This topic describes the billable items, billing methods, and pricing for public instances and Enterprise Edition instances of IoT Platform.
Billing methods
For more information about IoT Platform instances, see Instance overview.
The following table describes the billing methods for IoT Platform instances.
Instance type | Applicable region | Billing method | Billable item | Description |
Enterprise Edition instance |
|
| This is a subscription billing method. After you purchase an Enterprise Edition instance, you can use the services that are included in the instance. | |
New public instance |
| Free of charge |
| The instance provides the following default configurations:
If your business requires more resources than the defined specifications, upgrade the public instance to an Enterprise Edition instance. The Enterprise Edition instance is billed on a subscription basis. Important After you upgrade a new public instance to an Enterprise Edition instance, the number of OTA updates for the current month does not increase immediately. The number of OTA updates is upgraded to 1,000 per calendar month at 00:00 on the first day of the next month. |
Old public instance | Pay-as-you-go: | This is a pay-as-you-go billing method. You use resources first and pay for them later. The system generates a bill for the paid resources that you use in each billing cycle and deducts the fees from your Alibaba Cloud account. |
The following features of IoT Platform instances are billed using the following methods.
Feature | Applicable instance | Applicable region | Billing method | Billable item | Description |
OTA update | Enterprise Edition instance |
|
| A free quota of 1,000 OTA updates per calendar month is provided. The free quota is preferentially used. If the free quota is used up, you must purchase a resource plan to obtain more OTA updates. The resource plan is billed on a subscription basis. Important
| |
Data intelligence algorithm | Enterprise Edition instance |
|
| This is a subscription billing method. After you purchase an algorithm, IoT Platform automatically creates an algorithm instance. You can then use the algorithm to detect and diagnose abnormal device data. Important New purchases are no longer supported. You can only renew or upgrade existing instances. | |
IoT Digital Twin Engine (Enterprise Edition and Ultimate Edition) | Enterprise Edition instance |
|
| This is a subscription billing method. After you purchase the Enterprise Edition or Ultimate Edition, you can use the IoT Digital Twin Engine services that are included in the purchased edition. |
Fee composition
The following figure shows the fee composition for IoT Platform.
View bills
On the Billing Details page in the Expenses and Costs console, you can review your IoT Platform charges and usage under Itemized Bills and Usage Details. For more information, see Billing Details.
Upgrades and downgrades
Service | Description | References |
Enterprise Edition instance | You can upgrade or downgrade the resource specifications of the instance as needed. | |
Number of OTA updates | The unused quota in a resource plan of the current year cannot be refunded or carried over to the next year. You can only purchase new resource plans to increase the quota. | |
Data intelligence algorithm instance | You can upgrade the specifications of an algorithm instance as needed. | |
IoT Digital Twin Engine | You can upgrade the specifications of the IoT Digital Twin Engine for an Enterprise Edition instance as needed. |
Expiration and renewals
If a resource plan for an Enterprise Edition instance expires, your services will be affected.
If an Enterprise Edition instance expires, the OTA update, data intelligence algorithm instance, and IoT Digital Twin Engine services will be stopped even if their resource plans have not expired. The services in the following table can be renewed only if the associated Enterprise Edition instance has not expired.
Service | Renewal policy | References |
Enterprise Edition instance | You must renew the instance within 15 days after it expires. Otherwise, the data in the instance, such as products and devices, is automatically released. The data cannot be restored. | |
Number of OTA updates | Renewals are not supported. After a resource plan expires, you must purchase a new one. Otherwise, the OTA update service is stopped. | None |
Data intelligence algorithm instance | You must renew the data intelligence algorithm instance within 15 days after it expires. Otherwise, the instance is released. The data cannot be restored. | |
IoT Digital Twin Engine | You must renew the IoT Digital Twin Engine edition within 15 days after it expires. Otherwise, the edition is released. The data cannot be restored. |
Overdue payments
An overdue payment occurs when the available credit in your account is insufficient to cover a bill. Your available credit includes your account balance and vouchers. Overdue payments may affect the services for your instance. If a payment is overdue, you must top up your account immediately. For more information about overdue payments and their impacts, see Overdue payments.
Refund policy
For an Enterprise Edition instance, if the purchased resources exceed your business requirements, you can submit a ticket to cancel the resource plan. For more information about the refund rules, see Refund policy.
References
For more information about the differences between new and legacy public instances, and between public and Enterprise Edition instances, see Instance overview.
If a legacy public instance is activated on your Alibaba Cloud account, you must create a new Alibaba Cloud account to activate a new public instance. For more information, see Activate a new public instance.
To purchase an Enterprise Edition instance that meets your business requirements, see Purchase an Enterprise Edition instance.
For more information about how the fees for connection duration and number of messages are calculated for a legacy public instance, see Pay-as-you-go billing examples.
For more information about how the fees for resource specifications of an Enterprise Edition instance are calculated, see Subscription billing examples.
FAQ
For answers to frequently asked questions about activating or using Enterprise Edition instances and public IoT Platform instances, see FAQ about IoT Platform instances.
For answers to frequently asked questions about billing for purchasing or trying an IoT Platform instance, see FAQ about IoT Platform billing.
For answers to frequently asked questions about billing for trial Alibaba Cloud products, see FAQ about trials.
For answers to frequently asked questions about payments for purchasing and renewing Alibaba Cloud products, see FAQ about payments.
For answers to frequently asked questions about topping up your Alibaba Cloud account, see FAQ about top-ups.