If you no longer need your Alibaba Cloud account, you can close it at any time. Follow the instructions in this topic to do so.
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. You will no longer be able to use this account to sign in to any Alibaba Cloud services.
Process and timeline overview
Closing an account is a multi-stage process. It involves manual preparation by the user, an automatic system check, and a final silent period.
Prepare before you start: In this critical, user-led phase, you must settle all payments, back up data, release resources, and resolve dependencies. Being thorough in this step will help the next steps go more 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, and preventing the closure from failing due to unexpected overdue payments.
Confirm the closure result: After the silent period ends, the account is either permanently deleted, or—if a problem is detected—restored to an active state. You'll be notified to restart the process.
The total estimated 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 for several days.
Accounts with workloads: Expect to spend 2–5 business days on preparatory tasks like data backup and resource migration before you start the closure process, followed by a silent period of several days.
With or without workloads, handling domain transfers and ICP Filing cancellations requires an additional 7–15 business days.
The silent period is required to accommodate billing system latency and cannot be revoked or shortened.
After the silent period begins, unsubscribed resources and forfeited balances cannot be recovered. Proceed with caution.
Step 1: Prepare before you start
In this stage, ensure your account meets all of the following conditions. The system will halt the process if any condition is not met.
Review the checklist
Settle finances
Settle overdue payments: Go to the User Center, check and pay all issued bills and outstanding fees. You must also handle any credit notes. A credit note is generated when a refund for an unsubscribed or downgraded order or bill results in the actual consumption amount being less than the original invoiced amount.
Any remaining balance cannot be withdrawn after the account is closed. The system only supports forfeiting a small balance (1,000 USD or 1,000 in your settlement currency or less) or voiding a small debt (10 USD or 10 in your settlement currency or less) along with the account.
Back up data and credentials
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 Object Storage Service (OSS) files, Relational Database Service (RDS) backups, and Elastic Compute Service (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, the required actions depend on whether it is an administrator or a member account.
Multi-account type
Administrator
Member account
Resource directory
You cannot close the account directly. First disable the resource directory, and then close the account.
You must use the management account to remove this member from the Resource Directory before you can proceed with closing the account. See Delete a member of the resource account type for details.
Finance trusteeship
You cannot close the account directly. You must first remove all member accounts and then initiate the closure. See Associate or disassociate accounts for finance trusteeship.
See the present topic.
If the account is associated with an Alibaba Cloud partner (reseller), contact your partner to cancel the relationship before attempting to close the account.
Step 2: Start the closure process
Only the Alibaba Cloud account can start the 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 Close Account. In the Identity Verification dialog box, verify your identity using your mailbox or a text message.
Carefully read the Alibaba Cloud Account Cancellation Agreement. If you agree, select Agree and click Next.
System check and processing: The system automatically scans the resources and financial status of your account. This process may take 3–5 minutes.
Check passed
If the system check passes, you will be prompted that the account is ready for closure. Click Confirm Deletion in the lower-left corner to proceed to the final step.
Blocking items found
The system lists all resources that you must manage, 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 Recheck.
Renounceable: For items that can be immediately released, such as a small balance or cloud service instances, select all resources and click Discard/Release Selected Resources. In the risk prompt that appears, confirm the operation.
NotePlease be aware that you cannot withdraw any remaining balance after the account is closed. Proceed with caution.
After all items are resolved and pass the system check, select a reason for closure in the dialog box and click Confirm Deletion.
Step 3: Enter the silent period
After you confirm the closure, the account enters the irreversible silent period in about 5 minutes and you are automatically logged out. Wait for this process to complete. During this period, the system creates a service-linked role named
AliyunServiceRoleForAccountDeletionto help with resource cleanup. This role is deleted along with the account when the closure is complete. No additional action is needed.
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.
After the silent period begins, unsubscribed resources and forfeited balances cannot be recovered. Proceed with caution.
Step 4: Confirm the closure 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 resulted in new overdue payments during the silent period. In this case, the closure process is aborted, and the account is restored to its normal status. You must log on again, settle the overdue payments, and restart the 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 again, you must create an 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
About the silent period
Q: 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, so a final bill might still be generated. This requires a silent period to finalize before the account can be closed.
Q: Can I revoke the closure request during the silent period?
A: No. Once the silent period begins, the closure process is irreversible. You must wait for it to end.