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Billing FAQ

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This topic answers frequently asked questions about purchasing and billing for ApsaraDB RDS.

Cost savings

Extra charges for subscription instances

The fee for a subscription instance covers only its specifications and storage space. You may incur additional charges for features like read-only instances, SQL audit, and paid performance monitoring, or if your backup storage exceeds the free quota. For more information, see Billable items.ApsaraDB RDS offers a savings plan to offset pay-as-you-go costs. For more information, see General-purpose Savings Plan.

Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Management Console. On the Fee > Costs page, go to the Bills > Bill Details page to view your billable items.

You can use the following methods to avoid or reduce pay-as-you-go costs:

  • Backup storage exceeds the free quota: To resolve this, see Reduce backup size and costs.

  • Database Proxy: A database proxy provides automatic read/write splitting. If you enable this feature, you incur pay-as-you-go charges. Evaluate whether you need to enable it. For more information, see What is a database proxy?.

  • Cross-region Backup and SQL Audit: We recommend that you purchase an ApsaraDB RDS savings plan to offset these costs. For more information, see General-purpose Savings Plan.

    Note

    ApsaraDB RDS offers a storage plan to offset the costs of SQL audit. For more information, see Storage Plan. If you upgrade to the SQL Explorer and Audit feature of DAS Enterprise Edition, you cannot use a storage plan to offset its cost.

  • Read-only Instance and Clone Instance: These items support the subscription billing method. We recommend that you select Subscription .

  • Performance Monitoring: Use the free monitoring frequencies, which collect data once every 60 seconds or 300 seconds.

Charges for idle pay-as-you-go instances

Yes. A pay-as-you-go instance continuously occupies compute and storage resources even when idle, so it still incurs hourly fees. If you do not plan to use an instance for a long time, save its data and then release it.For an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL or ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance, you can suspend it when it is not in use for a long time. After an instance is suspended, its compute resources are released and you are no longer charged for its specifications. You are charged only for data storage. For more information, see Suspend an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance or Suspend an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

Configuration change charges

For more information, see Change instance specifications.

Public endpoint charges

Currently, inbound and outbound Internet traffic for both pay-as-you-go and subscription instances is free. There is no bandwidth limit.

Reduce pay-as-you-go costs

  • Purchase a General-purpose Savings Plan to offset all pay-as-you-go costs for ApsaraDB RDS, including instance specifications, data storage, backup storage, disaster recovery, SQL audit, second-level monitoring, and dedicated proxies.

  • Purchase a storage plan to offset costs for instance storage space, backup space (long-term backups and cross-region backups), and SQL audit.

Check for backup fees

  • To check for backup charges, go to the Basic Information page of your instance and view the Usage Statistics section. You are charged for backup usage that exceeds the free quota.查看额度

  • To check for historical backup charges, go to the Bill Details page and look for bills where the Billable Item is "instance backup".

Reduce backup costs

Release an instance Can I release a subscription instance?

See Release an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

You cannot release a subscription instance, but you can unsubscribe from it for a refund. Refunds are available in three scenarios: a 5-day money-back guarantee, a standard unconditional refund, and a refund for an unactivated renewal order. For detailed rules, see Unsubscription rules.

Check feature activation time

  • Go to the My Orders page and check the Paid/Activation Time for the feature.开通时间intl

  • You can use ActionTrail to view the operation history of the instance.action trail

Instance purchasing and billing methods

New instance not visible

There are two possible reasons why you cannot see the instance being created:

  • Incorrect region

    The region you are currently viewing may be different from the region where you created the instance. You can switch regions in the upper-left corner of the page.

    选择地域

  • Insufficient resources in the availability zone

    Resources in an availability zone are dynamically allocated. After you place an order, resources in the selected availability zone might be insufficient, causing the creation to fail. If creation fails, the instance will not appear in the instance list. We recommend that you try again in a different availability zone. You will receive a refund for a failed creation, which you can verify in your Orders list.

Entry-level vs. enterprise specifications

Entry-level specifications belong to the shared or general-purpose instance families, while enterprise-level specifications belong to the dedicated instance families. In practice, enterprise-level specifications are more stable due to dedicated CPU and memory resources. For a detailed comparison, see Instance families.

Resource pack overages

Excess usage automatically switches to the pay-as-you-go billing method.

Storage price: Cluster vs. Basic

1. The Cluster Edition and Basic Edition have different billing methods for storage resources.

The Basic Edition uses a single-node architecture with no secondary node. Its data reliability depends on the multi-replica mechanism of the cloud disk itself. The Cluster Edition uses a primary-secondary architecture that enhances data reliability and system availability by using a high-availability architecture on top of the multi-replica mechanism of high-performance cloud disks. This means that the secondary nodes in the Cluster Edition also have one or more sets of cloud disks. This architectural difference leads to different resource scheduling and cost allocation between the Cluster and Basic editions. This is reflected in the storage fee calculation:

Storage fee for Basic Edition = Unit price of instance storage × Instance storage capacity × Usage duration

Storage fee for Cluster Edition = Unit price of single-node storage × Single-node storage capacity × Number of nodes × Usage duration

2. Alibaba Cloud's storage pricing for different product series takes into account their features, availability, and O&M costs.

For high-performance cloud disks, for example, the Cluster Edition may have a lower unit price due to bulk purchasing or resource pool optimization. As a single-node instance, the Basic Edition has a relatively higher storage cost, which results in a different unit price for storage space.

Expired or overdue instances

  • Overdue payments: Causes and impacts

    Impact of overdue payments

    For more information, see Overdue payments and Renewal policy.

    Account overdue impact

    The subscription instance and its pay-as-you-go items are not affected. However, all pay-as-you-go instances under the account will enter an overdue state.

    Handling expired subscription instances

    No. After a subscription instance expires, it enters the following states. If you no longer use it, you do not need to take any action, and you will not incur additional charges.

    • From day 1 to day 7 after expiration, the instance is locked and inaccessible.

    • From day 8 to day 15 after expiration, the instance's compute resources are released, but its data backups are retained.

    • On day 16 after expiration, the instance's data is permanently deleted.

    Charges during locked period

    No, no other fees are incurred while the instance is locked. For more information about the impact of overdue payments, see Overdue payments.

    Data recovery after 16 days

    No. On the 16th day after expiration, the instance's data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. If you still need to use the instance, you must purchase a new one and redeploy your data.

    Affected instances for overdue accounts

    An overdue account balance will cause all your pay-as-you-go instances to have overdue payments. For more information, see Overdue payments.

    LOCK_WRITE error message

    This error indicates that your instance is currently locked. To learn how to unlock it, see What do I do if my instance is in the Locking state?.

  • Operations for expired or overdue instances

    Configuration changes for locked instances

    No. You must unlock the instance before you can change its configuration. For instructions, see Overdue payments and Renewal policy.

    Instance remains locked after renewal

    Unlocking an instance after renewal is not immediate. The process usually completes within 5 minutes.

    Renewal discounts

    The renewal price is subject to what is displayed in the console.

    Refunds for downgrading after renewal

    Yes, the price difference will be refunded. For specific refund rules, see Refund rules for configuration downgrades.

    Backups for locked instances

    No. You cannot back up a locked instance or export its backup files. The instance must be in the Running state. We recommend that you top up your account or renew the instance to unlock it before performing backup and export operations.

    Switch locked instances to pay-as-you-go

    You cannot directly switch an expired subscription instance to pay-as-you-go. You must first renew the instance for a short period to unlock it, and then change the billing method. When you switch from subscription to pay-as-you-go, the system refunds the price difference. For more information, see Refund rules for switching from subscription to pay-as-you-go.

    Post-renewal operations

    For the first 7 days after an instance expires, it is locked and cannot be accessed. If you manually renew the instance during this period, it will immediately resume normal operation. No other configuration is needed.

    Data in rebuilt instances

    The data is identical to that of the original instance, but information such as the connection endpoint and instance ID will be different.

    Cost of rebuilding from recycle bin

    After an instance is released, you can create a new instance from the recycle bin and restore the original instance's data to the new instance. When you rebuild an instance and restore data from the recycle bin, you cannot select discontinued instance specifications, versions, or storage types. Changes in the new instance's specifications, version, or storage type will cause the price to change. The actual price is displayed on the console.

    RAM permissions for renewal

    You need to grant the RAM user the following permissions from Billing Management: AliyunBSSFullAccess, AliyunBSSReadOnlyAccess, AliyunBSSOrderAccess, AliyunBSSRenewFullAccess, and AliyunBSSRenewReadOnlyAccess, as well as the AliyunRDSFullAccess permission for ApsaraDB RDS.

    DTS migration for locked instances

    You cannot use Data Transmission Service (DTS) to migrate data from an instance that is locked. You must first unlock the instance before proceeding with the migration. To learn how to unlock the instance, see What do I do if my instance is in the Locking state?.

    Restore an expired subscription instance

    The recovery method for an expired subscription instance depends on how long it has been since expiration:

    • From day 1 to day 7 after expiration: The instance is locked and inaccessible. You can unlock it by renewing the subscription. For more information, see Renewal policy.

    • From day 8 to day 15 after expiration: The instance's compute resources are released, but the data backups are retained. You can restore the instance by rebuilding it. For instructions, see Rebuild an instance.

    • On day 16 after expiration: The instance's data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. If you still need to use the instance, you must purchase a new one and deploy your data.

    Downgrade and renew an instance

    You cannot downgrade the configuration and renew the instance at the same time. You must first downgrade the configuration and then renew the instance.

    Writing data to a locked instance

    When an instance is locked, you cannot write data to it. You must first unlock the instance. To learn how, see What do I do if my instance is in the Locking state?.

    Cannot find instance for renewal

    You can troubleshoot this issue as follows:

    • Confirm that you are logged in with the correct account for the target instance. The instance may be under a different account.

    • An instance is only visible in the region where it was created. In the ApsaraDB RDS console, switch to the correct region to find the instance.

    • In the left-side navigation pane of the ApsaraDB RDS console, click recycle bin to check if the instance expired more than 8 days ago and was moved there.

    • If the instance expired more than 16 days ago, it has been released and its data has been permanently deleted. It can no longer be recovered.

    Switch renewed instances to pay-as-you-go

    After renewing the instance, you must wait for its status to become 'Running' before you can change the billing method. For more information, see Change the billing method of an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go.

    View expiring instances

    In the top navigation bar of the ApsaraDB RDS console, choose Fee > Renewal Management. This page shows the products that are about to expire, and you can renew your instances from here.

    image

    Contracts for renewal

    When you renew, do not complete the payment to generate an unpaid order. Then, go to the Contract Management page to apply for an electronic contract, and select this unpaid order.

    Change SMS contact for expiration notices

    Add a new contact

    1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud console. Click your profile picture in the upper-right corner, and then click Addresses and Contacts in the left-side navigation pane.

    2. On the Contacts tab, click Add Contact.

    3. In the Add Contact dialog box, enter the new contact's information and click OK.

    Modify contacts

    1. In the left-side navigation pane of the Message Center, choose Message Subscription> Common Messages.

    2. Select SMS for the desired message types and modify the Message Recipient. The default recipient is the account contact.

    Free trial expiration and fees

    • If the free trial product is a subscription model

      The product is automatically closed and the instance is released upon expiration. A released instance cannot be recovered. Make sure to back up your data in advance.

    • If the free trial product is a serverless model

      The product continues to run and incurs charges after the trial period ends. If you no longer need the instance, manually release it promptly. A released instance cannot be recovered. Make sure to back up your data in advance.

    You can go to the My Free Trial page to view the expiration dates, trial progress, and other information for all your trial products. For more questions about free trials, see the Free Trial FAQ.

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