The billable items for ApsaraDB RDS include RDS instance fees, value-added service fees, and fees for other related Alibaba Cloud services. This topic describes the definitions, billing formulas, and billing methods for these items.
You can use the RDS Price Calculator to estimate your RDS costs.
The RDS Price Calculator supports cost estimation for only some billable items.
RDS instances
Based on the billing method, RDS instances are classified into two types:
Subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances: When you purchase this type of instance, you must specify the compute resources and storage capacity. After the purchase, you are charged for the RDS instance type and storage capacity.
Serverless instances automatically scale their compute resources within a specified range based on your workload and their storage capacity based on your data volume. You are charged for RCUs and storage capacity.
RDS instance type
Category | Description |
Definition | Fees for the compute resource specifications of subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances. This includes regular instances, read-only instances. The billable item is named RDS Instance Type (rds_class) or Instance Type (ClassCode). After you create an instance, fees are generated for this billable item. An increase or decrease in the instance's compute resource specifications typically changes the fees for this item. |
Billing formula |
Note The unit price of an RDS instance type varies by region, database engine, and specifications. Refer to the product page and your bills for details. |
Billing method | Subscription or pay-as-you-go. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | Yes. Compute plans and general-purpose savings plans can offset the RDS instance type fees of pay-as-you-go instances. |
RCU for serverless instances
Category | Description |
Definition | Fees for the compute resources of a serverless RDS instance. The billable item is named RCU (rds_serverless_rcu). After you create a serverless instance, fees are generated for this billable item based on the actual RCU usage. If you pause the instance, billing for this item also pauses. |
Billing formula | RCU fee = Unit price per RCU × RCU usage × Duration Note For RCU unit prices, see , , or Serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server fees. |
Billing method | Serverless. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | Yes. Elastic (Special Offer) savings plans and general-purpose savings plans can offset the RCU fees of serverless RDS instances. |
Storage capacity
Category | Description |
Definition | Fees for the storage capacity of subscription, pay-as-you-go, or serverless RDS instances. This includes regular instances, read-only instances, and disaster recovery instances. The billable item is named Storage Capacity (rds_storage or Storage). After you create an instance, fees are generated for this billable item. An increase or decrease in the instance's storage capacity changes the fees for this item. |
Billing formula | Storage capacity fee = Unit price of instance storage × Instance storage capacity × Duration Note
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Billing method | Subscription, pay-as-you-go, and serverless. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | Yes.
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RDS value-added services
RDS value-added services are paid features. You are charged for these features only after you enable or use them. The billable product for RDS value-added services is ApsaraDB RDS.
I/O burst for premium performance disks
Category | Description |
Definition | Fees for the I/O burst usage of an RDS instance that uses premium performance disks. Enabling the I/O burst feature is free. However, after it is enabled, if the I/O burst usage exceeds the free quota, fees are generated for the billable item named I/O Burst (io_burst). For more information, see I/O burst for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server. |
Billing formula | I/O burst fee for premium performance disks = (Total I/O burst usage of all nodes in the instance - Free quota) × Unit price of I/O burst × Duration Note For the total I/O burst usage of all nodes, free quota, and unit price of I/O burst, see , , or Billing of I/O burst for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server. |
Billing method | Pay-as-you-go. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | No. |
disk data archiving
Category | Description |
Definition | Fees for the archived data volume of an RDS instance that uses premium performance disks or enterprise SSDs (ESSDs). Enabling data archiving is free. However, after it is enabled, data archived to Object Storage Service (OSS) incurs OSS bucket (rds_oss_storage) fees. For more information, see Data archiving for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server. |
Billing formula | disk data archiving fee = Archived data volume × Unit price of data archiving × Duration Note For the unit price of data archiving, see , , or Billing of data archiving for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server. |
Billing method | Pay-as-you-go. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | No. |
Regular and archived backups
Regular backup storage
Category | Description |
Definition | Data and log backups are stored in the backup space provided by Alibaba Cloud. Alibaba Cloud offers a free backup quota. If your backup storage exceeds the free quota, the excess amount is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. The billable item is named RDS Basic Backup Fee (backup_charged). For more information, see Back up ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server data. |
Billable product | Relational database. |
Billing formula | Backup storage fee = (Total backup size - Free backup quota) × Unit price of backup storage × Duration Note
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Billing method | Pay-as-you-go. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | Yes.
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The billable items for cross-region backups are billed under the ApsaraDB and Database Backup products. For more information, see Data disaster recovery: cross-region backup, backup storage for deleted instances, and backup download.
backup downloads are billed under the Database Backup product. For more information, see Data disaster recovery: cross-region backup, backup storage for deleted instances, and backup download.
Full restoration and regular database and table restoration
Restore full data (clone instance)
When you restore data to a new instance using the data and log backups of the original instance, you are charged for the new instance's RDS instance type and storage capacity.
For more information, see , Restore ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server data, , or .
SQL Audit (DAS Enterprise Edition V0)
Category | Description |
Definition | Storage fees for SQL audit logs. After you enable SQL Audit, you are billed based on the storage space occupied by the SQL audit logs and the storage duration. The billable item is named SQL Audit (sql_collected). For more information, see , SQL Explorer and Audit for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server, or . |
Billable product | Relational database. |
Billing formula | SQL Audit fee = Unit price × Storage space × Duration Note For the unit price of SQL Audit, see , , or Billing. |
Billing method | Pay-as-you-go. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | Yes. Storage plans and general-purpose savings plans can offset the DAS Enterprise Edition V0 SQL Audit fees for pay-as-you-go and subscription RDS instances. |
For the SQL Explorer and Audit feature provided by DAS Enterprise Edition V3, V2, or V1, the billable product is Database Autonomy Service. For more information, see DAS: SQL Explorer and Audit.
Public endpoint traffic
If you apply for and use a public endpoint to connect to your RDS instance, outbound traffic over the Internet is generated. Currently, both inbound and outbound traffic over the Internet for connecting to an RDS instance using a public endpoint is free of charge.
For more information, see , Enable or disable the public endpoint for an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance, , or .
Services and billing from other Alibaba Cloud products
RDS integrates services from other Alibaba Cloud products. When you use the following features, billable items from other Alibaba Cloud products are generated.
Data disaster recovery: cross-region backup, backup storage for deleted instances, and backup download
Cross-region backup
Category | Description |
Definition | Cross-region backups incur backup storage fees and network fees. The billable items are as follows: Geo-redundant storage (DdrOssStorageSize) and cross-region backup network traffic (NetworkOutDuplicationSize). For more information, see Cross-region backup for PostgreSQL. |
Billable product |
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Billing formula |
Note
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Billing method | Pay-as-you-go. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | This is supported.
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Download backup
Category | Description |
Definition | Fees generated when you download RDS instance backups. This includes outbound traffic over Internet (NetworkOutSize) fees. For more information, see , Download ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server backups, or . |
Billable product | Database Backup. |
Billing formula |
Note For the unit price of backup calculation data volume (also called the backup conversion fee unit price) and the unit price for outbound traffic over the Internet generated by downloading backups, see Download backups. |
Billing method | Pay-as-you-go. |
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans | DBS network plans can offset the outbound traffic over Internet (NetworkOutSize) fees for subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances. |
DAS: SQL Explorer and Audit
The billable items for DAS Enterprise Edition V3, V2, and V1 are billed under the Database Autonomy Service product. You cannot use RDS savings plans or resource plans to offset these fees.
DAS Agent
Edition | Maximum managed instances | Maximum agents | Character usage | Concurrency limit | List price |
Basic Edition (formerly Personal Edition) | 10 | 1 | Mixed pay-as-you-go pricing applies after the monthly fee is exceeded. | 1 | 99 CNY/month. Includes up to 100,000 characters. For usage beyond 100,000 characters, you are charged 0.01 CNY per character. |
Enterprise Edition | 20 | Unlimited | Unlimited usage | 2 | 10,000 CNY/month |
40 | 3 | 20,000 CNY/month | |||
60 | 4 | 30,000 CNY/month | |||
80 | 4 | 40,000 CNY/month | |||
100 | 5 | 50,000 CNY/month | |||
Unlimited | 10 | 100,000 CNY/month |
99 CNY monthly fee for the Basic Edition
Covers up to 100,000 characters per month. Unused characters expire at month-end and do not roll over or refund.
If you cancel early, the 99 CNY fee is prorated by day used. For example, in a 30-day month with 10 days used, you receive a 66 CNY refund.
Characters in DAS Agent include questions, answers, and O&M daily report text. Characters include Chinese, English, punctuation, line feeds, and other special characters. For example, the statement “The current database instance rm-1234567890 has no anomalies.” contains 25 characters: 11 Chinese, 12 English, and 2 punctuation marks.
You are billed by character count instead of tokens to provide a What You See Is What You Get experience. For example, when checking if an instance is abnormal, DAS Agent evaluates multiple metrics—CPU, I/O, QPS, TPS, memory, slow SQL lists, lock analysis results, and security risk detection results—based on its inference logic. This consumes many tokens. A response may be over 1,000 characters if anomalies exist, but only 14 characters if none exist: “This instance has no anomalies in its current state.” To help customers understand usage clearly, we bill directly by character count. Typical SQL optimization or CPU usage anomaly diagnostics consume 1,000–5,000 characters per query. An O&M daily report uses about 5,000 characters. The 99 CNY monthly fee covers approximately 15–50 diagnostics or reports, depending on complexity. You can check character usage for each historical conversation or O&M report on the DAS Agent details page.
Concurrency limit: the number of simultaneous questions and answers across all agents under one UID. (O&M reports are generated asynchronously during O&M hours and are not subject to this limit.) As Alibaba Cloud Model Studio and DAS Agent evolve, TPM and diagnostic time per query—and answer length—may change. Concurrency limits may be adjusted later, with announcements made accordingly.
O&M Services (formerly Economy Edition)
Pricing: 150 CNY/month/instance
Current promotional price: 50 CNY/month/instance.
Security Services
Billing item | Billed object | Specification | Pricing | Description |
Security Management (SecurityManagement_Amount) | Number of instances | Unlimited | 80 CNY/instance/month | Security Management provides an all-in-one database security solution. It unifies SSL certificate and whitelist management and performs automated security baseline checks to detect configuration risks such as weak passwords, backups, and audits. Each instance consumes one Security Management quota. |
Sensitive Data Detection (DCG_Amount) | Number of database tables (X) | 0 sheets ≤ Z ≤ 50,000 sheets | CNY 400 per 10,000 images/month |
Tip: You get 100 free table scans for sensitive data detection. |
60,000 ≤ Z ≤ 100,000 | CNY 300 per 10,000 sheets per month | |||
110,000 <= Z <= 500,000 sheets | CNY 200 for 10,000 images per month | |||
510,000 pieces ≤ Z ≤ 99,999,999,999,990,000 pieces | CNY 100 per 10,000 images per month | |||
Column Encryption (CLE_Amount) | Number of database columns (Y) | 5 | 2,688 CNY/month |
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10 | 3,688 CNY/month | |||
15 | 4,680 CNY/month | |||
20 | 5,688 CNY/month | |||
25 | 6,688 CNY/month | |||
30 | 7,680 CNY/month | |||
35 | 8,680 CNY/month | |||
40 | 9,688 CNY/month | |||
45 | 10,665 CNY/month | |||
50 | 11,688 CNY/month | |||
50 < N ≤ 100 | 156.88 CNY per unit per month | |||
100 < N ≤ 200 | CNY 88.44/unit/month | |||
200 < N ≤ 300 | CNY 65.6 per unit per month | |||
300 < N ≤ 400 | 54.22 CNY per unit per month | |||
400 < N ≤ 500 | CNY 47.37 per unit per month | |||
500 < N ≤ 600 | CNY 42.81 per item per month | |||
600 < N ≤ 700 | CNY 39.55 per unit per month | |||
700 < N ≤ 800 | 37.11 CNY/unit/month | |||
800 < N ≤ 900 | CNY 35.2 per unit per month | |||
900 < N ≤ 1,000 | CNY 33.68 per unit per month | |||
1,000 < N <= 9,999,999,999,999 | 25 CNY per unit per month |
Audit Logs (NoSQL-compatible)
Public cloud
Billing item | Billing method | Daily unit price | Description |
Log traffic | Pay-as-you-go | 0.24 CNY/GB | Default fee. You are charged for log ingestion into storage—including collection, transmission, and writing—at the rate shown. |
Cold storage | 0.00625 CNY/GB/hour | Default fee. You are charged for cold log storage based on log volume and storage duration.
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Log indexing | 0.24 CNY/GB |
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Hot storage | 0.008 CNY/GB/hour |
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Billing examples
The Audit Logs (NoSQL-compatible) feature supports log search, online analysis, and data export. It helps security auditors quickly identify anomalous data operations and locate the user and timestamp of data changes. It also helps your business systems meet security and compliance requirements. In addition, it helps developers and O&M engineers troubleshoot performance issues.
Assume your instance writes 10 GB of logs per day. You set SQL log storage duration to 180 days and enable log indexing, with hot storage set to 7 days for performance troubleshooting.
SQL log storage duration is the total time that your SQL logs are stored. By default, logs are stored in cold storage.
To comply with regulations in the Chinese mainland, cold storage must be at least 180 days.
Feature | Billing item | Daily unit price | Daily usage | Daily fee |
SQL logs | Log traffic | 0.24 CNY/GB | 10 GB | 2.4 CNY |
Cold storage | 0.00625 CNY/GB/hour | Day 1: 10 GB Day 2: 20 GB ... Day 173: 1,730 GB | 10 × (180 − 7) × 0.00625 × 24 = 259.5 CNY | |
Log indexing | Log indexing | 0.24 CNY/GB | 10 GB | 2.4 CNY |
Hot storage | 0.008 CNY/GB/hour | After enabling: Day 1: 10 GB Day 2: 20 GB ... Day 7: 70 GB (After Day 7, expired hot data moves to cold storage.) | Stored for 7 days or more 10*7*0.008*24 = 13.44 CNY |
The type of audit log records affects the volume of logs stored and thus the cost. You can customize this setting after enabling the feature.
Enterprise Edition V3
V3 adds multi-AZ backup, accidental deletion recovery, and long-term retention for audit logs stored longer than 180 days. This meets regulatory requirements such as China’s Multi-Level Protection Scheme and GDPR.
Enterprise Edition V3 billing overview
Public cloud
Billing item | Billing method | Price in the Chinese mainland | Price in China (Hong Kong) and outside China | Description |
Log traffic (DataIngestion) | Pay-as-you-go | 0.24 CNY/GB | 0.36 CNY/GB | Default fee. You are charged for log ingestion into storage—including collection, transmission, and writing—at the rate shown. |
Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics) | 0.24 CNY/GB | 0.36 CNY/GB |
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SQL Explorer (InsightAnalysis) | 0.08 CNY/GB | 0.12 CNY/GB | You are charged for automatic aggregation and analysis using SQL Explorer, based on log volume. | |
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize) | 0.01 CNY/GB/day | 0.015 CNY/GB/day |
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Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize) | 1 CNY/GB/month. After exceeding the included amount, 0.048 CNY/GB/day. | 1.5 CNY/GB/month. After exceeding the included amount, 0.072 CNY/GB/day. | Default fee. You are charged for cold log storage based on log volume and storage duration.
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Cold queries (SqlScanDataSize) | 0.015 CNY/GB | 0.0225 CNY/GB | You are charged for offline cold log queries based on query volume. | |
Download (free) | 0.0 CNY/GB | 0.0 CNY/GB |
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Security audit (SecurityAudit) | 0.48 CNY/GB | 0.72 CNY/GB | You are charged for the new security audit feature either at the minimum fee (0.4125 CNY/hour/instance) or based on log volume. Note If the fee based on actual log volume exceeds the minimum fee, you are charged based on log volume. Otherwise, you are charged the minimum fee. | |
Log desensitization delivery (PSQLDelivery) | 0.8 CNY/GB | 1.2 CNY/GB | You are charged for log desensitization delivery either at the minimum fee (9.9 CNY/day) or based on log volume. Note If the fee based on actual log volume exceeds the minimum fee, you are charged based on log volume. Otherwise, you are charged the minimum fee. | |
Insight delivery (InsightDelivery) | 0.42 CNY/hour | 0.63 CNY/hour | You are charged for insight delivery per hour. |
Alibaba Gov Cloud and Finance Cloud
Billing item | Billing method | Alibaba Gov Cloud price | Finance Cloud price | Description |
Log traffic (DataIngestion) | Pay-as-you-go | 0.48 CNY/GB | 0.456 CNY/GB | Default fee. You are charged for log ingestion into storage—including collection, transmission, and writing—at the rate shown. |
Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics) | 0.48 CNY/GB | 0.456 CNY/GB |
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SQL Explorer (InsightAnalysis) | 0.16 CNY/GB | 0.152 CNY/GB | You are charged for automatic aggregation and analysis using SQL Explorer, based on log volume. | |
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize) | 0.02 CNY/GB/day | 0.019 CNY/GB/day |
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Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize) | 2 CNY/GB/month. After exceeding the included amount, 0.096 CNY/GB/day. | 0.0057 CNY/GB/day | Default fee. You are charged for cold log storage based on log volume and storage duration.
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Cold queries (SqlScanDataSize) | 0.03 CNY/GB | 0.0285 CNY/GB | You are charged for offline cold log queries based on query volume. | |
Download (free) | CNY 0.0 per GB | 0.0 CNY/GB |
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Security audit (SecurityAudit) | 0.96 CNY/GB | 0.912 CNY/GB | You are charged for the new security audit feature either at the minimum fee (0.4125 CNY/hour/instance) or based on log volume. Note If the fee based on actual log volume exceeds the minimum fee, you are charged based on log volume. Otherwise, you are charged the minimum fee. |
Billing examples
Based on service usage scenarios and selected features, it is categorized into the following two cases:
O&M scenario
This scenario supports full SQL log recording and clustering analysis. It helps you quickly locate problematic SQL statements for emergency handling and deep optimization. For details, see SQL Explorer and Audit. Optional features for this scenario include the following:
Assume your instance writes 10 GB of logs per day. You set SQL log storage to 30 days and log indexing hot storage to 7 days.
SQL log storage duration is the total time that your SQL logs are stored. By default, logs are stored in cold storage. For example, in this scenario, after enabling log indexing, newly generated logs are stored in hot storage for 7 days. The remaining 23 days are stored in cold storage.
Feature | Billing item | Daily unit price (public cloud in the Chinese mainland) | Daily usage | Daily fee |
SQL logs | Log traffic (DataIngestion) | 0.24 CNY/GB | 10 GB | 2.4 CNY |
Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize) | 0.003 CNY/GB/day | After the transition to cold storage Day 1: 10 GB Day 2: 20 GB ... Day 23: 230 GB | 0 (Cold storage is free for the first 30 days.) | |
Log indexing | Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics) | 0.24 CNY/GB | 10 GB | 2.4 CNY |
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize) | 0.01 CNY/GB/day | After enabling: Day 1: 10 GB Day 2: 20 GB ... Day 7: 70 GB (After Day 7, expired hot data moves to cold storage.) | After storing for 7 days or more: 10 × (7 − 1) × 0.01 = 0.6 CNY (First day of hot storage is free.) | |
SQL Explorer | SQL Explorer (InsightAnalysis) | 0.08 CNY/GB | 10 GB | 0.8 CNY |
Audit and compliance scenario
This scenario supports bank-grade security and compliance capabilities and meets regulatory requirements such as China’s Multi-Level Protection Scheme. It provides long-term transparent monitoring of database behavior. Optional features for this scenario include the following:
Assume your instance writes 1 GB of logs per day. You set SQL log storage to 180 days to meet regulatory requirements in the Chinese mainland.
SQL log storage duration is the total time that your SQL Log are stored. By default, logs are stored in cold storage.
To meet regulatory requirements in the Chinese mainland, cold storage must be at least 180 days.
You purchased a 100 GB storage disk for 100 CNY/month.
With 1 GB written daily, the disk fills after 100 days. Starting on Day 101, logs continue to write.
On Day 101, you store 101 GB of logs. The pay-as-you-go fee is 1 GB × 0.048 CNY = 0.048 CNY.
On Day 102, you store 102 GB of logs. The pay-as-you-go fee is 2 GB × 0.048 CNY = 0.096 CNY.
On Day 180, you store 180 GB of logs. The pay-as-you-go fee is 80 GB × 0.048 CNY = 3.84 CNY.
After Day 180, older logs expire and are cleared. Storage remains at 180 GB, and the pay-as-you-go fee stays at 80 GB × 0.048 CNY = 3.84 CNY.
The extra 80 GB of logs cost 3.84 CNY × 30 = 115.2 CNY per month. The 100 GB storage disk costs 100 CNY/month. Since the disk’s unit price is lower than the pay-as-you-go rate, we recommend expanding the disk capacity based on your usage forecast.
Enterprise Edition V2
Public cloud
Billing item | Billing method | Price in the Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta) | Price in China (Hong Kong) and Singapore | Description |
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize) | Pay-as-you-go | 0.01 CNY/GB/hour | 0.015 CNY/GB/hour | Data is stored on high-performance storage devices to accelerate queries and provide SQL aggregation information. SQL Explorer and audit data from the last 7 days use hot storage. |
Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize) | 0.00125 CNY/GB/hour | 0.001875 CNY/GB/hour | Data is stored on low-cost storage devices to reduce costs. SQL Explorer and audit data older than 7 days automatically move from hot to cold storage. Querying cold storage is slower than querying hot storage. | |
Data query fee (SqlScanDataSize) | 0.2 CNY/GB | 0.3 CNY/GB | You are charged a data query fee when you query cold storage data. | |
Security audit (SecurityAudit) | 0.48 CNY/GB | 0.72 CNY/GB |
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Enterprise Edition V1 and V0
Only Enterprise Edition V1 is billed on a subscription basis.
Public cloud
Billing item | Billing method | Pricing | Description |
Subscription fee | Subscription | 40 CNY/instance/month | The number of instances used for billing is the Enterprise Edition V1 quota, which is the total number of database instances that can have DAS Professional Edition V1 enabled. For example, if your account has an Enterprise Edition V1 quota of 3 and one instance has DAS Professional Edition enabled, your subscription fee is Note
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SQL Explorer storage fee (sql_storage_used) | Pay-as-you-go |
| Pricing for the Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta). |
| Pricing for China (Hong Kong) and Singapore. | ||
Security audit (SecurityAudit) |
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Alibaba Gov Cloud and Finance Cloud
Billing item | Billing method | Pricing | Description |
Subscription fee | Subscription | 80 CNY/instance/month | The number of instances used for billing is the total number of database instances that can have DAS Professional Edition enabled, as configured on the purchase page. For example, if your account can enable DAS Professional Edition on 3 instances and one instance has it enabled, your subscription fee is Important Only Enterprise Edition V1 is billed on a subscription basis. |
SQL Explorer storage fee (sql_storage_used) | Pay-as-you-go |
| None |
Security audit (SecurityAudit) |
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