Classic Load Balancer (CLB) offers a subscription billing method. For subscription instances, public network usage is billed by fixed bandwidth only. You can scale up, convert to pay-as-you-go, or renew your instances.
The sale of new subscription CLB instances will be discontinued on December 1, 2024. Renewals for these instances will be discontinued on December 1, 2026. Before your subscription expires, you can renew your instances or convert them to the pay-as-you-go billing model. For details, see the End of sale for CLB subscription instances.
Subscription instance billing
Subscription overview
Feature | Description |
Billing | Subscription is a prepaid billing method where you pay to reserve resources in advance. |
Use cases | The subscription billing method is ideal for scenarios where:
|
Billing cycle | A billing cycle for a subscription resource matches the duration specified in your order (based on UTC+8). The cycle starts at the exact time of purchase or renewal and ends at 24:00:00 on the expiration date. |
Convert to pay-as-you-go and modify instance configuration | You can convert subscription instances to the pay-as-you-go billing method and modify their specifications and bandwidth. For detailed instructions, see Modify a subscription instance. Effective time:
|
Resource status after expiration | If you do not renew a subscription instance within 7 days of expiration, the system automatically releases it. For more information, see Overdue payments. |
Refunds | You cannot release subscription instances during the subscription period, but you can unsubscribe from them. For more information, see Refunds. |
Billable items
Billable items vary based on the network type of the instance, as shown in the following table.
A hyphen (-) indicates that the item is not charged. A check mark (✔) indicates that the item is charged.
Instance type | Public network billing | Instance fee | Bandwidth fee | Specification fee |
Public network | Pay-by-bandwidth | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Private network | - | - | ✔ |
Instance fee
Description
The instance fee covers the use of the CLB instance. This fee does not apply to private network CLB instances.
Billing formula
Instance fee = Unit price (CNY/month) × Subscription duration (months)Pricing
Area
Region
Unit price (CNY/month)
China
China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu)
11.52
China (Hong Kong)
32.26
Asia Pacific
Philippines (Manila), Singapore
23.04
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta)
11.52
Japan (Tokyo)
34.56
Europe & Americas
Germany (Frankfurt)
20.74
US (Virginia), US (Silicon Valley), UK (London)
11.52
Middle East
UAE (Dubai)
34.56
Bandwidth fee
Description
This fee applies only to public network CLB instances.
You are charged for the provisioned bandwidth, not your actual peak usage. Bandwidth fees use a tiered pricing model with a 5 Mbps threshold.
NotePeak bandwidth is a service level commitment. In cases of resource contention, your peak bandwidth is guaranteed.
Billing formula
Bandwidth fee = Unit price (CNY/month) × Subscription duration (months)Pricing
Area
Region
Bandwidth price (CNY/month)
1 Mbps
2 Mbps
3 Mbps
4 Mbps
5 Mbps
> 5 Mbps
China
China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu)
23
46
69
92
115
115 + (n-5) × 80
China (Qingdao)
20.7
41.4
63.9
86.4
112.5
112.5 + (n-5) × 72
China (Hong Kong)
30
60
90
120
150
150 + (n-5) × 100
Asia Pacific
Philippines (Manila), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta)
23
46
69
92
115
115 + (n-5) × 80
Japan (Tokyo)
25
50
75
100
125
125 + (n-5) × 84
Europe & Americas
US (Virginia), US (Silicon Valley)
30
60
90
120
150
150 + (n-5) × 100
Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London)
23
46
69
92
115
115 + (n-5) × 80
Middle East
UAE (Dubai)
115
230
345
460
575
575 + (n-5) × 288
Specification fee
Description
The specification fee applies to both public network and private network instances.
The specification fee is a fixed price for the subscription period.
NoteThe instance bandwidth is the bandwidth that you select at the time of purchase and is independent of the instance specification. For more information, see Bandwidth limits.
Billing formula
Specification fee for each guaranteed-performance CLB instance = Specification unit price (CNY/month) × Subscription duration (months)Pricing
The following table lists the CLB instance specifications, their corresponding performance metrics, and prices.
Specification
Max connections
Connections per second (CPS)
Queries per second (QPS)
Unit price (Chinese mainland)
Unit price (International and China (Hong Kong))
Specification 1: Basic I (slb.s1.small)
5,000
3,000
1,000
54
64.80
Specification 2: Standard I (slb.s2.small)
50,000
5,000
5,000
190
228
Specification 3: Standard II (slb.s2.medium)
100,000
10,000
10,000
380
456
Specification 4: Advanced I (slb.s3.small)
200,000
20,000
20,000
760
912
Specification 5: Advanced II (slb.s3.medium)
500,000
50,000
30,000
1,143
1,372
Specification 6: Super I (slb.s3.large)
1,000,000
100,000
50,000
1,908
2,290
The metrics are described as follows:
Max connections
The maximum number of concurrent connections a CLB instance can handle. If this limit is exceeded, the instance drops new connection requests.
Connections per second (CPS)
The rate at which an instance can establish new connections. If this rate exceeds the specification's limit, the instance drops new connection requests.
Queries per second (QPS)
A metric for Layer 7 listeners that measures the number of HTTP or HTTPS requests handled per second. If the request rate exceeds the specification's limit, new requests are dropped.
Billing example
Suppose you purchase a public network CLB instance in the China (Hangzhou) region for two months with the Basic I (slb.s1.small) specification and 6 Mbps of bandwidth. The total fee is the sum of the instance, bandwidth, and specification fees, calculated as follows:
Instance fee = 11.52 (CNY/month) × 2 months = 23.04 CNY
Bandwidth fee = [115.0 + (6-5) × 80] (CNY/month) × 2 months = 390.00 CNY
Specification fee = 54 (CNY/month) × 2 months = 108.00 CNY
Total fee = 23.04 + 390.00 + 108.00 = 521.04 CNYRefunds
When you create a subscription instance, you pay in advance for the selected duration. If your business requirements change and you no longer need the instance, you can unsubscribe from the instance and request a refund.
Before you unsubscribe, review the unsubscription rules. For more information, see Unsubscription Rules.
Change subscription instance configuration
Upgrade configuration
Rule | Description |
Configuration change rules | You can upgrade the configuration of a subscription instance. You can change a shared-performance instance to a performance-guaranteed instance and adjust its bandwidth.
|
Effective time | The new configuration takes effect immediately after you complete the payment. The change may be delayed due to network conditions. |
Billing impact | When you upgrade an instance, you must pay the prorated price difference for the new instance type or bandwidth for the rest of the current billing cycle. |
Applicable scenarios | You can upgrade the configuration of an instance when its current instance type or bandwidth no longer meets your business requirements. |
-
Log on to the CLB console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Instances page, find the target instance, and in the Actions column, choose
> Change Configuration > Upgrade.Read the information about the discontinuation of renewals and click OK.
On the change configuration page, select a new Instance type and Bandwidth, click Buy Now, and complete the payment as prompted.
Temporary upgrade
Rule | Description |
Configuration change rules |
|
Effective time | The upgraded bandwidth and instance type take effect immediately after you pay for the temporary upgrade order, regardless of whether it is a single or subsequent upgrade.
|
Billing impact | Temporary upgrades are billed by the hour. After you submit the order, you must pay the price difference for the upgrade duration. |
Applicable scenarios | Temporary upgrades are ideal for scenarios such as sales promotions or online holiday events. You can use this feature to temporarily increase the bandwidth and instance type of a subscription instance. |
-
Log on to the CLB console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Instances page, find the target instance, and in the Actions column, choose
> Change Configuration > Temporary Upgrade.Read the information about the discontinuation of renewals and click OK.
In the Temporary Upgrade dialog box, review the information and click OK.
On the temporary upgrade page, modify parameters such as Instance type, Bandwidth, and Restore Time.
Click Buy Now and complete the payment as prompted.
Convert to pay-as-you-go
Rule | Description |
Configuration change rules | Note the following when converting a subscription instance to pay-as-you-go:
|
Effective time | The conversion takes effect in about 5 minutes. |
Billing impact |
|
Applicable scenarios | This operation is ideal for scenarios requiring flexible, on-demand CLB instances, especially when your business traffic fluctuates, is temporary, or experiences sudden spikes. |
-
Log on to the CLB console.
On the instance management page, find the target instance, and in the Actions column, choose
> Change Configuration > Switch to Pay-As-You-Go.On the subscription-to-pay-as-you-go page, read the conversion notes and click Buy Now.
After the conversion, verify the new billing method on the Instance Details page.
Renewal with configuration change
Rule | Description |
Configuration change rules |
|
Effective time | When you renew a CLB instance, you can also change the instance type and peak bandwidth of the CLB instance. The changes will take effect during the renewal period. |
Billing impact | The renewal charge is based on the new instance type, bandwidth, and renewal duration. |
Applicable scenarios | Use this option when your CLB instance is due for renewal, or when the current instance type and peak bandwidth no longer meet your future business requirements. |
Log on to the CLB console.
On the Instances page, find the target instance, and in the Actions column, choose
> Change Configuration > Renew.Read the information about the discontinuation of renewals and click OK.
On the renewal with configuration change page, set the new Billing Cycle, Instance type, and Bandwidth.
Click Buy Now and complete the payment as prompted.
Change bandwidth
Rule | Description |
Configuration change rules | You can upgrade or downgrade the bandwidth of a subscription instance based on your business needs. You can change the peak bandwidth, but it cannot be set to 0 Mbps. |
Effective time | The new configuration takes effect immediately after you complete the payment. The change may be delayed due to network conditions. |
Billing impact |
|
Applicable scenarios | You can upgrade or downgrade the bandwidth of an instance when its current bandwidth no longer meets, or now exceeds, your business requirements. |
-
Log on to the CLB console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
On the Instances page, click the ID of the target instance.
On the Instance Details tab, view the Bandwidth of the instance.
Click Upgrade Bandwidth or Downgrade Bandwidth. On the change configuration page, select a new Instance type and Bandwidth.
Click Buy Now and complete the payment as prompted.
Can I downgrade performance-guaranteed instances?
-
By default, you cannot downgrade a subscription instance in real time. To use this feature, contact your account manager.
-
You can change the instance type and bandwidth upon renewal. The changes take effect in the next billing cycle. For more information, see Renewal with configuration change.
Renew a subscription instance
Renewal management
Use renewal management to renew an instance, enable auto-renewal, or set an instance for non-renewal.
Log on to the CLB console.
In the top navigation bar, select the instance's region.
On the Instance Management page, click the
icon in the upper-right corner, select the Renewal Status checkbox, and then click OK.On the Instance Management page, find the target subscription instance and click Renewal Management in the Renewal Status column.
The renewal management page opens, where you can view the resource's renewal policy.
On the renewal management page, set Product to Server Load Balancer (SLB) (subscription). Then, on the Manual Renewal, Auto-renewal, or Non-renewal tab, use the options in the Actions column to manage the instance's renewal.
The following table describes the renewal operations.
Actions
Description
Renew
Manually renew the target instance and set a new billing cycle.
Enable auto-renewal
For long-term use, enable auto-renewal for your resources and set a custom renewal duration.
Billing rules
After auto-renewal is enabled, automatic payment deduction begins nine days before the expiration date. Ensure that your payment method has a sufficient balance. If your instance expires tomorrow, you must renew it manually.
If you manually renew the instance before the payment deduction date, the system performs auto-renewal based on the new expiration date.
Effective time
The auto-renewal setting takes effect on the following day.
Disable auto-renewal
Reverts the instance to manual renewal.
If you no longer need the instance after it expires, you can set it to non-renewal.
Set to non-renewal
You can set instances that you no longer need after expiration to non-renewal. You can view these instances on the Non-renewal tab.
For resources set to non-renewal:
Alibaba Cloud continues to send you expiration reminders and will mark the resources as non-renewal.
You can also change non-renewal resources to manual renewal or auto-renewal before they expire.
Modify auto-renewal
Modify the renewal duration for instances with auto-renewal enabled.
Revert to manual renewal
Change instances that are set for non-renewal or auto-renewal back to manual renewal.
NoteUsers exempt from service suspension cannot set their instances to manual renewal.
Renew with configuration change
With CLB, you can change the configuration of a subscription instance when you renew it. The new configuration takes effect at the start of the next billing cycle.
Log on to the CLB console.
In the top navigation bar, select the target instance's region.
On the Instance Management page, find the target instance, and in the Actions column, choose
> Change Configuration > Renew.On the Renew with Configuration Change page, set the billing cycle, instance type, and bandwidth.
Click Buy Now and complete the payment.
References
ModifyLoadBalancerInternetSpec: Changes the billing method for a public CLB instance.