Auto Scaling and associated resource billing - Auto Scaling

Billing for associated services and resources

The primary cloud services and resources associated with Auto Scaling include ECS instances, ECI instances, SLB, ApsaraDB RDS, CloudMonitor, and Simple Message Queue (formerly MNS). The following table lists billable items and billing methods.

Service or resource	Billable items	Billing method	Billing rules
ECS instance	ECS instance charges in a scaling group can include compute resources (instance type), images, block storage, public bandwidth, and snapshots. Important After a subscription instance or a pay-as-you-go instance with Economical Mode disabled is stopped, you are still charged for other ECS resources, such as paid images, cloud disks, public bandwidth, and snapshots. After a pay-as-you-go instance with Economical Mode enabled is stopped, its paid images, cloud disks, and snapshot resources are retained and continue to be billed. If the instance is bound to an elastic IP address (EIP) that is not unbound before the instance is stopped, you are still charged for the EIP.	Subscription, pay-as-you-go, and spot instances.	ECS instance billing overview
ECI instance	ECI instance charges in a scaling group can include compute resources, image cache, data cache, and temporary storage. Note You may also incur charges for network and storage services depending on your requirements.	Pay-as-you-go, including spot instances.	ECI billing overview
SLB	Create and pay for an SLB instance before associating it with a scaling group. Charges can include instance usage, specifications, and public network fees.	pay-as-you-go.	SLB billing overview
ApsaraDB RDS	Create and pay for an ApsaraDB RDS instance before associating it with a scaling group. Charges can include instance type, storage, and performance monitoring.	Subscription, pay-as-you-go, or Serverless.	ApsaraDB RDS billing overview

Expiration and overdue payments

When an associated resource expires or your account has an overdue payment, instances in the scaling group are affected. The following table describes the consequences.

Important

Auto Scaling immediately removes or releases any stopped instance from its scaling group, regardless of site. To prevent service interruptions, maintain a sufficient account balance.

Service or resource	Billing method	Consequences	Recommended actions
ECS instance	Subscription	Expiration: If you do not renew an instance before it expires, the ECS instance is stopped 15 days after expiration by default and enters the Expired state. Auto Scaling immediately removes the instance, and the ECS instance becomes unavailable. Subscription. Overdue payment: If your account has an insufficient balance, you cannot purchase new ECS instances, upgrade instance configurations, renew orders, or perform other billing-related operations. Auto Scaling also cannot automatically create new ECS instances. Note Mixed billing refers to subscription ECS instances that include pay-as-you-go services. After an instance with mixed billing expires, it is restricted and stopped on Day 15 after expiration by default. Auto Scaling removes the resource immediately after the ECS instance stops.	Enable auto-renewal and maintain a sufficient account balance to retain all resources. How to renew a subscription instance Auto-renewal
ECS instance	Pay-as-you-go	If a payment is overdue, the ECS instance is restricted and stopped 15 days after the payment is overdue by default. Billing for the related ECS resources is suspended, and the stopped instance in the scaling group is considered an unhealthy instance. After a payment is overdue, Auto Scaling cannot create new ECS instances and automatically removes or releases unhealthy instances by default. Overdue payments for pay-as-you-go ECS resources. If a stopped ECS instance was automatically created by Auto Scaling, or was manually added to the scaling group with its lifecycle managed by the group, Auto Scaling removes and releases the unhealthy ECS instance. If a stopped ECS instance was manually added to the scaling group but its lifecycle is not managed by the group, Auto Scaling only removes but does not release the unhealthy ECS instance. Note By default, pay-as-you-go instances with overdue payments are not released.	Recharge your account to settle outstanding bills, then restart the instance. Auto Scaling immediately restores the ECS instance to normal operation in the scaling group. Start an instance.
ECI instance	Pay-as-you-go	If your account has an overdue payment, the ECI instance is immediately released. ECI overdue payments.	Recharge your account and settle outstanding bills promptly.
SLB	Subscription, pay-as-you-go	The service is not immediately stopped after the instance expires or has an overdue payment. Renew promptly to avoid service interruptions. SLB overdue payments.	Note Pay-as-you-go instances are billed by usage time and do not require renewal. Just recharge your account in the Alibaba Cloud Management Console.
ApsaraDB RDS	Subscription, pay-as-you-go	After an instance expires or has an overdue payment, you can unlock or rebuild it within a certain period. Overdue payments.

Billing FAQ

Auto Scaling itself is free — you pay for associated cloud services and resources. Auto Scaling billing.