ApsaraDB for MongoDB:Billing methods

Billing method

Description

Subscription

• An upfront payment method. You pay for the instance when you purchase it.

• Subscription instances can be changed to pay-as-you-go instances. For more information, see Change the billing method from subscription to pay-as-you-go.

• Suitable for long-term use. Subscription is more cost-effective than pay-as-you-go, and longer subscription periods offer greater discounts.

Pay-as-you-go

• A pay-after-use method. A bill is generated each hour and fees are deducted from your Alibaba Cloud account based on the instance type and the peak storage capacity at the time of billing.

  • The billing cycle is 1 hour. Usage of less than 1 hour is billed as 1 hour.

  • If you change the storage capacity within a billing cycle, you are charged based on the peak storage capacity during that cycle.

    Example:

    During the 01:00:00 to 02:00:00 (UTC+8) billing cycle, if the storage capacity is 1 GB at 01:10:00, changed to 8 GB at 01:20:00, and then changed to 2 GB at 01:50:00, you are charged for 8 GB for this billing cycle.

  • Bills are typically generated within 1 hour after a billing cycle ends, and no later than 3 hours. The actual time is subject to the system.

    Example:

    The bill for the 09:00:00 to 10:00:00 (UTC+8) billing cycle is generated before 11:00:00.

  Important

  The billing cycle and invoice cycle for backup storage are different from those for instance types and storage capacity. Backup storage is billed and invoiced on a daily basis.

• Pay-as-you-go instances can be changed to subscription instances. For more information, see Change from pay-as-you-go to subscription.

• Suitable for short-term use. You can release instances when they are no longer needed to reduce costs. For more information, see Release an instance.

  Important

  After a pay-as-you-go instance is released, you are no longer charged for it.