You can use Network Intelligence Service (NIS) after you enable it for an Alibaba Cloud account that has completed identity verification. You are charged only when you use the NIS Traffic Analyzer feature. Other features are free of charge.
To use the NIS Traffic Analyzer (Commercial Edition) feature, you must enable the VPC flow log feature, which also incurs charges. For more information about the billing rules, see VPC Flow Logs billing. This topic describes the billing rules for NIS Traffic Analyzer.
For more information about Alibaba Cloud account identity verification, see Individual real-name registration and Enterprise real-name registration.
Billing rules
NIS Traffic Analyzer supports only the pay-as-you-go billing method. You are billed based on your actual usage of each billable item.
Bills for NIS Traffic Analyzer are generated by region. A specific free quota is provided for each region every month.
Bills for NIS Traffic Analyzer are generated on an hourly basis and are typically available 3 to 4 hours after a billing cycle ends. If your usage in a billing cycle is less than one hour, it is rounded up to one hour. The actual bill generation time prevails.
Billable items
NIS Traffic Analyzer has two billable items: processing fees and storage fees.
Billable item | Description | Billing method | Free quota |
Processing fee | NIS Traffic Analyzer reads network logs for data enrichment. Processing fees are generated based on the actual volume of network logs read. The volume of network logs is the amount of data processed. | Processing fees are calculated monthly for each region based on the total volume of network logs processed by all NIS Traffic Analyzers. A tiered pricing model is used. | A free quota of 5 GB is provided for each region every month. |
Storage Fees for Network Traffic Analysis | NIS Traffic Analyzer provides a high-availability storage service. Enriched traffic data is stored based on the sampling policies you define. This supports rich visualization for traffic analysis and insights. Note Storage fees are calculated on an hourly basis. The storage fee increases with the volume of network logs, the granularity of the sampling interval and aggregation dimensions, and the 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 is calculated at the Alibaba Cloud account level. The monthly free quotas for processing and storage fees are shared by all NIS 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 that you enable the NIS Traffic Analyzer feature at 00:00:00 on April 1, 2025. You create NIS Traffic Analyzer A and NIS Traffic Analyzer B. In the period from 00:00:00 on April 1, 2025 to 00:00:00 on May 1, 2025:
NIS Traffic Analyzer A processes a total of 3 GB of logs in the China (Hangzhou) region and 35 TB of logs in the China (Shanghai) region. The sampling policy is to perform statistical analysis on 5-tuples at 1-minute intervals and store the data for 7 days.
NIS Traffic Analyzer B processes a total of 20 TB of logs in the China (Shanghai) region. The sampling policy is to perform statistical analysis on 2-tuples at 1-day intervals and store the data for 1 year.
Processing Fee for Network Traffic Analysis
NIS Traffic Analyzers A and B cumulatively processed 3 GB of log data in the China (Hangzhou) region and 55 TB in the China (Shanghai) region. Then:
The total volume of logs processed in the China (Hangzhou) region is less than 5 GB. This usage is covered by the free quota, so no fee is charged.
The China (Shanghai) region has a free quota of 5 GB. You must pay the processing fee for the remaining usage based on the tiered pricing:
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 data enrichment and sampling, NIS Traffic Analyzer A stores 8 GB of data in the China (Shanghai) region. This data is stored for 7 days. The storage fee for this 8 GB of data is calculated on an hourly basis as follows: (8 GB × (7 days × 24 hours/day) - 500 GB-hours) × 0.0028 CNY/GB/hour = 2.3632 CNY.
Assume that the traffic processed by NIS Traffic Analyzer B consists of a stable collection of 2-tuples. After data enrichment and sampling, the average hourly storage usage in the China (Shanghai) region is 512 MB, and the data is stored for one year. If the free storage quota for the China (Shanghai) region is fully used by NIS Traffic Analyzer A, the monthly storage fee for the 512 MB of data from NIS Traffic Analyzer B in the China (Shanghai) region is calculated as follows: 512/1,024 × 0.0028 × (30 × 24) = 1.008 CNY.
Overdue payments and top-ups
Overdue payments
If your Alibaba Cloud account has an overdue payment, the service status of NIS Traffic Analyzer is affected as follows:
If your account has an overdue payment but the amount is within the limit of your service suspension protection, NIS Traffic Analyzer continues to provide services.
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 limit of your service suspension protection, NIS Traffic Analyzer is automatically suspended. All NIS Traffic Analyzer instances under your Alibaba Cloud account are stopped. They no longer process or generate new traffic analysis data.
If you do not have service suspension protection, NIS Traffic Analyzer is automatically suspended when your Alibaba Cloud account has an overdue payment. All NIS Traffic Analyzer instances under your Alibaba Cloud account are stopped. They no longer process or generate new traffic analysis data.
If you clear the overdue payment within 15 days after the service is suspended, the service automatically resumes.
If you do not clear the overdue payment within 15 days after the service is suspended, you are considered to have voluntarily given up the NIS Traffic Analyzer service. All NIS Traffic Analyzer instances under your Alibaba Cloud account are released. You receive a text message and an email notification one day before the instances are released. After the instances are released, the related configurations and data are deleted and cannot be recovered.
ImportantDuring the service suspension period, NIS Traffic Analyzer stops processing and generating new traffic analysis data. However, storage fees continue to be generated for the existing data. Therefore, overdue payments will accumulate. If you no longer need the service, delete the NIS Traffic Analyzer instances.
Top-up instructions
NIS Traffic Analyzer is a pay-as-you-go resource and does not require renewal. To prevent service interruptions due to overdue payments, top up your account in the Alibaba Cloud console in a timely manner.
View bills
Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Expenses and Costs console. In the navigation pane on the left, choose . For more information, see Billing details.