Subscription ApsaraDB RDS instances (monthly or annual) expire at the end of their term. If you do not renew before the instance is released, all resources—CPU, memory, and disks—are freed and your data is permanently deleted. Pay-as-you-go instances do not expire and require no renewal.
Alibaba Cloud sends expiration notifications before your subscription ends. Renew as early as possible to avoid service interruptions.
Renewal cost
The renewal cost equals the cost of purchasing a new subscription. Pricing varies by region, instance type, and storage capacity. For pricing details, see the ApsaraDB RDS buy page.
Renewal methods
Two renewal methods are available: auto-renewal and manual renewal.
Auto-renewal
Auto-renewal deducts the renewal fee automatically before the instance expires, preventing interruptions.
| Rule | Details |
|---|---|
| Deduction time | 08:00, two days before the instance expires |
| Retry behavior | If the deduction fails, the system retries once per day for the remaining subscription duration |
| Account balance | Keep enough balance in your Alibaba Cloud account for auto-renewal to succeed |
Example: An instance expires on January 9, 2023.
January 7, 08:00 — First attempt. If successful, auto-renewal is complete.
January 8, 08:00 — Second attempt (if January 7 failed). If successful, auto-renewal is complete.
January 9, 08:00 — Final attempt (if previous attempts failed). If successful, the instance expires at 24:00 the same day.
If auto-renewal fails on all attempts, manually renew the instance immediately to prevent data loss.
To enable auto-renewal, see Use the auto-renewal feature.
If all three automatic payment attempts fail, you must manually renew the instance promptly to prevent it from being stopped and to avoid data loss.
Manual renewal
When a subscription expires, Alibaba Cloud retains the instance for a limited period before releasing it. You can manually renew within this window to restore the instance immediately. After the window closes, the instance is released and all data is permanently deleted.
To manually renew, see Manually renew an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
Post-expiration instance states
After a subscription expires, the instance passes through three states:
Day 1–7: The instance is locked and inaccessible. Manually renew it to restore access immediately.
Day 8–15: Computing resources are released and the instance moves to the recycle bin. Data backups are still retained. During this period, restore a valid backup to a new RDS instance to recover your data.
Day 16: Data backups are deleted and the instance is released.
In other words, you have 15 days after expiration to act—7 days while the instance is locked, then 7 more days in the recycle bin.
Deleted data cannot be restored.
For information about the recycle bin, see Manage ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instances in the recycle bin.
Backups retained after release
After an instance is released, the following backups are retained:
Cross-region backups of RDS for PostgreSQL instances within their retention periods.
The latest backup retained by default for RDS for MySQL instances that use cloud disks and were purchased on February 1, 2024, or later. For details, see Use the backup for deleted instances feature.