The following table lists the retention policies of RDS instances and data when a Subscription instance expires or when the payment of a Pay-As-You-Go instance is overdue.

Billing method Retention policies of instances and data
Subscription
  • For a Subscription instance with automatic renewal enabled, if the instance expires, it continues running for 15 days. If the instance is not renewed within 15 days, the instance is locked. If the instance is locked for 15 days, it is released, and all the data stored in the instance is deleted and cannot be recovered.
  • For a Subscription instance with automatic renewal disabled, if the instance expires, it is locked immediately. If the instance is locked for 15 days, it is released, and all the data stored in the instance is deleted and cannot be recovered.
Pay-As-You-Go

  • If your Alibaba Cloud account fails to pay bills (for example, the associated credit card exceeds the credit limit), all the instances under this account will be in the status of overdue payment.

  • If the payment of an instance is overdue, the instance continues running for 15 days. If bills are not paid within 15 days, the instance is locked. If the instance is locked for 15 days, it will be released and all the data stored in the instance will also be deleted and cannot be recovered.

Note When the RDS instance is locked, the application cannot access the instance and you cannot do any operation to the instance either. We recommend that you renew your Subscription instance in time and make sure not to exceed your credit limit to avoid the effects on your business.