This topic answers common questions about ACK billing.
Billing items
What makes up the total cost of using an ACK managed cluster?
The total cost of an ACK managed cluster includes three items:
| Billing item | Description |
|---|---|
| Cluster management fees | Charged per cluster. Only ACK Managed Cluster Pro Edition incurs this fee. Billed pay-as-you-go based on the number of clusters and their runtime. Purchase a resource plan to offset these fees. |
| Lingjun node management fees | Applies only if you manage Lingjun nodes using a Lingjun node pool. |
| Cloud product resource fees | ACK clusters use cloud resources such as Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances as nodes and elastic IP addresses (EIPs) for Internet access. These resources are billed according to their own pricing rules. |
For more information, see Billing overview.
What are the NAT Gateway CU fees and API Server LCU fees when I create an ACK cluster?
NAT Gateway
The NAT Gateway provides Internet connectivity for your cluster. Billing includes instance fees and capacity unit (CU) fees. CU fees are based on actual traffic usage. For more information, see NAT Gateway billing.
Use the NAT CU estimator to estimate your CU usage.
API Server
The Kubernetes API Server is exposed via Classic Load Balancer (CLB) instances. CLB billing consists of an instance fee and Load Balancer Capacity Unit (LCU) charges. LCU charges are based on actual traffic usage. For billing details, see Billing overview of CLB.
Use the CLB LCU estimator to estimate your LCU consumption.
Switch between billing methods
Can I switch cluster management fees and associated cloud product fees to subscription billing?
By default, cluster management fees for ACK Pro clusters are billed pay-as-you-go. The billing method cannot be changed to subscription.
To switch associated cloud product resources to subscription billing, follow the steps for each resource type:
| Cloud product resource | Steps |
|---|---|
| ECS instance | Single node: On the cluster's Nodes page, click the target instance ID to open the ECS console. Click Billing method, then click Switch from pay-as-you-go to subscription. Batch operation: On the ECS console instance list, select multiple ECS instances, click More, then click Switch from pay-as-you-go to subscription. For more information, see Switch ECS from pay-as-you-go to subscription. Node pool: The billing method set for a node pool determines how new ECS instances in that pool are billed. To change it, see Edit a node pool. |
| CLB instance | Not supported. |
| Other cloud product resources | Refer to the billing documentation for each product. |
When switching an ECS instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription, do not select Data Disk > Switch to Subscription. Subscription disks do not support containerized application restarts, which can prevent your workloads from restarting or upgrading. For details, see Why does switching a data disk to subscription prevent applications from restarting?
Why does switching an ECS instance's cloud disk to subscription prevent applications from restarting?
Subscription billing reserves a fixed compute resource. In a containerized environment, resources are frequently restarted or replaced, so compute resources cannot remain fixed. If a cloud disk is used as a persistent volume (PV) in your ACK cluster, it is attached to the ECS instance as a data disk. Switching that disk to subscription billing prevents containerized applications from restarting or being upgraded.
When switching an ECS instance in your ACK cluster from pay-as-you-go to subscription, do not select Data disk > Switch to subscription disk.
Purchase a Storage Capacity Unit (SCU) to reduce cloud disk costs without changing the billing method of individual disks.
Cluster status
How are associated cloud product resources billed when my ACK cluster is in a deleting or abnormal state?
All cluster types — Basic Edition, Pro Edition, and ACK dedicated clusters — continue to incur charges for associated resources such as ECS and SLB until those resources are released. This applies to clusters in the following states: Deleting, Delete failed, Inactive, and Unavailable.
For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Billing overview.
When does an ACK cluster stop incurring cluster management fees?
Only ACK Managed Cluster Pro Edition incurs cluster management fees. ACK Managed Cluster Basic Edition and ACK dedicated clusters do not.
For Pro Edition clusters, cluster management fees stop accruing when the cluster enters any of the following states:
| State | Code |
|---|---|
| Initializing | initial |
| Creation failed | failed |
| Inactive | inactive |
| Unavailable | unavailable |
| Deleting | deleting |
| Delete failed | delete_failed |
| Deleted (no longer visible) | deleted |
For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Billing overview.
My ACK cluster version has expired. Do I still pay for the cluster?
An expired cluster version does not affect billing. Check your cluster's lifecycle state and associated cloud product usage to determine whether billing continues. For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Cloud product resource fees.
Other
Does upgrading an ACK cluster incur extra fees?
No. Upgrading a cluster does not create new cloud resources, so no additional charges apply. If you manually create cloud resources during the upgrade, those resources are billed according to their own pricing rules.
My ACK cluster is idle. Can I pause billing?
ACK clusters do not support pausing billing by stopping or hibernating the cluster. To cut costs for an idle cluster, consider the following options:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Release idle nodes | Remove and release idle ECS nodes to stop paying for unused compute. See Remove a node and Release an instance. |
| Enable economical mode | Put idle ECS nodes in economical mode to reduce compute costs without removing them. See Economical mode. |
| Review associated resources | Delete unused resources and disable services you do not currently need. |
Do not delete the CLB instance associated with your cluster's API Server. Deleting it makes the cluster unavailable and unrecoverable.
Why do I get an InvalidInstanceChargeType error when scaling out a subscription cluster?
By default, international site accounts without a credit limit cannot create subscription nodes through Auto Scaling or OpenAPI. Use one of the following methods to resolve this:
| Method | Steps |
|---|---|
| Change the billing method (recommended) | Update your node pool's Billing Method to Pay-As-You-Go. To change the billing method for existing nodes, go to the ECS console. See Switch from subscription to pay-as-you-go. |
| Request a credit limit | If your business requires subscription-based Auto Scaling, request a credit limit from Alibaba Cloud. See Manage credit limits. |
| Check account status and top up | 1. Log on to the Fee Hub and verify that your available balance is greater than 0. 2. If your account is linked to a distributor, confirm that the distributor's account is in good standing. 3. Check your internal messages or registered email for instructions to complete 3D Secure authentication for your payment method. |