Container Service for Kubernetes:Billing FAQ

Total costs of ACK managed clusters

An ACK managed cluster incurs the following costs:

• Cluster management fee

  This fee is charged at the cluster level and applies only to ACK managed Pro clusters. By default, the cluster management fee is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis according to the number of clusters and their usage duration. You can also purchase a resource package to offset this fee.

• Lingjun node management fee

  If you use a node pool to manage Lingjun nodes, a Lingjun node management fee is charged.

• Cloud resource fees

  When you use an ACK cluster, you also use other cloud resources, such as ECS instances as nodes and EIPs for public network access. These resources are billed according to their respective pricing rules.

For more information, see Billing overview.

NAT Gateway and API server fees

• NAT Gateway

  A NAT Gateway provides public network access for your cluster. The costs include instance fees and Capacity Unit (CU) fees. The CU fees are charged based on the actual traffic. For detailed billing rules, see NAT Gateway billing.

  Note

  You can use the NAT CU Estimator to estimate your CU consumption.

• API server

  The Kubernetes API server is exposed via Classic Load Balancer (CLB) instances. Billing for CLB instances consists of:

  • Instance fee

  • Charges for Load Balancer Capacity Units (LCUs), which are based on actual traffic usage.

  For billing details, see CLB billing overview.

  Note

  Use the CLB LCU Estimator to estimate your LCU consumption.

Switching fees to subscription

By default, you are charged a cluster management fee for ACK Pro clusters on a pay-as-you-go basis. You cannot change the billing method of the cluster management fee to subscription.

For associated cloud resources, you can switch them to subscription by following these instructions.

Application restart failure with subscription data disks

The subscription billing method locks in a fixed computing resource. In containerized environments, resources are frequently restarted or destroyed, which means the computing resources cannot be fixed. In an ACK cluster, if you use a cloud disk volume where a cloud disk is mounted as a data disk to an ECS instance, you must not switch that disk to subscription. Doing so will prevent container applications from restarting, which in turn prevents application upgrades.

If you need to switch an ECS instance in your ACK cluster from pay-as-you-go to subscription, do not select the Switch to Subscription checkbox in the Data Disk section.

Billing during abnormal cluster states

For all cluster types, including Basic, Pro, and dedicated clusters, billing continues for associated resources like ECS and CLB until you release them.

For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Billing overview.

States with no management fees

A cluster management fee is charged only for ACK managed Pro clusters. No cluster management fee is charged for ACK managed clusters or ACK dedicated clusters.

When an ACK managed Pro cluster is in one of the following states, cluster management fees are no longer charged:

• Initializing

• Failed

• Inactive

• Unavailable

• Deleting

• Delete_failed

• Deleted (The cluster is no longer visible in this state.)

For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Billing overview.

Billing for unsupported versions

The cluster version does not currently affect billing. Billing continues based on the cluster's lifecycle state and the usage of its associated cloud resources. For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Cloud resource fees.

Cluster upgrade fees

The cluster upgrade process itself does not incur additional charges, and no other cloud resources are automatically created. However, if you manually create other cloud resources during the upgrade, you may be billed for them.

Pausing billing for unused clusters

ACK does not support stopping (hibernating) a cluster to pause billing.

To reduce cloud resource costs for temporarily idle clusters:

• Remove and release idle ECS nodes. For instructions, see Remove a node and Release an instance.

• Enable economical mode for temporarily unused ECS nodes. For instructions, see Economical mode.

• Review the cloud resources associated with your cluster, delete any that are no longer needed, and disable services that are not in use.

  Important

  Do not delete the CLB instance associated with the cluster's API server. This action will render the cluster unavailable and unrecoverable.

InvalidInstanceChargeType error when scaling out

By default, Alibaba Cloud International accounts without a credit control quota cannot create subscription nodes by using auto scaling or an API call.

• Method 1: Change the billing method (Recommended)
  Update the Billing Method of the node pool to Pay-As-You-Go. To change the billing method for existing nodes, go to the ECS console. For more information, see Switch the billing method from subscription to pay-as-you-go.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Method 2: Apply for a credit control quota
  If your business requires auto scaling with subscription instances, you must apply for an Alibaba Cloud credit control quota. For more information, see Manage credit control quotas.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Method 3: Check your account status and top up

  1. Log on to the Billing Center to check your account balance and ensure your available credit is greater than 0.

  2. If your account is associated with a reseller, confirm that the reseller's account is in good standing.

  3. Check the Message Center or your registered email address for relevant information and complete the 3D Secure authentication for your payment method if required.