Billing methods and billable items for Internet Shared Bandwidth-Internet Shared Bandwidth(Internet Shared Bandwidth)-阿里云帮助中心

Billing methods

Internet Shared Bandwidth supports subscription and pay-as-you-go billing.

Subscription: A pre-paid billing method.
- You are charged at instance creation.
- During the subscription period, you can only upgrade the instance configuration. Downgrading and early release are not supported.
  
  To upgrade, see Change the configuration of a subscription instance. To downgrade, perform a renewal with configuration change — the new maximum bandwidth takes effect in the next subscription cycle. Renewal with configuration change.
Pay-as-you-go: A post-paid billing method.
- You can upgrade, downgrade, or convert the billing method of a pay-as-you-go instance. Change the configuration of a pay-as-you-go instance.
- You can convert from pay-as-you-go (pay-by-bandwidth) to subscription. Convert billing method.

Each billing method offers different metering options. Select one based on your requirements.

Billing method	Metering method	Scenarios
Pay-as-you-go	pay-by-bandwidth	Your traffic peaks are stable. Your resource usage is temporary or includes sudden spikes.
	pay-by-enhanced 95th percentile	Your services experience high traffic peaks. Your traffic peaks fluctuate significantly and frequently.
	pay-by-dominant-traffic	Your traffic peaks fluctuate significantly, for example, in the gaming or video streaming industries. Your resource usage is temporary or includes sudden spikes. Recommended if you cannot predict traffic usage.
Subscription	pay-by-fixed-bandwidth	You can predict the resource usage period. Your traffic peaks are stable. You require a more cost-effective option than pay-as-you-go for long-term use.

Select a metering method based on required bandwidth stability.

Pay-by-bandwidth (pay-by-fixed-bandwidth for subscription, pay-by-bandwidth for pay-as-you-go): Guarantees a stable maximum bandwidth. Suitable for services that require high bandwidth stability.
Pay-by-data-transfer (pay-by-dominant-traffic): No bandwidth guarantee — actual bandwidth fluctuates with network load. Billed for dominant traffic (the higher of inbound or outbound), independent of the configured maximum bandwidth. Suitable when bandwidth stability is not critical and usage-based billing is preferred.
Pay-by-enhanced 95th percentile: Commits a baseline bandwidth with stable, reliable throughput. Excess usage is settled based on the monthly average peak bandwidth after bursting reduction. Suitable for fluctuating traffic that still requires guaranteed baseline bandwidth.

For high bandwidth stability, choose pay-by-fixed-bandwidth (subscription) or pay-by-bandwidth (pay-as-you-go).

Billable items

The following figure shows Internet Shared Bandwidth billable items. Billing overview

Billable item	Description	Metering method
Bandwidth fee	Charged based on the specified maximum bandwidth, regardless of actual data transfer.	Subscription Pay-by-bandwidth
Baseline bandwidth fee	Daily fee for your minimum committed bandwidth (baseline bandwidth).	Pay-by-enhanced 95th percentile
Bursting bandwidth fee (conditional charge)	Charged for the excess if your monthly average peak bandwidth exceeds the baseline. Otherwise, not charged.	Pay-by-enhanced 95th percentile
Data transfer	Billed per billing cycle for dominant traffic (the greater of inbound and outbound traffic).	Pay-by-dominant-traffic

Billing cycle

The following table describes Internet Shared Bandwidth billing cycles.

Billing cycle	Bill release time	Billable item
Hourly	Generated within the hour after the billing cycle ends. Exact timing may vary.	Data transfer fees for Internet Shared Bandwidth instances that use the pay-by-dominant-traffic method
Daily	Generated in the early morning of the next day. Exact timing may vary.	Bandwidth fees for instances that use the pay-by-bandwidth method Baseline bandwidth fees for instances that use the pay-by-enhanced 95th percentile method
Monthly	Generated on the first day of the following calendar month. Exact timing may vary.	Bandwidth fees for subscription Internet Shared Bandwidth instances Bursting bandwidth fees for instances that use the pay-by-enhanced 95th percentile method

Pricing

Internet Shared Bandwidth pricing by billable item:

Actual prices are on the subscription and pay-as-you-go Internet Shared Bandwidth purchase pages in the console.

More information

Overdue payments

Overdue payments for subscription instances

When a subscription instance expires due to non-payment:

Service stops, and the instance is retained for 7 days.
If you renew within 7 days through the console or the Renewal center, service is restored.
If you do not renew within 7 days, the instance is released. Associated EIPs are removed and revert to their previous maximum bandwidth and billing methods.

Overdue payments for pay-as-you-go instances

The service status of a pay-as-you-go instance changes as follows after a payment becomes overdue:

A payment becomes overdue if the available balance in your account, including cash, coupons, and vouchers, is insufficient to cover a generated bill.
If your account has an overdue payment but is within the grace period quota, your service is not suspended.

Note
Alibaba Cloud provides a grace period that allows continued use of pay-as-you-go services for a specific period or quota. Services are billed normally during this period. Grace Period for Overdue Payments.
If the overdue payment exceeds the grace period quota, service stops and the instance is retained for 7 days.
If you pay the overdue bill within 7 days, the service is restored.
If the overdue bill is not paid within 7 days, the instance is released. Associated EIPs are removed and revert to their previous maximum bandwidth and billing methods.

View your bills

Monthly bill overview

Go to Expenses & Costs. On the Bills > Bill Overview page, you can view the total monthly settlement amount (including the full consumption billing cycle), make payments, and export stamped PDF files. Monthly Bills.

Bill details

Go to Expenses & Costs, and on the Bills > Bill Details page, you can view billing records, detailed bills, usage details, and product usage and pricing summaries. Bill Details.