Resource Assurance helps you query, reserve, purchase, and use resources. Resource Assurance provides you with real-time insights into resource provision and allows you to make resource reservations and plans by using private pools. This topic describes the billing methods of resource assurances and provides examples on how resource assurances are billed.
Billing methods
You can purchase elasticity assurances, immediate capacity reservations, or scheduled capacity reservations to reserve resources that match specific attributes in private pools for different scenarios. For more information, see Overview.
The following table describes the billing methods that are supported by resource assurances.
Reservation type | Billing method | Description | References |
Immediate or Scheduled Elasticity Assurance | Elasticity Assurance | You cannot manually release the elasticity assurances that you purchase. You are charged the following fees for an elasticity assurance:
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Immediate Capacity Reservation | Immediate Capacity Reservation | An immediate capacity reservation is billed at the pay-as-you-go rate of the specified instance type regardless of whether you create pay-as-you-go instances in the reserved capacity. Billing starts when the capacity reservation is created, and continues until the capacity reservation is manually released or automatically released on expiration. Note
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Scheduled Capacity Reservation | Capacity Reservation with Savings Plan |
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Capacity Reservation for Subscription Resources |
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Authorized Pending Orders | Authorized Pending Order | If you cannot create instances of an understocked instance type that may be replenished in small quantities for short periods of time, you can create an authorized pending order to authorize Alibaba Cloud to place an instance purchase order on your behalf when the selected instance type becomes available for purchase and deduct instance fees from your account. You are not charged additional fees for authorized pending orders. When an authorized pending order is fulfilled, you are charged only for the created instances. Maintain sufficient balance in your Alibaba Cloud account. Otherwise, Alibaba Cloud cannot place the order on your behalf. | / |
Billing examples
This section provides examples on how elasticity assurances and capacity reservations are billed. The prices on this page are provided only for reference. The actual prices are displayed on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) product page.
Elasticity assurances
Scenario: You purchased an elasticity assurance for one instance and created an instance in the reserved capacity for a promotion event.
Assurance fee for the elasticity assurance: USD 100
Term of the elasticity assurance: one month
Quantity of instances: 1
Pay-as-you-go instance price: USD 10 per hour
Instance usage (in hours): 6 hours
Billed amount: Total fee = Assurance fee for the elasticity assurance + Fee for pay-as-you-go resources
Assurance fee for the elasticity assurance: USD 100
Fee for pay-as-you-go resources: USD 10 per hour × 6 hours = USD 60
Total fee: USD 100 + USD 60 = USD 160
NoteDuring the term of an elasticity assurance, you can infinitely create or release pay-as-you-go instances in the reserved capacity.
Elasticity assurances are automatically released when they expire, but instances that are created in the reserved capacity are not released.
The instances continue to work as expected and are billed at pay-as-you-go rates.
Immediate capacity reservations
Scenario: You purchased an immediate capacity reservation for two instances. The capacity reservation was provisioned for 4 hours. You created Instance A in the reserved capacity, used the instance for 3 hours, and then released the instance. Then, you created Instance B in the reserved capacity, used the instance for 1 hour, and then released the instance.
Pay-as-you-go instance price: USD 10 per hour
Term of the immediate capacity reservation: 4 hours
Usage of Instance A (in hours): 3 hours
Usage of Instance B (in hours): 1 hour
Billed amount: Total fee = Fee for the immediate capacity reservation + Fee for pay-as-you-go resources
Fee for the immediate capacity reservation = Fee for unused reserved capacity + Fee for used reserved capacity. You are not charged for the used reserved capacity.
Fee for the pay-as-you-go resources of Instance A: USD 10 per hour × 3 hours = USD 30
Fee for unused reserved capacity for Instance A: USD 10 per hour × 1 hour = USD 10
Fee for the pay-as-you-go resources of Instance B: USD 10 per hour × 1 hour = USD 10
Fee for unused reserved capacity for Instance B: USD 10 per hour × 3 hours = USD 30
Fee for the immediate capacity reservation = USD 10 + USD 30 = USD 40
Fee for pay-as-you-go resources: USD 30 + USD 10 = USD 40
Total fee: USD 40 + USD 40 = USD 80
Capacity reservations with Savings Plan
Scenario: You purchased a capacity reservation with Savings Plan for one instance and created a pay-as-you-go instance in the reserved capacity.
Fee for the No Upfront savings plan: USD 1,000
Fee for data disks: USD 500
Billed amount: Total fee = Fee for the No Upfront savings plan + Fee for resource usage that is not covered by the savings plan
Fee for the No Upfront savings plan: USD 1,000
Fee for resource usage that is not covered by the savings plan: USD 500
Total fee: USD 1,000 + USD 500 = USD 1,500
NoteThe effective time of the capacity reservation with Savings Plan must be at least three days later than the creation time and can be up to one year later than the creation time.
The savings plan can be applied to reduce bills for the unused reserved capacity and the created pay-as-you-go instance.
If you release the capacity reservation before the savings plan expires, you can continue to apply the savings plan to eligible pay-as-you-go instances or immediate capacity reservations.
Capacity reservations for subscription resources
Scenario: You purchased a 7-day capacity reservation for subscription resources for 10 instances and created eight subscription instances in the reserved capacity.
Pay-as-you-go instance price: USD 10 per hour
Subscription instance price: USD 4,800 per month
Usage of the instances: 1 month
Term of the capacity reservation for subscription resources: seven days
Billed amount: Total fee = Fee for the capacity reservation for subscription resources + Fee for subscription resources
Fee for the capacity reservation for subscription resources: (10 - 8) × 7 × 24 hours × USD 10 per hour = USD 3,360
Fee for subscription resources: USD 4,800 per month × 8 × 1 month = USD 38,400
Total fee: USD 3,360 + USD 38,400 = USD 41,760
You cannot cancel effective capacity reservations for subscription resources.
If you create subscription instances only in a part of the reserved capacity during the term of the capacity reservation for subscription resources, you are charge for the unused reserved capacity at the pay-as-you-go rate. You are not charged for the used reserved capacity.
Authorized pending orders
Scenario: You cannot purchase a subscription instance due to insufficient inventory of the specified instance type, and then you created an authorized pending order.
Subscription price: USD 100 per month
Subscription period: 2 months
Billed amount: Fee for subscription resources = Subscription price × Subscription period = USD 100 per month × 2 months = USD 200. The authorized pending order is free of charge.
ImportantYou are not charged additional fees for the authorized pending order. You are charged for the purchased resources when the authorized pending order is fulfilled. Maintain a sufficient balance in your Alibaba Cloud account to ensure that Alibaba Cloud can place an order on your behalf.