Close account - Account Center - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

If you no longer need an Alibaba Cloud account because a project has ended, your business has closed, or for other reasons, follow the instructions in this topic to permanently delete the account.

Warning

Closing your Alibaba Cloud account is permanent and irreversible. All data, resources, information, and assets associated with this account will be completely deleted and cannot be recovered by any means. You will no longer be able to use this account to log on to any Alibaba Cloud services.

Process and timeline

Closing an account is a multi-stage process that involves manual preparation, an automatic system check, and a final silent period.

Prepare before you start: In this critical phase, you must settle all payments, back up data, release resources, and resolve dependencies. Being thorough in this step helps ensure the following steps proceed smoothly.
Start the closure process: After you submit a closure request in the console, the system runs a comprehensive, automated scan to verify that all conditions are met.
Enter the silent period: The silent period is an irreversible waiting period. Its main purpose is to handle billing system latency, ensuring that any final charges are settled correctly. This prevents the closure from failing due to unexpected overdue payments.
Confirm the closure result: After the silent period ends, the account is permanently deleted. If a problem is detected, the account is restored to an active state and you are notified to restart the process.

The total time required to close an account depends on whether your account has active workloads deployed.

Accounts with no workloads: It takes a few minutes to start the closure process. The account then enters a silent period that lasts several days.
Accounts with workloads: Expect to spend 2 to 5 business days on preparatory tasks, such as data backup and resource migration, before you start the closure process. This is followed by a silent period of several days.

Note that if the account has associated domain names or ICP filings, you need an additional 7 to 15 business days to transfer the domain names and cancel the ICP filings.

Important

The silent period is required to accommodate billing system latency and cannot be revoked or shortened. Please wait for the process to complete.
After the silent period begins, unsubscribed resources and forfeited balances cannot be recovered. Proceed with caution.

Step 1: Prepare to unregister

In this stage, you must manually handle all items that could block the closure process and back up critical data.

Recommended pre-closure account checks

Settle finances
- Settle overdue payments: Go to the User Center to check and pay all issued bills and outstanding fees. You must also settle any pending negative invoices (credit notes). These occur when a refund or downgrade results in the actual consumption being less than the previously invoiced amount.
- Any remaining balance cannot be withdrawn after the account is closed. The system only supports forfeiting a small balance (up to USD 1,000 or the equivalent in your local settlement currency) or voiding a small debt (up to USD 10 or the equivalent in your local settlement currency) along with the account.
Back up data and credentials (as needed)
- Financial credentials: From the User Center, batch export all historical bills, orders, and invoices for auditing purposes.
- Business data: Back up all important business data, such as OSS files, RDS database backups, and ECS snapshots.
- Configurations and logs: Export critical configuration information and operation logs.

Clean up resources and dependencies

Release resources: Ensure that all pay-as-you-go resources are completely released, and all subscription resources have either expired or been unsubscribed. You can do this in each product's console.
Handle domain names and ICP filings
- Domain names: Transfer all domain names under the account to other accounts or service providers.
- ICP filing: Log on to the ICP filing system to cancel the website's ICP filing or transfer the ICP filing entity to another account.

Resolve multi-account relationships: If your account is part of a multi-account architecture, you must first dissolve the relationship.

Multi-account type	Administrator	Member account
Resource Directory	You cannot unregister directly. You must first shut down the resource directory and then perform the unregister operation.	You must use the management account to remove the member from the resource directory before you can unregister it. For more information, see Delete a member of the resource account type.
Finance trusteeship	You cannot close the account directly. You must first disassociate all member accounts and then start the closure process. For more information, see Associate or disassociate accounts for finance trusteeship.	See this topic.

If the account is associated with an Alibaba Cloud partner (reseller), contact your partner to cancel the relationship before you close the account.

Step 2: Start the closure process

Only the Alibaba Cloud account holder can start the account closure process. Resource Access Management (RAM) users cannot close an account.

Log on to the Account Center, go to the Security Settings page, and click Start deleting account under Close Account. In the Verify Identity dialog box, complete the identity verification using your email or a text message.
Carefully read the Alibaba Cloud Account Cancellation Agreement. If you agree to the terms, select the Agree checkbox and click Next.
System check and processing: The system automatically scans the resources and financial status of your account. This process may take 3 to 5 minutes.
Check passed
After the system check passes, you are prompted to log off. Click Confirm Logoff in the bottom-left corner to complete the process.
Blocking items found
The system lists all resources that you must handle, divided into two categories:
- Must Be Handled Manually: For items such as unexpired domain names, unsettled bills, or non-renounceable cloud resource instances, click Process next to the item and follow the instructions to complete the operation. Then, return to this page and click Re-check.
- Renounceable: For items that can be immediately released, such as a small balance or cloud service instances, select all Renounceable resources, and then click Discard/Release Selected Resources. In the risk prompt that appears, confirm and agree to the operation.
After all items are resolved and pass the system check, in the Confirm Deletion dialog box, select a reason for closure, and click Confirm Deletion.
Important
After you confirm the closure, the system automatically starts the process, and you cannot stop it. To avoid a closure failure, do not perform any operations with this account during this period. After the account is closed, all your resources in Alibaba Cloud are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Proceed with caution.

Step 3: Enter the silent period

Within about 5 minutes after you confirm the closure, the account enters the irreversible silent period and you are automatically logged out. During this period, the system creates a service-linked role named AliyunServiceRoleForAccountDeletion to help with resource cleanup. This role is deleted along with the account when the closure is complete. No action is required.
During the silent period, you can log on to the Alibaba Cloud official website to view the remaining time until closure. However, you cannot perform any other operations or revoke the closure request.

Important

After the silent period begins, unsubscribed resources and forfeited balances cannot be recovered. Proceed with caution.

Step 4: Confirm the unregistration result

After the silent period ends, you will receive a text message and email notification about the result.

Closure successful: The account and all its data are permanently deleted.
Closure failed: This is typically caused by a billing latency that resulted in new overdue payments during the silent period. In this case, the closure process is aborted, and the account is restored to its active state. You must log on again, settle the overdue payments, and restart the entire closure process.

Effects of account closure

Cannot log on: After an Alibaba Cloud account is closed, you cannot log on to the Alibaba Cloud website. To use Alibaba Cloud products again, you must register a new Alibaba Cloud account.
Resources and information cannot be recovered: After the account is closed, its resource instances, services, funds, bills, and invoices cannot be recovered.
Third-party accounts are not affected: Closing an Alibaba Cloud account does not affect your other accounts. However, any configured bindings to third-party accounts are automatically deleted.

FAQ

I have cleared all my resources. Why is there still a silent period?

A: Although you have released all resources, billing for some products can be delayed and a final bill might still be generated. The silent period is required to ensure all billing is finalized before the account can be closed.

Can I revoke the closure request during the silent period?

A: No, you cannot. Once the silent period begins, the closure process is irreversible. You must wait for it to end.