow Log feature in China East 2 (Shanghai) at 00:00:00 on December 1, 2024. During the period until 00:00:00 on January 1, 2025, a total of 100 GB of logs are delivered to Log Service.
Monthly traffic collection fee = 100 × 2.5 = 250 CNY. Total monthly flow log fee = 250 CNY + Simple Log Service fee.
Example 2
Suppose you enable the Flow Log feature in China North 2 (Beijing) at 00:00:00 on December 1, 2024. During the period until 00:00:00 on January 1, 2025, a total of 60 TB of logs are delivered to Log Service.
The traffic collection fee is calculated based on tiered pricing:
0 to 10 TB (inclusive): 10 × 1024 × 2.5 = 25,600 CNY
10 TB to 30 TB (inclusive): 20 × 1024 × 1.25 = 25,600 CNY
30 TB to 50 TB (inclusive): 20 × 1024 × 0.5 = 10,240 CNY
50 TB to 60 TB (inclusive): 10 × 1024 × 0.25 = 2,560 CNY
Total monthly traffic collection fee: 25,600 + 25,600 + 10,240 + 2,560 = 64,000 CNY. Total monthly flow log fee = 64,000 CNY + Simple Log Service fee.
Overdue payments and top-ups
Overdue payments
ECR Flow Log suspends the traffic collection service when the user account has an overdue payment. After the overdue payment status returns to normal, the system will restart the traffic collection service.
If you enable the balance alert feature, you will receive a text message or email notification when your account balance falls below the specified threshold.
If your account has an overdue payment but is within the service suspension protection limit, your service is not affected and the instance continues to run.
NoteAlibaba Cloud provides the extended suspension-free benefit. When a pay-as-you-go resource is overdue, you can continue to use cloud services for a certain amount or duration. Normal fees apply during the extended period. For more information, see Extended Suspension-Free Benefit.
If your account has an overdue payment that exceeds the service suspension protection limit, the service stops automatically. Billing also stops after the instance is stopped.
If your account is not eligible for service suspension protection, the ECR flow log instance is stopped when a payment becomes overdue. You cannot restart the instance. After your account balance is sufficient, the instance is automatically restored. You do not need to manually restart the flow log.
If you do not settle the overdue payment within 7 days after the instance is stopped, the ECR flow log instance is released. You receive a text message and email reminder one day before the instance is released. After the instance is released, its configurations and data are deleted and cannot be recovered.
Top-up policy
ECR flow logs are billed based on the amount of generated log data. Renewal is not required. You only need to ensure that your account has a sufficient balance in the Alibaba Cloud console.
If you add funds to your account while it is within the service suspension protection limit, your services are not affected.
If you add funds to your account and settle the overdue payment within 7 days after the instance is stopped, the instance is automatically restored. You do not need to manually restart the flow log.
For top-up methods and steps, see Online top-up.