This topic describes the billable items and billing methods for Alibaba Cloud Workspace Cloud Phone.
Overview of billable items
Instance edition
Type | Billable item | Description | References |
Basic resources (required) |
| The essential resources for running and using a Cloud Phone, including vCPU, memory, and storage. | |
Value-added services (optional) | NAT Gateway | If an instance group uses a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), the system automatically purchases a pay-as-you-go NAT Gateway instance when you enable internet access for the VPC. | |
Elastic IP Address (EIP) | If an instance group uses a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), the system automatically purchases a pay-as-you-go Elastic IP Address (EIP) instance when you enable internet access for the VPC. | ||
Object Storage Service (OSS) | If you need to create a data backup for a Cloud Phone instance, the system stores the backup data in an OSS bucket. |
Basic resources
Supported billing methods
Alibaba Cloud Workspace Cloud Phone supports the following billing methods:
subscription: A prepaid billing method where you pay in advance for a specific duration.
pay-as-you-go: A postpaid billing method where you pay for resources after you use them.
NoteFor the pay-as-you-go billing method, billing starts when you create the instance group and stops at the end of the final 4-hour cycle during which you release it. If your account has an overdue payment, billing stops immediately and you are not charged for the full 4-hour cycle. For more information about the billing rules for the pay-as-you-go method, see [Notice] Change in the billing cycle duration for pay-as-you-go instances.
ImportantThe running state of a Cloud Phone instance does not affect billing. Billing continues even if you stop a Cloud Phone instance.
Specifications and pricing
Alibaba Cloud Workspace Cloud Phone provides the following specifications. Select a specification based on your application workloads and a region based on your users' locations and business needs.
Instance edition
Specifications | Chinese mainland regions | Other regions | ||||
Chinese name | Name | vCPU/Memory/Storage | Subscription (USD/month) | Pay-as-you-go (USD/hour) | Subscription (USD/month) | Pay-as-you-go (USD/hour) |
Lightweight | acp.basic.small | 2 vCPU/4 GiB/32 GiB | 9.9057 | 0.0457 | 15.3538 | 0.0709 |
General Purpose | acp.std.small | 4 vCPU/4 GiB/32 GiB | 13.8679 | 0.0579 | 21.4953 | 0.0898 |
Balanced | acp.std.medium | 3 vCPU/6 GiB/32 GiB | 14.9347 | 0.0610 | 23.1488 | 0.0945 |
Standard | acp.std.large | 4 vCPU/8 GiB/32 GiB | 21.3353 | 0.0808 | 33.0697 | 0.1252 |
Performance | acp.perf.large | 8 vCPU/16 GiB/32 GiB | 36.4224 | 0.1524 | 56.4546 | 0.2362 |
Change the billing method
Instance edition
You can only change the billing method of an instance group from pay-as-you-go to subscription. This change does not affect the data or usage of your Cloud Phone instances.
Prerequisites
The Cloud Phone instance group is in the Available state.
You must have no unpaid orders. Pay for or cancel any outstanding orders before proceeding.
Procedure
Log on to the Cloud Phone console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
On the Instance Group page, find a Pay-as-you-go instance group that is in the Available state, click the ⋮ icon in the Actions column, and choose Change Billing Method.
NoteYou can use the filter icon () in the header of the Status or Billing Method column to quickly find eligible instance groups.
On the Cloud Phone - Switch Billing Method page, select a subscription duration in the Duration section, review the configuration fees in the lower-right corner, and then click Switch Now.
NoteTo prevent service interruptions when the instance group expires, you can enable Auto-renewal.
Complete the payment as prompted.
Payment methods
You can use one of the following payment methods:
Your Alibaba Cloud account balance
Online payment
Refunds
If you no longer need subscription resources before they expire, you can unsubscribe from them. Before you apply for a refund, make sure you understand the relevant rules and limitations. For more information, see Refund Rules for Alibaba Cloud International Website. For detailed steps, see Unsubscribe from a resource.
Partial unsubscription from an instance group is not supported. You must unsubscribe from all instances within the group.
Value-added services
Standard network
The standard network provides internet bandwidth for Cloud Phone instances.
The peak bandwidth is not a guaranteed performance metric. It serves as a reference and an upper limit. Resource contention may constrain bandwidth.
Billing method
Subscription: a prepaid billing method suitable for scenarios with stable network bandwidth requirements and consistent usage.
Bandwidth pricing
Region | Unit price |
China (Hangzhou) | USD 2.95/Mbps/month |
China (Shanghai) | USD 2.95/Mbps/month |
China (Beijing) | USD 2.95/Mbps/month |
China (Shenzhen) | USD 2.95/Mbps/month |
China (Hong Kong) | USD 3.69/Mbps/month |
Singapore | USD 2.95/Mbps/month |
Germany (Frankfurt) | USD 2.95/Mbps/month |
The following table provides the billing formula and a billing example for the standard network.
Billing method | Billing formula | Billing example |
Subscription |
| Purchase details:
Fee calculation: |
View bills
Procedure
Go to the Expenses and Costs page.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
NoteIf your console's appearance differs from the example, you may be using an older version. Click Try New Version at the bottom of the left-side navigation pane to switch.
On the Bill Details page, set the filter conditions as needed and click Search.
You can use Statistic Item and Statistic Period to control the aggregation dimension and statistical period of the bill. The results that meet the filter conditions are displayed in a list.
Related operations
On the Billing Details tab, you can perform the following operations as needed:
Click the settings icon () in the upper-right corner of the list to open the Customize Column Options dialog box, where you can select the columns you want to display in the table.
To analyze your bills more easily, click the export icon () in the upper-right corner of the list. In the Export Billing Overview (CSV) dialog box, select the content you want to export. This exports the current bill as a CSV file to your local device. You can then open the CSV file with spreadsheet software to view and analyze it.
Effects of overdue payments
If your account's available credit, which includes your account balance, and coupons, is less than the outstanding bill amount, your account becomes overdue.
You can check for overdue bills on the Expenses and Costs page.
After a payment becomes overdue, pay-as-you-go Cloud Phone instances enter the Overdue state. The system retains the data, but you cannot use the instance normally. The system does not support operations such as starting, stopping, restarting, and connecting to the Cloud Phone. To continue using the service, you must top up your account within 15 days of the payment becoming overdue. Otherwise, starting from the 16th day, the system automatically releases the Cloud Phone resources.
After the system releases Cloud Phone resources, it permanently deletes the data.
FAQ
Why am I still charged for my cloud phone after I release the cloud phone?
You can go to the Bill Details page of the Expenses console to check whether dependent resources still exist.
Log on to the NAT Gateway console to check whether the NAT network resources are released.
Log on to the EIP console to check whether the configured elastic IP address (EIP) exists.
Go to the Internet Shared Bandwidth page to check whether the corresponding Internet shared bandwidth instance is being charged.
How do I calculate the costs of connecting cloud phones?
You do not need to calculate the costs of connecting cloud phones because you are not charged for protocol-based traffic.