Subscription is a billing method that allows you to use resources only after you pay for them. You can reserve resources in advance and reduce costs with discounted rates by using the subscription billing method. This topic describes the billing rules for subscription ECS resources.
Overview

When you create a subscription instance, resources are billed separately to generate the total price. You can use the subscription resources only after you pay the total price. For more information about how prices are calculated, see Billing.
After a subscription instance is created, you can change its configurations or resize subscription cloud disks attached to the instance. For more information, see Overview of instance upgrade and downgrade and Overview.
After a subscription instance expires, you can renew your instance to continue to use it. For more information, see Renewal overview.
Applicable resources
Resource | Description |
---|---|
Computing resource (vCPUs and memory) | When you create an ECS instance, you must specify whether to use the subscription billing method. |
Image | The image that you selected when you create a subscription instance also uses the subscription billing method. |
Cloud disk | Cloud disks created along with subscription instances also use the subscription billing
method.
After a subscription instance is created, you can create subscription disks for the instance or attach pay-as-you-go disks that are separately created to the instance. For more information, see Create a subscription disk and Attach a data disk. |
Public bandwidth (pay-by-bandwidth) | If you select pay-by-bandwidth as the billing method for network usage when you create a subscription instance, the bandwidth is also billed on a subscription basis. For more information, see Public bandwidth. |

- Total indicates the total price of the following resources:
- Computing resource (vCPUs and memory)
- Cloud disk
- Public bandwidth (pay-by-bandwidth)
Note If you select pay-by-traffic as the billing method for network usage, the total price does not include the price for public bandwidth. For more information, see Public bandwidth.
- Marketplace Image Fees indicates that you selected a paid Alibaba Cloud Marketplace image.
You can use the ECS TCO Calculator to analyze your cloud migration costs.
Billing
The billing cycle of a subscription instance is the time commitment you made when you purchased the instance (based on UTC+8:00). The cycle starts from the time when the purchased subscription resource is activated or renewed (accurate to seconds) and ends at 00:00:00 the next day after the expiration date.
- The first billing cycle is from 13:00:00 on August 9, 2019 to 00:00:00 on September 10, 2019.
- The second billing cycle is from 00:00:00 on September 10, 2019 to 00:00:00 on October 10, 2019.
Resource | Formula | Unit price |
---|---|---|
Computing resource (vCPUs and memory) | Unit price of an instance type × Subscription duration | For more information, see the Instance section on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service page.
Note Local disks are tied to specific instance types. The prices of local disks are included
in the prices of corresponding instance types.
|
Image | Unit price of an image × Subscription duration | You can obtain the price on the buy page or in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace. |
Cloud disk (system disk) | Unit price of a disk × Disk capacity × Subscription duration | For more information, see System Cloud Disk Fee of the Storage section on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service page.
Note The price for a pay-as-you-go disk on the page is displayed in the USD/100 GiB/hour
format. Divide it by 100 to obtain the unit price per GiB.
|
Cloud disk (data disk) | Unit price of a disk × Disk capacity × Subscription duration | For more information, see Data Cloud Disk Fee of the Storage section on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service page.
Note The price for a pay-as-you-go disk on the page is displayed in the USD/100 GiB/hour
format. Divide it by 100 to obtain the unit price per GiB.
|
Public bandwidth (pay-by-bandwidth) | Unit price of bandwidth × Bandwidth value × Subscription duration
For more information, see Public bandwidth. |
A tiered billing model is used for bandwidth. You can select a bandwidth value on the buy page to view the changes in fees. |

Changes in resource status after an instance expires
Resource | Within 15 days after the instance expires | More than 15 days after the instance expires |
---|---|---|
Computing resource (vCPUs and memory) | The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are retained, but the instance stops providing
services.
Note After an ECS instance is stopped, you cannot connect to the instance or access websites
deployed on the instance, and service errors may occur.
|
The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are released. |
Image | The image is unavailable. | The image is unavailable. |
EBS |
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Public IP address |
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If the auto-renewal feature is enabled for a subscription instance but the instance fails to be renewed, the instance stops providing services at some point from 00:00:00 on the 15th day after it expires to 00:00:00 on the 16th day after it expires.
Resource | Within 15 days after the instance expires | More than 15 days after the instance expires | More than 30 days after the instance expires |
---|---|---|---|
Computing resource (vCPUs and memory) | The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are retained, and the instance works properly.
Note When an ECS instance works properly, you can start or stop the instance, and connect
to the instance by using management terminals or other connection methods.
|
The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are retained, but the instance stops providing
services.
Note After an ECS instance is stopped, you cannot connect to the instance or access websites
deployed on the instance, and service errors may occur.
|
The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are released. |
Image | The image is available. | The image is unavailable. | The image is unavailable. |
EBS |
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|
Public IP address |
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Overdue payments
If you have overdue payments in your account, subscription ECS resources can be used properly, but you cannot purchase or renew instances, or upgrade their configurations.