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    Cloud Backup:What are the billing rules for ECS File Backup Essential Edition?

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    Cloud Backup:What are the billing rules for ECS File Backup Essential Edition?

    Last Updated:Nov 18, 2025

    This topic describes the billing rules for ECS File Backup Essential Edition and provides billing examples.

    Billing rules

    The following table describes the billing rules for ECS File Backup Essential Edition.

    Billing

    Rule

    Description

    Billing dimension

    Total capacity of block storage attached to an ECS instance that has existing backups

    The total block storage capacity is calculated based on the total capacity of block storage attached to the ECS instance when the latest backup version before 00:00 (UTC+8) is completed. This is independent of the actual amount of file data on the ECS instance.

    Billing cycle

    Daily

    Billing starts after the first backup is completed. The daily fee is based on the total capacity of block storage attached to the ECS instance when the latest backup is completed before 00:00 (UTC+8) of the next day.

    • Block storage capacity attached after the daily backup is generated is not included in the current day's fee.

    • If a daily backup is skipped because the data volume is too large, you are still billed based on the total block storage capacity at the time the last valid backup was generated.

    Billing unit

    GiB/day

    None.

    Billing method

    • Pay-as-you-go

    • Resource plan

    The default billing method is pay-as-you-go. You can purchase resource plans to offset fees.

    Free quota

    100 GiB of block storage backup quota

    • The quota is shared across all regions between an Alibaba Cloud account and its RAM users under the same UID.

    • When you use ECS File Backup Essential Edition, the free quota is automatically applied before you are billed for the remaining capacity. You do not need to claim the quota manually.

    Billing examples

    Background

    Suppose you enable the Cloud Backup service and use ECS File Backup Essential Edition to back up two ECS instances: ECS instance A in the China (Hangzhou) region and ECS instance B in the China (Beijing) region. The backups are scheduled for 05:00 daily. The total block storage capacity attached to ECS instance A is 80 GiB, and the total block storage capacity attached to ECS instance B is 120 GiB.

    Analysis

    The following table describes the billing formula, remaining free quota, and daily fee details for different scenarios.

    Use case

    Billing formula

    Remaining free quota (GiB)

    Daily fee details

    Back up only instance A

    Unit price of ECS File Backup Essential Edition × Total block storage capacity of instance A

    20

    • Total block storage capacity is 80 GiB.

    • The free quota covers the total block storage capacity of the instance. No extra pay-as-you-go bill is generated.

    Back up only instance B

    Unit price of ECS File Backup Essential Edition × Total block storage capacity of instance B

    0

    • Total block storage capacity is 120 GiB.

    • The 100 GiB free quota is applied. The remaining 20 GiB is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

    Back up both instance A and instance B

    Unit price of ECS File Backup Essential Edition × (Total block storage capacity of instance A + Total block storage capacity of instance B)

    0

    • Total block storage capacity is 200 GiB.

    • The 100 GiB free quota is applied based on the billing order of the instances. The remaining 100 GiB is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

    Back up both instance A and instance B, and a 100 GiB/month resource plan is purchased

    Unit price of ECS File Backup Essential Edition × (Total block storage capacity of instance A + Total block storage capacity of instance B - Block storage capacity of the resource plan) + Resource plan price

    0

    • Total block storage capacity is 200 GiB.

    • The 100 GiB free quota is applied based on the billing order of the instances. The remaining 100 GiB is offset by the resource plan. No extra pay-as-you-go bill is generated.

    Back up only instance A, and a 60 GiB disk is attached to instance A before the daily backup

    Unit price of ECS File Backup Essential Edition × (Total block storage capacity of instance A + Capacity of the newly attached disk)

    0

    • Total block storage capacity is 140 GiB.

    • The 100 GiB free quota is applied. The remaining 40 GiB is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

    Back up only instance A, and a 60 GiB disk is attached to instance A after the daily backup is completed

    Unit price of ECS File Backup Essential Edition × Total block storage capacity of instance A

    20

    • Total block storage capacity is 80 GiB.

    • The free quota covers the total block storage capacity of the instance.

    • For the next daily backup, the total block storage capacity is 140 GiB (80 GiB + 60 GiB). The 100 GiB free quota is applied, and the remaining 40 GiB is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

    Back up only instance B, and a 20 GiB disk is detached from instance B before the daily backup

    Unit price of ECS File Backup Essential Edition × (Total block storage capacity of instance B - Capacity of the detached disk)

    0

    • Total block storage capacity is 100 GiB.

    • The free quota covers the total block storage capacity of the instance.

    Back up only instance B, and a 20 GiB disk is detached from instance B after the daily backup is completed

    Unit price of ECS File Backup Essential Edition × Total block storage capacity of instance B

    0

    • Total block storage capacity is 120 GiB.

    • The 100 GiB free quota is applied. The remaining 20 GiB is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

    • For the next daily backup, the total block storage capacity is 100 GiB (120 GiB - 20 GiB). The 100 GiB free quota is applied, and no extra pay-as-you-go bill is generated.