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Cloud Box:Billing overview

Last Updated:Jul 31, 2024

This topic describes the billable items of a cloud box and the billing methods, payment options, and payment methods of relevant resources.

Billable items

Resources in a cloud box can be divided into several types based on how they are used. The following table describes the billing details of each resource type.

Type

Resource

Description

Billing method

References

(Required) Alibaba Cloud services deployed with hardware devices of cloud boxes

(Required) Computing resources

vCPUs and memory resources are provided in stock keeping units (SKUs). You are charged based on the unit price, quantity, and subscription duration of the purchased SKUs.

Subscription

Computing resources

(Required) Elastic Block Storage (EBS) resources

Enterprise SSDs (ESSDs) are provided. You are charged based on the capacity, unit price, and subscription duration of the purchased ESSDs.

Subscription

EBS resources

(Optional) Object Storage Service (OSS) resources

OSS resources are provided. You are charged based on the capacity, unit price, and subscription duration of the purchased OSS resources.

Subscription

OSS resources

(Required) Network resources

Cloud boxes and cloud networks are connected by using Express Connect circuits. Express Connect circuits are deployed by Internet service providers (ISPs) and must be separately purchased. Only dedicated Express Connect circuits are supported. For more information, see What is Express Connect?

Separate billing

Billing overview

(Optional) Alibaba Cloud services that are deployed and consume resources in cloud boxes

Resources of Alibaba Cloud services such as Container Service for Kubernetes.

You are charged based on the billing rules of the purchased Alibaba Cloud services in CloudBox.

Pay-as-you-go

Documentation of each service.

(Optional) Alibaba Cloud public cloud services that manage resources in CloudBox

Resources of Alibaba Cloud services such as Security Center and Application Real-Time Monitoring Service

You are charged based on the billing rules of the purchased Alibaba Cloud public cloud services.

Subscription and pay-as-you-go

Documentation of each service.

Take note of the following items:

  • When you purchase a cloud box, you are charged only for the computing resources, EBS resources, and OSS resources.

  • When you purchase a cloud box, you must purchase at least one compute SKU and specific EBS capacity. The minimum EBS capacity that you can purchase is 12 TiB for an ESSD of performance level 0 (PL0). After you purchase a cloud box, Alibaba Cloud deploys hardware devices to your data center. When you purchase a cloud box, you purchase cloud service resources instead of hardware devices. The hardware devices of the cloud box belong to Alibaba Cloud.

  • When you use a cloud box, you are not charged for the purchased computing resources or storage resources. However, you are charged for other resources that you use. For example, when you create an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance in a cloud box, you do not need to pay for the instance type or cloud disks. However, you are charged for using ApsaraDB.

Payment

When you purchase a cloud box in the CloudBox console, you must pay for the cloud box resources such as computing resources, EBS resources, and OSS resources in advance. The following table describes the payment options and methods that you can use.

Item

Description

Payment option

  • All Upfront: You must pay all the fees at the time of purchase.

  • Half Upfront: You can first pay 50% of the fees and then pay the remaining fees by month.

    After you confirm the completion of a cloud box order, Alibaba Cloud generates an installment bill on the first day of each subsequent month. The first installment bill arrives in the month after your order completion confirmation. The amount of each installment bill is calculated based on the following formula: Outstanding payment/Number of months in your subscription duration. Make sure that you maintain a sufficient balance within your account and pay the bills at the earliest opportunity. If you do not pay a bill within seven calendar days after you receive the bill, your cloud box cannot run as expected.

Payment method

  • Bank card

  • PayPal

    When you start to use the pay-as-you-go resources that you purchase, Alibaba Cloud grants permissions to your PayPal account in advance.

Billing period

The billing period of a cloud box does not immediately start after you pay for the cloud box. After the payment is complete, Alibaba Cloud starts a delivery process to deploy hardware devices to your data center. The delivery process lasts for one or two months. After the hardware devices are deployed, you can complete the order. After the completion of the order is confirmed, the billing period of the cloud box starts.

Note

If you do not select the All Upfront payment option, Alibaba Cloud generates an installment bill on the first day of each subsequent month for the outstanding payment during the billing period. The amount of each installment bill is calculated based on the following formula: Outstanding payment/Number of months in your subscription duration.

Example:

You purchase a cloud box with a three-year subscription duration on January 1, 2021 and confirm the completion of the order on February 15, 2021.

Therefore:

  • Expiration date: 2024-02-15, which is calculated from the date of order completion confirmation based on the three-year subscription duration.

  • Billing period: from February 15, 2021 to February 15, 2024.

  • Billing cycle: The first installment bill is generated on March 1, 2021, the second installment bill is generated on April 1, 2021, and subsequent installment bills are generated on the first day of each subsequent month until the final installment bill is generated on February 1, 2024. A total of 36 installment bills are generated.

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Return

When you purchase a cloud box, you purchase cloud service resources instead of hardware devices. If you no longer require a cloud box, you can apply for a return. Alibaba Cloud reclaims the hardware devices of the cloud box. CloudBox supports the following return methods:

  • Do not renew a cloud box that expires.

  • Return a cloud box before it expires.

For more information, see Apply for a return.

FAQ

Q: I confirmed the completion of a cloud box order on March 21, 2021 and used the cloud box for only 10 days in March. Why is the bill received on April 1 a one-month bill instead of a 10-day bill?

A: After the completion of the order is confirmed, the billing period starts. The system automatically calculates the amount of each installment bill based on the outstanding payment and the number of months in your subscription duration. The amount of each installment bill is the same. Therefore, the bill you receive on April 1 represents the first installment rather than a separate charge for the 10 days of service in March.