A pay-as-you-go Elastic IP Address (EIP) incurs a public network fee and an EIP configuration fee. You can choose between two metering methods: pay-by-data-transfer and pay-by-bandwidth.
Item | Pay-by-data-transfer | Pay-by-bandwidth |
Billing basis | Actual outbound data transfer (GB) | Peak bandwidth you specify (Mbps) |
Bandwidth guarantee | No. Peak bandwidth is an advisory upper limit. Bandwidth may be limited during resource contention. | Yes. Peak bandwidth is a committed metric. Bandwidth is guaranteed during resource contention. |
Best for | Variable traffic, short-term usage (gaming, video streaming) | Predictable traffic, short-term usage |
Billing
A pay-as-you-go EIP incurs a public network fee and an EIP configuration fee.
Public network fee: The fee for public network access through an EIP. It consists of a data transfer fee or a bandwidth fee, depending on the metering method you select.
Data transfer fee: If you select the pay-by-traffic metering method, you are billed for your actual outbound data transfer in GB.
Bandwidth fee: If you select the pay-by-bandwidth metering method, you are billed for the peak bandwidth you specify in Mbps, regardless of the actual data transfer.
EIP configuration fee (public IP address retention fee): The fee for retaining a public IP address.
Pay-by-data-transfer
A pay-by-data-transfer EIP incurs hourly charges based on actual outbound traffic. You can release it at any time.
Billing items and pricing
Data transfer fee
Effective 00:00 (UTC+8) on December 17, 2024, if you create a pay-by-data-transfer EIP for the first time, CDT bills the data transfer fees for these EIPs. CDT uses a tiered pricing model for public network traffic, where the unit price decreases as your data transfer volume increases. For more information about CDT billing and pricing, see Public network traffic.
If you have created a pay-by-data-transfer EIP before 00:00 (UTC+8) on December 17, 2024, the billing rules in this topic still apply to data transfer fees. You can choose to Upgrade to CDT Billing. After the upgrade, CDT bills the data transfer fees for all your existing and new pay-by-data-transfer EIPs.
The billing cycle for a pay-by-data-transfer EIP is one hour. If you use an EIP for less than one hour within a billing cycle, we round the usage up to one hour.
Data transfer fee per billing cycle = Data transfer unit price (USD/GB) × Data transfer (GB)Data transfer: You are charged for the total outbound data transfer from the EIP. Outbound data transfer is traffic that flows from Alibaba Cloud data centers to the internet. Inbound data transfer is free.
Set the peak bandwidth based on your actual requirements to prevent high fees from programming errors or malicious requests.
Customers in the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) can apply for fee waivers for eligible use cases under EU Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (the Data Act). For more information, contact us through Support & Services.
Data transfer unit price: EIPs support two line types: BGP (Multi-ISP) and BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro. The data transfer unit price varies by line type.
The following tables show the pricing for public cloud services. The regions and prices are for reference only. For actual pricing, see the Buy Page.
Table 1. Data transfer unit price for BGP (Multi-ISP) EIPs
Area | Region | Unit price (USD/GB) |
Chinese mainland | China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Ulanqab), China (Nanjing) - Local Region, China (Fuzhou) - Local Region, China (Wuhan) - Local Region | 0.123 |
China (Qingdao) | 0.110 | |
China (Hong Kong) | 0.153 | |
Asia Pacific | Japan (Tokyo) | 0.087 |
Singapore, Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok) | 0.081 | |
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) | 0.077 | |
Indonesia (Jakarta) | 0.090 | |
South Korea (Seoul) | 0.123 | |
Europe & Americas | US (Virginia) | 0.076 |
US (Silicon Valley) | 0.077 | |
Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), Mexico | 0.070 | |
Middle East | UAE (Dubai) | 0.153 |
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) - Partner-operated | 0.097 |
Table 2. Data transfer unit price for BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro EIPs
Area | Region | Unit price (USD/GB) |
Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | 0.452 |
Asia Pacific | Japan (Tokyo), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Philippines (Manila), Indonesia (Jakarta), Thailand (Bangkok) | 0.452 |
Singapore | 0.778 |
Configuration fee
The EIP configuration fee, also known as the public IP address retention fee, is calculated based on the public IP unit price and the billing duration.
The EIP configuration fee is waived in the following scenarios:
An EIP is directly associated with an ECS instance or an ECI instance in a VPC, and the EIP quota for an Alibaba Cloud account (primary account) is less than or equal to 2,000.
The configuration fee still applies if you associate an EIP with a primary elastic network interface.
The EIP configuration fee does not apply to EIPs allocated from an IP address pool. Instead, these EIPs are charged based on the rates for public IP address fees for IP address pools.
You bring your own IP address (BYOIP) to Alibaba Cloud.
The EIP configuration fee applies in all other scenarios.
For the pay-by-data-transfer method, we bill the EIP configuration fee hourly.
EIP configuration fee = Public IP unit price (USD/hour/IP) × Billing duration (hours) × Number of EIPsEIPs support two line types: BGP (Multi-ISP) and BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro. The public IP unit price varies by line type.
The following tables show the pricing for public cloud services. The regions and prices are for reference only. For actual pricing, see the Buy Page.
Table 3. Public IP unit price for pay-by-data-transfer BGP (Multi-ISP) EIPs
Area | Region | Unit price (USD/hour/IP) |
Chinese mainland | China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Ulanqab), China (Nanjing) - Local Region, China (Fuzhou) - Local Region, China (Wuhan) - Local Region | 0.003 |
China (Hong Kong) | 0.009 | |
Asia Pacific | Singapore, Philippines (Manila), Indonesia (Jakarta), Thailand (Bangkok) | 0.006 |
Japan (Tokyo) | 0.005 | |
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), South Korea (Seoul) | 0.003 | |
Europe & Americas | US (Virginia), US (Silicon Valley) | 0.005 |
Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London) | 0.006 | |
Mexico | 0.005 | |
Middle East | UAE (Dubai) | 0.009 |
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) - Partner-operated | 0.008 |
Table 4. Public IP unit price for pay-by-data-transfer BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro EIPs
Area | Region | Unit price (USD/hour/IP) |
Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | 0.009 |
Asia Pacific | Japan (Tokyo) | 0.005 |
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) | 0.003 | |
Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok), Singapore | 0.006 | |
Indonesia (Jakarta) | 0.006 |
Billing example
Scenario 1: Creating a pay-as-you-go EIP
Account A has an EIP quota of 500. In the China (Beijing) region, Account A creates 450 pay-as-you-go EIPs that use the pay-by-data-transfer method. Of these EIPs, 400 are associated with Classic Load Balancer (CLB) instances, incurring the EIP configuration fee, while the fee is waived for the 50 EIPs associated with ECS instances. The EIP configuration fee for one billing cycle is calculated as follows: 400 IPs × USD 0.003/hour/IP × 1 hour + 50 IPs × USD 0/hour/IP × 1 hour = USD 1.2.
Account A expects business growth and requests to increase the EIP quota to 3,000. In addition to the existing 450 EIPs, Account A creates 2,000 more EIPs and associates them with ECS instances. Because the EIP quota (3,000) is now greater than 2,000, the EIP configuration fee applies to all 2,450 EIPs. The EIP configuration fee for one billing cycle is calculated as follows: 2,450 IPs × USD 0.003/hour/IP × 1 hour = USD 7.35.
Scenario 2: Allocating a pay-as-you-go EIP from an IP address pool
Account B creates an IP address pool in the China (Beijing) region and adds a CIDR block that contains 256 public IP addresses. Of these addresses, 50 are allocated as EIPs and associated with ECS instances. In this case, both the 50 allocated EIPs and the 206 unallocated public IP addresses are charged based on the rates for public IP address fees for IP address pools. The public IP address fee for one billing cycle is calculated as follows: 256 IPs × USD 0.007/hour/IP × 1 hour = USD 1.792.
Billing cycle and bill generation
The billing cycle for a pay-by-data-transfer EIP is one hour. Usage for less than an hour is billed as a full hour.
Charges are calculated hourly. A billing cycle starts at the top of each hour (UTC+8). Your bill is typically generated within one hour after the billing cycle ends. The actual bill generation time may vary.
Billing example
Suppose at 09:30:00 on a given day, you create an EIP in the Singapore region. The EIP uses the pay-by-data-transfer billing method and the BGP (Multi-ISP) line type, and you set its peak bandwidth to 10 Mbps. You immediately associate the EIP with a NAT Gateway and begin generating network traffic.
The total data transfer for that day is 60 GB, and you change the peak bandwidth twice:
At 17:00:00, the peak bandwidth is changed from 10 Mbps to 20 Mbps.
At 23:00:00, the peak bandwidth is changed from 20 Mbps to 15 Mbps.
The pricing in this example is for reference only. For actual prices, see the buy page in the console.
Changes to the peak bandwidth do not affect the total cost for a pay-by-data-transfer EIP.
Total cost = Data transfer fee + Configuration fee (public IP address holding fee) = $4.86 + $0.09 = $4.95
Data transfer fee:
Data transfer unit price: The unit price in the Singapore region is $0.081/GB.
Data transfer: 60 GB.
Data transfer fee for that day: Data transfer unit price × Data transfer = $0.081/GB × 60 GB = $4.86.
Configuration fee:
Public IP address unit price: The unit price in the Singapore region is $0.006/hour/IP.
Billing duration: The EIP was used for 14.5 hours that day, which is rounded up to a billing duration of 15 hours.
Configuration fee (public IP address holding fee) for that day: Public IP address unit price × Billing duration = $0.006/hour/IP × 15 hours × 1 IP = $0.09.
Pay-by-bandwidth
A pay-by-bandwidth EIP incurs charges based on its peak bandwidth and billing duration. You can release it at any time.
Billing items and pricing
Public network fee (bandwidth fee)
The bandwidth fee for a pay-by-bandwidth EIP is calculated based on the specified bandwidth peak and billing duration. The billing cycle is one day. Charges are calculated hourly and finalized daily.
Bandwidth fee = Bandwidth unit price (USD/Mbps/day) × [Billing duration (hours) / 24] (days) × Bandwidth peak (Mbps)Billing duration: The time you hold a pay-by-bandwidth EIP. Usage for less than one hour is billed as a full hour. For example, if you create a pay-by-bandwidth EIP at 09:00:00 and release it at 12:30:00, the billing duration is 4 hours, which corresponds to (4/24) days.
Bandwidth unit price:
EIPs support two line types: BGP (Multi-ISP) and BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro. The bandwidth unit price varies by line type.
The BGP (Multi-ISP) line type uses tiered pricing, with different unit prices for bandwidths of 1–5 Mbps and those greater than 5 Mbps.
If the bandwidth peak is greater than 5 Mbps, the bandwidth fee is calculated using the following formula, where n is the bandwidth peak:
Bandwidth fee = [Unit price for 1-5 Mbps (USD/Mbps/day) × 5 + Unit price for >5 Mbps (USD/Mbps/day) × (n - 5)] × [Billing duration (hours) / 24] (days)
Bandwidth peak: You can modify the bandwidth peak at any time. If you modify the bandwidth peak during a day, the billable bandwidth peak for that day is the highest value set.
The following tables show public cloud pricing for reference only. For the latest pricing, see the buy page.
Table 4. Bandwidth unit prices for BGP (Multi-ISP) EIPs
Area | Region | Bandwidth unit price (USD/Mbps/day) | |
1-5 Mbps | >5 Mbps | ||
Asia Pacific - China | China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Hong Kong), China (Ulanqab), China (Nanjing), China (Fuzhou), China (Wuhan) | 0.14 | 0.5 |
China (Qingdao) | 0.11 | 0.46 | |
Asia Pacific - Other Regions | Japan (Tokyo) | 0.17 | 0.57 |
Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Philippines (Manila), Indonesia (Jakarta), South Korea (Seoul), Thailand (Bangkok) | 0.14 | 0.5 | |
Europe & Americas | US (Virginia), US (Silicon Valley), Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), Mexico | 0.14 | 0.5 |
Middle East | Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) - Partner-operated | 0.17 | 0.60 |
Table 5. Bandwidth unit prices for BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro EIPs
Area | Region | Bandwidth unit price (USD/Mbps/day) |
Asia Pacific - China | China (Hong Kong) | 1.430 |
Asia Pacific - Other Regions | Japan (Tokyo), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Philippines (Manila), Indonesia (Jakarta), Thailand (Bangkok) | 1.430 |
Singapore | 2.460 |
EIP configuration fee
The EIP configuration fee, also known as the public IP address resource fee, is calculated from the public IP address unit price and the billing duration.
The EIP configuration fee is waived in the following scenarios:
An EIP is directly associated with an ECS instance or an ECI instance in a VPC, and the EIP quota for an Alibaba Cloud account (primary account) is less than or equal to 2,000.
The configuration fee still applies if you associate an EIP with a primary elastic network interface.
The EIP configuration fee does not apply to EIPs allocated from an IP address pool. Instead, these EIPs are charged based on the rates for public IP address fees for IP address pools.
You bring your own IP address (BYOIP) to Alibaba Cloud.
The EIP configuration fee applies in all other scenarios.
For pay-by-bandwidth EIPs, the configuration fee is charged hourly and billed daily. The unit is USD/day/IP.
EIP configuration fee = Public IP address unit price (USD/day/IP) × Billing duration × Number of EIPsEIPs support two line types: BGP (Multi-ISP) and BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro. The public IP address unit price varies by line type.
The following tables show pricing on the public cloud. The regions and prices are for reference only. For the latest pricing, see the buy page.
Table 7. Pay-by-bandwidth EIP unit price - BGP (Multi-ISP)
Area | Region | Unit price (USD/day/IP) |
Asia Pacific - China | China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Ulanqab), China (Nanjing) (local region), China (Fuzhou) (local region), China (Wuhan) (local region) | 0.074 |
China (Hong Kong) | 0.211 | |
Other Asia Pacific | Singapore, Philippines (Manila), Indonesia (Jakarta), Thailand (Bangkok) | 0.151 |
Japan (Tokyo) | 0.113 | |
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), South Korea (Seoul) | 0.074 | |
Europe and Americas | US (Virginia), US (Silicon Valley) | 0.113 |
Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London) | 0.151 | |
Mexico | 0.113 | |
Middle East | Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) (operated by partner) | 0.181 |
Table 8. Pay-by-bandwidth EIP unit price - BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro
Area | Region | Unit price (USD/day/IP) |
Asia Pacific - China | China (Hong Kong) | 0.211 |
Other Asia Pacific | Japan (Tokyo) | 0.113 |
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) | 0.074 | |
Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok), Singapore | 0.151 | |
Indonesia (Jakarta) | 0.144 |
Billing cycle and bill generation time
Pay-by-bandwidth EIPs are billed daily. Charges for each day are calculated at 00:00:00 (UTC+8) on the following day. Bills are typically generated early the next day, but the actual bill generation time depends on system processing.
Billing example
Suppose you create an EIP in the Singapore region at 09:30:00 on a given day. The EIP is configured for the pay-by-bandwidth billing method and the BGP (Multi-ISP) line type, with a bandwidth peak of 10 Mbps. You then associate the EIP with a NAT Gateway and start generating network traffic.
During the day, the total data transfer is 60 GB, and you change the bandwidth peak twice:
At 17:00:00, you change the bandwidth peak from 10 Mbps to 20 Mbps.
At 23:00:00, you change the bandwidth peak from 20 Mbps to 15 Mbps.
The prices in this example are for reference only. For actual pricing, refer to the purchase page.
Total cost = Bandwidth fee + Configuration fee (public IP retention fee) = $5.125 + $0.094375 = $5.22
Bandwidth fee:
Peak bandwidth: Billing is based on the highest bandwidth peak set during the day. In this example, the billable bandwidth peak is 20 Mbps.
Bandwidth unit price: In the Singapore region, the unit price is $0.14/Mbps/day for bandwidths from 1 to 5 Mbps, and $0.5/Mbps/day for bandwidths greater than 5 Mbps.
Billing duration: The EIP was active for 14.5 hours. For billing, this duration is rounded up to 15 hours.
Bandwidth fee = [0.14 × 5 + 0.5 × (20 - 5)] × (15 hours / 24 hours) = $5.125.
Configuration fee:
Public IP address unit price: The unit price for a public IP address in the Singapore region is $0.151/day/IP.
Billing duration: The EIP was active for 14.5 hours. For billing, this duration is rounded up to 15 hours.
Configuration fee (public IP retention fee) = 0.151/day/IP × (15 hours / 24 hours) × 1 IP = $0.094375.
Modify configuration
You can modify the peak bandwidth and metering method of a pay-as-you-go EIP.
Go to the EIP console. In the Bandwidth column of the target EIP, click Modify Configuration. Set a new Bandwidth or switch the metering method by modifying Traffic.
Limitations: If you change the metering method, you cannot modify the peak bandwidth again until the change takes effect.
Effective time:
Changes to only the peak bandwidth take effect immediately.
Changes to the metering method take effect at 00:00 the next day (Beijing time).
Billing impact: Billing based on the new configuration begins after the change takes effect.
Switch the billing method
To switch between the pay-by-traffic and pay-by-bandwidth billing methods, modify the metering method. The change takes effect at 00:00:00 (UTC+8) on the next day.
You cannot convert a pay-as-you-go EIP to a subscription.
To cancel a pending billing method conversion for a pay-as-you-go EIP, in the Actions column for the target EIP, choose
> Modify Instance > Cancel Uneffective Order. You cannot cancel orders that are already in effect. This action is irreversible, so proceed with caution.
Bills and usage
To view your bills, log in to the Billing Management console and go to the spending summary page.
To view bills for this product, go to the billing details page. From the Product drop-down list, select Elastic IP Address. Then, select a time range to view the billing details for your EIPs.
To view usage, go to the EIP console, click the target EIP, then select the Monitoring and O&M tab to view real-time bandwidth and traffic. For more detailed monitoring data, go to CloudMonitor.
You can request an invoice after you pay for an order or settle a bill. For more information, see Obtain an invoice.
Release an EIP to stop billing
When a pay-as-you-go EIP is not associated with any cloud resources, you still incur a configuration fee (public IP holding fee). If you no longer need the EIP, release the EIP to stop billing.
You cannot release an EIP that is locked for security reasons.
After you release an EIP, billing for it stops. However, you may still receive a bill for the EIP.
Reasons:
Pay-by-traffic EIPs are billed hourly.
For example, if you release an EIP at 10:30:00, you will receive a bill after 11:00:00 for the traffic fees incurred from 10:00:00 to 11:00:00.
Pay-by-bandwidth EIPs are billed daily.
For example, if you release an EIP on January 1, 2025, you will receive a bill after 00:00:00 on January 2, 2025 for the bandwidth fees incurred on January 1, 2025.
Overdue payments and top-ups
When a pay-as-you-go EIP has an overdue payment due to an unpaid bill, you receive email and SMS notifications. To resolve this, top up your account.
For 15 days after a payment becomes overdue, your EIP service remains active. If you top up your account within this 15-day period, your cloud service is not suspended.
If bills remain unpaid for 15 days, the EIP enters service suspension.
For an EIP that is not added to an Internet Shared Bandwidth instance, the bandwidth is limited to 1 Kbps.
For an EIP that is added to a pay-as-you-go Internet Shared Bandwidth instance, the bandwidth of the Internet Shared Bandwidth instance is limited to 1 Kbps. The EIP remains in the instance and its association is unaffected.
For an EIP that is added to a subscription-based Internet Shared Bandwidth instance that has not expired, the Internet Shared Bandwidth is not affected. The EIP remains in the instance and its association is unaffected.
If you top up your account within 15 days after the EIP enters service suspension and before it is released, the system automatically settles the unpaid bills. After the payment succeeds, the EIP service is immediately restored.
If bills remain unpaid for 15 days after the EIP enters service suspension, the EIP is automatically released. After the EIP is released, its configuration and data are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.