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Container Service for Kubernetes:ACK One billing

Last Updated:Mar 26, 2026

ACK One charges fall into two categories: the ACK One platform fee (always free) and fees for the underlying Alibaba Cloud services your clusters use.

The following ACK One features are free of charge:

  • Multi-cluster management

  • Backup center

  • Registered cluster management

  • Workflow cluster management

When you use ACK One with other Alibaba Cloud services, those services are billed separately. Common examples:

  • Associated clusters: Associating clusters with master instances incurs charges for the associated clusters. See Billing and Billing of ACK Serverless clusters.

  • Backup center storage: The backup center uses Object Storage Service (OSS) buckets for YAML file backups, cloud disk snapshots for Alibaba Cloud disk volumes, and Hybrid Backup Recovery (HBR) for other volume types. Storage fees apply. See Billing, Snapshots, and Billing methods and billable items.

  • ECS instances: Using Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances incurs ECS charges. See Billing overview.

Cloud resource billing for registered clusters

No cluster management fee applies to registered clusters. Charges apply only when you use other Alibaba Cloud services. If your registered clusters do not use any of these services, no additional fees are incurred.

Alibaba Cloud serviceActivationSubscriptionResource planBilling rule
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)RequiredNot supportedNot supportedBilling
Classic Load Balancer (CLB)RequiredNot supportedNot supported

CLB pay-as-you-go billing

Container RegistryRecommendedNot supportedNot supportedBilling rules
Simple Log ServiceRecommendedNot supportedSupportedBilling overview
Managed Service for PrometheusRecommendedNot supportedNot supportedPay-as-you-go
Elastic Compute Service (ECS)OptionalSupportedNot supportedBilling overview
Auto ScalingOptionalNot supportedNot supportedBilling overview
Elastic Container InstanceOptionalNot supportedNot supportedBilling overview
  • VPC: Builds networks and creates routing rules for ACK clusters.

  • CLB: Creates CLB instances for the Kubernetes API servers of registered clusters.

  • Container Registry: Manages the lifecycle of cloud-native applications and secures container images.

  • Simple Log Service: Collects and queries log data for cluster components and applications. Resource plans are available — see Purchase a resource plan.

  • Managed Service for Prometheus: Monitors ACK clusters and generates alerts when exceptions are detected.

  • ECS: Adds new nodes to a node pool. Subscription billing is supported.

  • Auto Scaling: Automatically adds new nodes to a node pool.

  • Elastic Container Instance: Runs workloads as elastic container instances.

Cloud resource billing for multi-cluster management

No fee is charged for the multi-cluster management feature itself. Charges apply only when you use other Alibaba Cloud services. For example, if you use GitOps to manage associated clusters, ACK One creates a CLB instance (for GitOps API and UI access) and an elastic container instance with 2 vCores and 4 GB of memory.

Alibaba Cloud serviceActivationSubscriptionResource planBilling rule
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)RequiredNot supportedNot supportedBilling
Classic Load Balancer (CLB) — FleetRequiredNot supportedNot supported

CLB pay-as-you-go billing

Classic Load Balancer (CLB) — GitOpsOptionalNot supportedNot supported

CLB pay-as-you-go billing

Elastic IP Address (EIP)OptionalSupportedNot supportedBilling overview
Elastic Container InstanceOptionalNot supportedNot supportedBilling overview
  • VPC: Builds networks and creates routing rules for ACK clusters.

  • CLB — Fleet: When you create a Fleet instance, ACK One automatically creates a Standard I (slb.s2.small) CLB instance for API server load balancing.

  • CLB — GitOps: When you use GitOps to manage associated clusters, ACK One creates a CLB instance for GitOps API and UI access. This instance uses pay-as-you-go billing with pay-by-specification metering.

  • EIP: Provides public network access to the API server of the cluster.

  • Elastic Container Instance: When you use GitOps, ACK One creates an elastic container instance with 2 vCores and 4 GB of memory.

Cloud resource billing for workflow clusters

No cluster management fee applies to workflow clusters. Charges apply only when you use other Alibaba Cloud services.

Alibaba Cloud serviceActivationSubscriptionResource planBilling rule
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)RequiredNot supportedNot supportedBilling
Classic Load Balancer (CLB)RequiredNot supportedNot supported

CLB pay-as-you-go billing

Elastic Container InstanceRequiredNot supportedNot supportedBilling overview
Elastic IP Address (EIP)OptionalSupportedNot supportedBilling overview
Simple Message Queue (formerly MNS) (SMQ)OptionalNot supportedNot supportedBilling overview
Object Storage Service (OSS)OptionalNot supportedSupportedBilling overview
Simple Log ServiceRecommendedNot supportedSupportedBilling overview
Managed Service for PrometheusRecommendedNot supportedNot supportedPay-as-you-go
  • VPC: Builds networks and creates routing rules for ACK clusters.

  • CLB: When you create a workflow cluster, ACK One automatically creates a Standard I (slb.s2.small) CLB instance for API server load balancing.

  • Elastic Container Instance: Required for running workloads in workflow clusters.

  • EIP: Provides public network access to the API server of the workflow cluster.

  • Simple Message Queue (formerly MNS) (SMQ): Provides an event source for the eventing feature of the workflow cluster.

  • OSS: Provides an event source for the eventing feature of the workflow cluster. Resource plans are available — see Resource plans.

  • Simple Log Service: Collects and queries log data for cluster components and applications. Resource plans are available — see Purchase a resource plan.

  • Managed Service for Prometheus: Monitors ACK clusters and generates alerts when exceptions are detected.