This topic describes the billable items of PolarDB.

The following figure shows the approximate proportion of each billable item in a PolarDB cluster.

Proportion
Table 1. Billable items
Billable item Description
Compute node (primary node and read-only node)
  • A compute node is billed based on the region, specification, and usage duration of the node.
  • You can purchasecompute nodes by using the pay-as-you-go or subscription billing method.
Note
Storage
  • The storage is used to store cluster data files, index files, log files, and temporary files. Log files include online logs and archived logs. You are charged for the storage that you use.
  • The fees depend on the data volume and retention period. We recommend that you purchase storage plans, which are more cost-effective. For more information, see Billing method 1: pay-as-you-go.
Note For more information about the pricing of storage, see Storage pricing.
Data backup (only charged for the storage that exceeds the free quota)
  • Only storage fees are charged for backup files. PolarDB offers a free quota of storage. You are charged only for the storage that exceeds the free quota.
  • The fees depend on the storage capacity and retention period. We recommend that you purchase storage plans to offset the fees of level-1 backups. For more information, see Storage plans billing.
Note For more information about the pricing of data backups, see Pricing of data backups that exceed the free quota.
SQL Explorer (optional)
  • The SQL Explorer feature provides value-added capabilities, such as security auditing and performance diagnostics. After you enable this feature, you are charged for storage fees of audit logs.
  • The fees depend on the storage capacity and retention period of audit logs.
Note For more information about the pricing of SQL Explorer, see Pricing of SQL Explorer (optional).
GDN (optional) The global database network (GDN) feature is free of charge. You are charged only for each PolarDB cluster that uses the GDN feature. For more information, see GDN.