Billable items
This topic describes the billable items, billing methods, and pricing of Vector Retrieval Service for Milvus (Milvus) .
Billing
Milvus charges consist of two components: CUs and storage.
Billable item | Billing description and payment method |
CU | The total compute resources required for operations such as writes and queries in Milvus, measured in CUs. 1 CU equals 1 CPU core and 4 GiB memory. |
Storage | You do not need to select a storage capacity at purchase. The system bills hourly based on your actual usage and displays the usage on the Details page. Important When you use the backup feature, the system also bills hourly based on your actual usage. These charges are merged into the storage fee and are not listed separately. |
For a subscription instance, the CU fee is a prepaid charge and does not generate a renewal charge before the subscription expires. However, storage fees are always billed hourly based on actual usage regardless of the billing method. As a result, even a subscription instance still generates a pay-as-you-go storage bill every month, which is a separate bill from the prepaid CU fee.
If you enable monthly auto-renewal for an instance, the CU portion generates a renewal charge in each renewal cycle. You can view and manage renewal settings on the auto-renewal page of the Expenses and Costs console.
When pay-as-you-go billing is triggered
As long as a pay-as-you-go instance is running, CU fees are generated hourly based on the instance specifications, regardless of whether query or write requests are sent. Storage fees are also billed hourly based on actual usage. If you no longer need an instance for the time being, delete it promptly to avoid unnecessary fees for an idle running instance.
Billing after service shutdown due to overdue payment
After a pay-as-you-go instance is shut down due to overdue payment, no new pay-as-you-go fees are generated. When you settle the outstanding balance, the payment covers only the resource fees generated from the time the overdue payment occurred until the instance was actually shut down, and does not include the period after the shutdown. If you do not need the instance immediately, topping up in advance and keeping the instance running still incurs hourly charges. We recommend that you top up and start the instance only when you actually need to use it, so that you can avoid fees incurred by an idle instance in the meantime.
Pricing
If you select a purchase duration of one year, you can enjoy the corresponding promotional offers. For more information, see Promotional offers.
CU fees
Subscription
Chinese mainland regions
Region
Service node unit price (CNY/CU/month)
Compute node unit price (CNY/CU/month)
Compute-optimized
Storage-optimized
China (Hangzhou)
157
157
211
China (Shanghai)
157
157
211
China (Beijing)
157
157
211
China (Ulanqab)
142
142
190
China (Shenzhen)
157
157
211
China (Hong Kong)
290
290
302
Other countries and regions
Region
Service node unit price (CNY/CU/month)
Compute node unit price (CNY/CU/month)
Compute-optimized
Storage-optimized
Singapore
266
266
263
Germany (Frankfurt)
280
280
287
Pay-as-you-go
Chinese mainland regions
Region
Service node unit price (CNY/CU/hour)
Compute node unit price (CNY/CU/hour)
Compute-optimized
Storage-optimized
China (Hangzhou)
0.33
0.33
0.44
China (Shanghai)
0.33
0.33
0.44
China (Beijing)
0.33
0.33
0.44
China (Ulanqab)
0.29
0.29
0.40
China (Shenzhen)
0.33
0.33
0.44
China (Hong Kong)
0.46
0.46
0.55
Other countries and regions
Region
Service node unit price (CNY/CU/hour)
Compute node unit price (CNY/CU/hour)
Compute-optimized
Storage-optimized
Singapore
0.42
0.42
0.57
Germany (Frankfurt)
0.45
0.45
0.60
Storage fees
Storage fees are billed hourly based on actual usage, and the usage is displayed on the Details page.
Chinese mainland regions
Region
Service node unit price (CNY/GB/hour)
China (Hangzhou)
0.0003125
China (Shanghai)
0.0003125
China (Beijing)
0.0003125
China (Ulanqab)
0.0003125
China (Shenzhen)
0.0003125
China (Hong Kong)
0.000325
Other countries and regions
Region
Service node unit price (CNY/GB/hour)
Singapore
0.000325
Germany (Frankfurt)
0.000325
Refund policy
Because subscription instances are paid for in advance based on the purchase duration, you can apply for a refund if your business no longer needs a subscription instance. When you request a refund, the system settles the amount based on your subscription resource purchase details. For more information, see Refund rules.
For the flow of funds after a refund, see Flow of funds after a refund.
A refund applies only to the order amount that you paid with cash or a stored-value card. The portion offset by vouchers or coupons is not refundable.
Refund rules for savings plans
The refund method and refundable amount for an all-upfront savings plan depend on whether the savings plan has been used during its validity period.
Not used during the validity period: You can request a self-service refund and get a full refund.
Used during the validity period, or other special cases: You cannot request a self-service refund. You need to submit a ticket to apply for a refund of the remaining balance. The refundable amount is calculated as follows:
Refundable amount = (Remaining amount / Committed amount) × Actual amount paid for the order
Before you apply for a refund, confirm the following information:
The instance ID and order number of the savings plan to be refunded.
The refundable amount.
For the portion paid with vouchers, only the remaining value is refunded. If a voucher has expired, it cannot be used again after the unsubscription.
After the savings plan is released, the pay-as-you-go instances that were offset by the savings plan are restored to normal pay-as-you-go billing.
After you confirm the preceding information, complete the unsubscription through a self-service refund or by submitting a ticket, depending on your scenario.
Billing examples
CU billing example
Assume that the region is China (Hangzhou) and the purchased Specs is Standard Edition. The following table shows an example of how the estimated total fee is calculated.
Billing conditions | Fee (CNY) |
| Estimated total fee = service node fee + compute node fee = 3768 + 3376 = 7144
|
Storage fee example
Assume that you have 100 GB of data storage usage in the China (Hangzhou) region, where the storage unit price is 0.0003125 CNY/GB/hour. Based on Storage fee = storage unit price × data storage usage × billing duration, the storage fee generated in the China (Hangzhou) region is:
Fee for 1 hour: 0.03125 CNY. Storage fee = (0.0003125 CNY/GB/hour) × 100 GB × 1 hour
Fee for 1 day: 0.75 CNY. Storage fee = 0.03125 CNY × 24 hours
Fee for 1 month: 22.5 CNY. Storage fee = 0.75 CNY × 30 days
View bills
You can view the fee bills and consumption details of Milvus in the Expenses and Costs console. For more information about bill details, see Bill details.