Billing
You can use Network Intelligence Service (NIS) after enabling it for an identity-verified Alibaba Cloud account. Only the Traffic Analyzer feature incurs charges; all other NIS features are free.
The Traffic Analyzer (Commercial Edition) feature requires VPC flow logs, which incur separate charges (VPC Flow Logs billing).
Complete Individual identity verification or Enterprise identity verification to verify your account.
Billing rules
NIS Traffic Analyzer uses pay-as-you-go billing based on actual usage.
Bills are generated per region. Each region includes a monthly free quota.
Bills are generated hourly and available 3–4 hours after each billing cycle ends. Usage under one hour is rounded up to one hour.
Billable items
NIS Traffic Analyzer has two billable items: processing fees and storage fees.
Billable item | Description | Billing method | Free quota |
Processing fee | Processing fees are based on the volume of network logs read for data enrichment. | Calculated monthly per region across all Traffic Analyzer instances. Tiered pricing applies. | A free quota of 5 GB is provided for each region every month. |
Storage Fees for Network Traffic Analysis | Enriched traffic data is stored based on your sampling policies for traffic analysis visualization. Note Storage fees are calculated hourly. Fees increase with log volume, sampling granularity, aggregation dimensions, and storage duration. | Storage fee = Total hourly storage (GB) × Unit price per GB. | A free quota of 500 GB-hours is provided for each region every month. |
The free quota applies at the account level. Monthly free quotas for processing and storage are shared across all Traffic Analyzer instances under the account.
Pricing
Tiered pricing for processing fees:
10 TB = 10,240 GB
Monthly data processing tier | Unit price (CNY/GB) |
0 to 5 GB | Free |
5 GB to 10 TB (inclusive) | 5 |
10 TB to 30 TB (inclusive) | 2.5 |
30 TB to 50 TB (inclusive) | 1 |
Over 50 TB | 0.7 |
Pricing for storage fees:
Billable item | Unit price (CNY/GB/hour) |
Storage Fee for Network Traffic Analysis | 0.0028 (A free quota of 500 GB-hours is provided for each region every month) |
For example, assume an NIS Traffic Analyzer instance stores 8 GB of data in the China (Hangzhou) region for 7 days. The first 500 GB-hours of storage are free. The storage fee for the remaining usage is calculated as follows: (8 GB × (7 days × 24 hours/day) - 500 GB-hours) × 0.0028 CNY/GB/hour = 2.3632 CNY.
Billing example
Assume you enable NIS Traffic Analyzer at 00:00:00 on April 1, 2025 and create instances A and B. From 00:00:00 April 1 to 00:00:00 May 1, 2025:
NIS Traffic Analyzer A processes 3 GB of logs in China (Hangzhou) and 35 TB of logs in China (Shanghai). The sampling policy performs statistical analysis on 5-tuples at 1-minute intervals with 7-day storage.
NIS Traffic Analyzer B processes 20 TB of logs in China (Shanghai). The sampling policy performs statistical analysis on 2-tuples at 1-day intervals with 1-year storage.
Processing Fee for Network Traffic Analysis
Instances A and B processed a combined 3 GB in China (Hangzhou) and 55 TB in China (Shanghai):
The total volume in China (Hangzhou) is less than 5 GB, so no fee is charged (covered by the free quota).
China (Shanghai) has a 5 GB free quota. The remaining usage is charged at tiered rates:
5 GB to 10 TB (inclusive): (10 × 1,024 - 5) × 5 = 51,175 CNY
10 TB to 30 TB (inclusive): 20 × 1,024 × 2.5 = 51,200 CNY
30 TB to 50 TB (inclusive): 20 × 1,024 × 1 = 20,480 CNY
Over 50 TB: (55 - 50) × 1,024 × 0.7 = 3,584 CNY
Total processing fee for the month: 51,175 + 51,200 + 20,480 + 3,584 = 126,439 CNY.
Storage fees for network traffic analysis
Assume that after enrichment and sampling, NIS Traffic Analyzer A stores 8 GB of data in China (Shanghai) for 7 days. The storage fee is calculated hourly: (8 GB × (7 days × 24 hours/day) - 500 GB-hours) × 0.0028 CNY/GB/hour = 2.3632 CNY.
Assume Traffic Analyzer B has a stable 2-tuple collection. After enrichment and sampling, average hourly storage in China (Shanghai) is 512 MB with 1-year retention. If the free quota is fully used by instance A, the monthly storage fee for instance B is: 512/1,024 × 0.0028 × (30 × 24) = 1.008 CNY.
Overdue payments and top-ups
Overdue payments
If your account has an overdue payment, NIS Traffic Analyzer is affected as follows:
If the overdue amount is within your service suspension protection limit, NIS Traffic Analyzer continues to operate.
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 the overdue amount exceeds your service suspension protection limit, NIS Traffic Analyzer is suspended. All instances stop processing and generating traffic analysis data.
Without service suspension protection, any overdue payment suspends NIS Traffic Analyzer immediately. All instances stop processing and generating traffic analysis data.
If you clear the overdue payment within 15 days of suspension, the service resumes automatically.
If you do not clear the overdue payment within 15 days of suspension, all Traffic Analyzer instances are released. You receive SMS and email notification one day before release. After release, all configurations and data are permanently deleted.
ImportantDuring suspension, Traffic Analyzer stops processing new data, but storage fees continue to accrue. Delete your instances if you no longer need the service.
Top-up instructions
NIS Traffic Analyzer is pay-as-you-go and does not require renewal. Please top up in the Alibaba Cloud Management Console in a timely manner to avoid service interruptions caused by overdue payments.
View bills
Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Expenses and Costs console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose . Bill details.