Cluster management fees for ACK Pro clusters are generated based on the number of clusters and usage duration. This topic describes the billing rules for cluster management fees.
Billing
The pay-as-you-go billing method is used to generate cluster management fees in ACK Pro clusters based on the number of clusters and usage duration. For more information about the hourly price for cluster management fees, see Price Calculator.
Billing cycle
Cluster management fees are billed on an hourly basis. At the start of each hour (UTC+8), Alibaba Cloud calculates the cluster usage of the previous hour to generate a bill, which is listed as ACK Pro Pricing in the billing item.
When the ACK Pro cluster is in the Running, Upgrading, Draining, Removing, or Updating state, the cluster is considered active, and fees will be generated. For more information, see cluster lifecycle.
You are not charged for the first and last billing cycles related to cluster creation and release. For example, if you create an ACK Pro cluster at 10:20:00 and release the cluster at 13:40:00, the cluster management fees are billed based on the following rules:
The first billing cycle is from 10:00 to 11:00. Since the cluster is created for less than an hour during this period, no fees are generated and no bill is issued.
The second billing cycle is from 11:00 to 12:00. Since the cluster is in normal use for one hour during this period, fees are generated and a bill is issued as expected.
The third billing cycle is from 12:00 to 13:00. Since the cluster is in normal use for one hour during this period, fees are generated and a bill is issued as expected.
The fourth billing cycle is from 13:00 to 14:00. Since the cluster is released during this period, no fees are generated and no bill is issued.
Bills are issued within 10 to 30 minutes after the cycle ends.
If the available credit of your account, including your Alibaba Cloud balance and vouchers, covers the bill, the bill amount is automatically deducted from your account.
If the available balance in your account is less than the pending bill, you are notified that your account has insufficient balance by email. Top up your account at the earliest opportunity to settle the outstanding bill and prevent any impacts on your business.
Billing examples
Example 1: No cluster management fees are generated
If you have an ACK Basic cluster, no cluster management fees are generated, and no related bill is issued.
Example 2: Use the pay-as-you-go billing method to generate cluster management fees in ACK Pro clusters
If you have an ACK Pro cluster in the China (Hangzhou) region, the hourly management fee for the cluster is USD 0.09. The following figure shows a billing example:
