ACK Edge clusters are billed across three cost categories: cluster management fees (Pro clusters only), node management fees (non-ECS nodes), and fees for any associated Alibaba Cloud services.
The billing examples in this topic are for reference only. Actual fees are subject to the prices on the purchase page in the console.
Billing overview
The following table compares the fees for each cluster type.
| Fee type | ACK Edge Pro clusters | ACK Edge Basic clusters |
|---|---|---|
| Cluster management fee | USD 0.090/hour per cluster (pay-as-you-go) | Not charged |
| Node management fee | USD 0.029/vCPU/day for non-ECS nodes | USD 0.029/vCPU/day for non-ECS nodes |
| Cloud service fees | Charged separately by each service | Charged separately by each service |
Cluster management fees
ACK Edge Pro clusters charge a management fee of USD 0.090/hour per cluster (pay-as-you-go). This fee covers the virtualization, storage, networking, and security capabilities built into the cluster. ACK Edge Basic clusters do not charge cluster management fees.
Node management fees
Node management fees apply to non-ECS nodes — such as Edge Node Service (ENS) instances, on-premises data center nodes, and IoT devices running on x86 or ARM hardware. ECS nodes are not charged.
What the fee covers:
Heterogeneous edge resource management (ENS instances, on-premises nodes, IoT devices)
Hybrid scheduling across x86 and ARM architectures
Integration with Container Service for Edge infrastructure
Billing rule: If a node is used for less than one day, usage is rounded up to a full day.
Example: A cluster has three nodes — one ECS instance and two ENS instances, each with 4 vCPUs. The daily node management fee is:
USD 0.029/vCPU/day × 2 non-ECS nodes × 4 vCPUs = USD 0.232/dayBy default, node management fees are charged on a pay-as-you-go basis. To reduce costs for stable workloads, purchase a resource plan to offset daily fees.
Pay-as-you-go
| Billing method | Price |
|---|---|
Pay-as-you-go | USD 0.090/hour per cluster |
| Pay-as-you-go | USD 0.029/vCPU/day |
Container Service Edge Node Resource Plan
Purchase a resource plan to offset pay-as-you-go node management fees. The plan provides a fixed daily credit that covers 500 vCPUs of edge nodes over 365 days.
After purchase, query usage and set quota alerts in the console.
Log on to the Expenses and Costs page.
The following steps use the new console as an example.
In the left-side navigation pane, select Account > Resource Plan.
Set Resource Dimension to Resource Packages, then set the Resource Plan Type filter to ACK Edge Resource Plan.
Click the
icon in the upper-right corner to customize columns. Click the 
icon to export the list as a CSV file.If needed, perform the following:
Query overall usage
On the Instance Summary tab, find the ACK Edge resource plan that you want to manage and click Statistics in the Actions column.
In the page that appears, you can view the information and usage of the ACK Edge resource plan. This includes the expiration time, remaining quota, and instance deduction details.
View usage details
Select the Usage Details tab.
Set the search criteria and click Search.
You can view the usage details of the ACK Edge resource plan. This includes the deducted amount, the ID of the cluster to which the deduction was applied, and the deduction period.
Set alerts for remaining quota
Click Quota Alert Settings in the upper right corner of the page.
In the dialog box that appears, find the ACK Edge resource plan, enable alerts, set a threshold percentage, and then click OK.
Cloud service fees
If you use other Alibaba Cloud services with your ACK Edge cluster, fees are charged separately by each service. If you don't use additional services, no extra fees apply.
| Cloud product | Type | Description | Subscription | Resource plan | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elastic Compute Service (ECS) | Required | Creates nodes for an ACK Edge cluster. | Supported | Not supported | Billing overview |
| Edge Node Service (ENS) | Optional | Adds edge nodes to an ACK Edge cluster. | Supported | Not supported | Billing overview |
| Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) | Required | Builds the network environment and routing rules for the cluster. | Not supported | Not supported | Product billing |
| Classic Load Balancer (CLB) | Required | Creates a load balancer for an ACK Edge cluster. | Not supported | Not supported | CLB billing overview and CLB product billing |
| Auto Scaling (ESS) | Required | Creates nodes and handles auto scaling for an ACK Edge cluster. | Not supported | Not supported | Product billing |
| Container Registry (ACR) | Recommended | Provides security hosting and full lifecycle management for cloud-native assets. | Supported. ACR Enterprise Edition instances support only subscription billing. See Billing of Enterprise Edition instances. | Not supported | Billing |
| Elastic IP Address (EIP) | Recommended | Enables communication between cloud resources and the Internet. | Not supported | Not supported | Billing overview |
| Elastic Container Instance | Recommended | Deploys clusters. | Not supported | Not supported | Billing overview |
| Service Mesh (ASM) | Recommended | Provides unified traffic management for applications across multiple clusters. | Not supported | Supported | Billing |
| Simple Log Service (SLS) | Recommended | Collects and retrieves logs for cluster components and applications. | Not supported | Supported. See Purchase resource plans. | Billing overview |
| CloudMonitor (CMS) | Recommended | Monitors the running status of cluster nodes and applications. | Not supported | Supported. See Overview. | Overview |
| Managed Service for Prometheus | Recommended | Monitors clusters and triggers alerts based on Prometheus. | Not supported | Not supported | Pay-as-you-go |
| NAT Gateway | Optional | Enables public network access and allows the cluster to pull images from the Internet. | Not supported | Supported. See NAT Gateway resource plans. | Billing of NAT Gateway |
| Security Center | Optional | Monitors security events and alerts for cluster applications at runtime. | Not supported | Not supported | Billing overview |
| File Storage NAS | Optional | Provides file storage for cluster applications. | Not supported | Supported. See Purchase resource plans. | Billing of General-purpose NAS file systems and Billing of Extreme NAS file systems |
| Object Storage Service (OSS) | Optional | Provides object storage for cluster application data. | Not supported | Supported. See Resource Plan Purchase Guide. | Billing overview |
| Key Management Service (KMS) | Optional | Manages application keys and enables encryption at rest for keys in Pro clusters. | Not supported | Not supported | Billing of KMS 1.0 |
| Cloud Backup | Optional | Provides backup, disaster recovery, and policy-based data archiving. | Supported | Supported. See Resource Plan Purchase Guide. | Billing methods and billable items |
| Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) | Optional | Builds private network channels between VPCs across regions and between VPCs and on-premises data centers. | Supported. Bandwidth plans support subscription billing. | Supported for bandwidth plans. See Use bandwidth plans. | Billing |
Billing cycle
ACK Edge fees are billed on a 24-hour cycle. Alibaba Cloud measures usage from the previous day, generates a bill, and deducts the amount from your account. Bills are typically generated within 8 to 10 hours after the billing cycle ends.
Example: If you delete an ACK Edge cluster on March 10, charges for March 10 (00:00:00–23:59:59) are recorded and appear on your bill on March 11. No charges appear on March 12.
Overdue payments
If your account balance is insufficient, your ACK Edge cluster enters an overdue payment state. You can no longer access the cluster's API server, but workloads on the nodes continue running.
If the payment remains overdue for more than 15 days, Alibaba Cloud suspends the service:
Associated nodes are removed from the cluster but not released.
The ACK Edge cluster and its container instances are deleted.
Container instances deleted as a result cannot be restored.
Refund policy
Pay-as-you-go billing does not support refunds.
View bills
For instructions, see View bills.
FAQ
Why did my daily bill suddenly increase or decrease?
Billing adjusts based on the total vCPUs of non-ECS nodes managed by the cluster. If you scaled nodes in or out, the new fee is reflected in the next day's bill.
If you removed a node by running kubectl delete node instead of using the Container Service console, that node may still be billed for the day it was removed. Always remove nodes through the Container Service console.
I deleted my ACK Edge cluster. Why was I still charged today?
The management fee is calculated for each full day (00:00:00–23:59:59) and charged the following day. If you deleted the cluster yesterday, charges for that day were already recorded and appear on today's bill. You won't be charged again tomorrow.
How do I stop billing for an ACK Edge cluster?
Delete all ACK Edge clusters in all regions. Back up your applications and data before deleting.
Are nodes in the NotReady state billed?
Yes. An ACK Edge cluster manages a node regardless of its status. To stop billing for a specific node, remove it through the Container Service console.