Billing methods and billable items for RocketMQ instances - ApsaraMQ for RocketMQ

ApsaraMQ for RocketMQ supports subscription, pay-as-you-go, and serverless billing methods, each with different billable items and pricing rules. Choose the method that best matches your use case and business scale to optimize costs.

Supported editions

ApsaraMQ for RocketMQ is available in the following primary and sub-category editions.

Primary editions: Standard Edition, Professional Edition, and Enterprise Platinum Edition
Sub-category editions: Standalone Edition (no longer available for purchase) and Cluster Edition

For more information about the differences and use cases of each edition, see Instance selection.

Billing methods

ApsaraMQ for RocketMQ supports the following billing methods.

Billing method	Description	Best for	Supported editions
Subscription	You pay upfront for a computing specification for a specific period to use an instance. Other resources are billed based on actual usage.	Typically used for stable workloads with high traffic volume.	Standard Edition Professional Edition Enterprise Platinum Edition
Pay-as-you-go	After you create an instance with a selected specification, you are billed hourly for its runtime. Other resources are billed based on actual usage.	Typically used for early-stage testing or short-term workloads, such as special marketing campaigns and time-bound end-to-end stress tests. After testing, you can switch the instance to subscription billing for long-term use. For more information, see Change the billing method of an instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription.	Standard Edition Professional Edition Enterprise Platinum Edition
Serverless	All billable items are charged based on actual resource usage. A bill is generated and settled after each one-hour billing cycle ends.	Workloads with significant fluctuations between peak and off-peak hours, or where capacity is difficult to estimate.	Standard Edition Professional Edition

Is pay-as-you-go billing as reliable as subscription billing?

Yes. Pay-as-you-go instances are backed by the same Service Level Agreement (SLA) as subscription instances and deliver the same level of reliability. This billing method is well-suited for development and testing environments, short-term workloads, and production scenarios with unpredictable or highly variable traffic.

After testing, if you need to use the instance long-term, you can switch from pay-as-you-go to subscription billing. For details, see Change the billing method of an instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription.

Supported regions

Serverless instances are available in the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen), Singapore (Singapore), Germany (Frankfurt), US (Virginia), and US (Silicon Valley). Additional regions will be supported over time. For current availability, see Supported regions.

Billable items for non-serverless instances

ApsaraMQ for RocketMQ subscription and pay-as-you-go instances share the same billable items. The only difference is how the computing specification for messaging is charged:

Subscription instances: After you select a computing specification, you pay for the subscription duration (in months) in advance.
Pay-as-you-go instances: After you select a computing specification, you are billed for the instance runtime (in hours) on a post-paid basis. Billing starts immediately after the instance is created.

The billable items are as follows:

Billable items for serverless instances

Change billing method

Pay-as-you-go: You can switch from pay-as-you-go to subscription, but not vice versa.

For specific rules, see Change the billing method of an instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription.
Subscription: You cannot change to another billing method.
Serverless: You cannot change to another billing method.

Upgrade or downgrade instance configurations

Adjust an instance's configuration to match your business scale and traffic requirements.

For more information, see Upgrade or downgrade instance configurations.

Note

If you retain an old instance after creating a new one — for example, during a migration — the old instance continues to generate charges based on its specification and billing method, even if it is no longer in use. To avoid unnecessary costs, release or delete the old instance promptly after completing data migration and confirming that the new instance is operating as expected.

Frequently asked questions

How much does ApsaraMQ for RocketMQ cost per month?

There is no fixed monthly fee. Your actual cost depends on the following factors:

Edition: Standard Edition, Professional Edition, or Enterprise Platinum Edition
Instance specification: The computing specification tier you select for your instance
Billing method: Subscription, pay-as-you-go, or serverless
Actual usage: The volume of messages produced and consumed, as well as the amount of data stored

To estimate your costs based on billable items and pricing for your chosen billing method, see Billing of non-serverless (subscription and pay-as-you-go) instances and Billing of serverless instances.

To choose the edition that best fits your workload and business requirements, see Select a suitable edition.

What is the difference between RocketMQ 4.0 and 5.0 billing?

The key billing difference between 4.0 and 5.0 instances is the Topic occupancy fee:

4.0 instances: A daily Topic occupancy fee applies, charged based on the number of Topics created in the instance, in addition to other billable items.
5.0 instances: The Topic occupancy fee has been removed. You are billed based solely on hourly resource usage and other applicable billable items.

For detailed pricing of each version's billable items, see Billing of non-serverless (subscription and pay-as-you-go) instances.

ApsaraMQ for RocketMQ:Billing overview