Alibaba Cloud billing methods and cost optimization - The Beginner's Guide

Alibaba Cloud billing has two parts: billing items (what you pay for) and billing methods (how you pay).

Total cost = resource usage per billing item × unit price. Choose the right billing method to control your cloud costs.

Billing Methods

Alibaba Cloud offers pay-as-you-go and subscription billing. Subscription includes subscription instances, Savings Plans, and resource plans.

Billing Method		Definition	Features
Pay-as-you-go		Use resources first, then pay. Pay hourly or by the second.	Flexible to use, release anytime.
Subscription	Subscription	Prepaid, get stable service for a fixed period.	Exclusive resources, more cost-effective than pay-as-you-go.
	Savings Plan	Commit to a fixed-term spend for deeper discounts than pay-as-you-go.	Offset costs for different instances under the same product.
	Resource plan	Pre-purchase usage (storage, traffic) to offset pay-as-you-go costs.	Directly offset resource usage.

Pay-as-you-go

Pay-as-you-go charges by resource runtime, data volume, or request count. No upfront commitment required, but unit prices are higher.

Pay-as-you-go resources are billed per second, and billing details are generated hourly or daily. The monthly bill is issued on the 3rd of the following month.

Key considerations:

Hourly billing data may be delayed.
Billing stops when you release the resources.
When you release a primary instance, verify that associated resources (Elastic IP Addresses, snapshots) are also released. Use cost alerts and budget management tools to monitor expenses.

Subscription Instances

Prepay for a fixed duration at lower unit prices. Longer terms yield deeper discounts, with predictable costs and exclusive resource access.

Key considerations:

Resources stop and data is deleted upon expiration. Enable auto-renewal to avoid interruptions.
Refund amounts are calculated based on usage duration and applicable discounts.

Savings Plan

Commit to a minimum hourly spend for 1, 3, or 5 years to get discounted pay-as-you-go prices.

Deep discounts while preserving pay-as-you-go flexibility.

Key considerations:

Savings Plans do not support refunds. Confirm the offset scope before purchase.
You are charged the committed amount regardless of actual usage.
Usage exceeding the committed amount is billed at standard pay-as-you-go rates.

Resource Plans

A resource plan is a prepaid method that automatically offsets usage at prices lower than pay-as-you-go.

Two types:

Total volume: You define total usage at purchase. The allowance decreases over the validity period and resets to zero upon expiration.
Periodic usage: The allowance resets each period (hourly, daily, or monthly). Unused portions do not carry over.

Key considerations:

Allowances reset to zero upon expiration and cannot be carried over or extended.
Resource plans offset only specific products and billing items. Confirm the offset scope before purchase.
Some resource plans require specific conditions to take effect.
Cancellation support varies by product.

What are the differences between Savings Plans and resource plans?

A Savings Plan is spending-based: you commit hourly spend on compute resources (ECS, ECI, ApsaraDB RDS) without locking into specific instance types.

A resource plan is usage-based: you purchase a fixed quantity of storage or network resources (OSS storage plans, CDN data transfer plans) measured in gigabytes or offset counts.

Billing items

A billing item is the smallest metering unit for resources and services, each with its own metrics, billing cycle, and unit price.

Billing items are typically divided into two categories:

Basic billing items: Charges based on compute, storage, and network usage. Examples: instance type fees (ECS), storage fees (disks, OSS), data transfer fees (outbound Internet traffic, CDN), request fees (API calls), and compute fees (CPU/memory duration).
Value-added billing items: Fees for advanced capabilities such as image processing, transfer acceleration, and software subscriptions.

Billing items combine with billing methods to generate your bills. Final cost = usage of each billing item × unit price.

Choose a Billing Method

Choose a billing method based on your resource usage patterns.

Stable operations suit prepaid methods to lock in costs. Fluctuating operations suit pay-as-you-go for elasticity. Combine methods to balance cost and flexibility.

Stable Operations: Lock in Costs, Prefer Subscription Instances

Applies to long-running systems with fixed configurations (enterprise websites, core databases). Multi-year purchases receive higher discounts.

Elastic Operations: Flexible Cost Reduction, Recommend Savings Plans

Applies to scenarios with frequent configuration changes (iterating Internet applications, growing SaaS services). Balances discounts with upgrade/downgrade flexibility.

Fluctuating Operations: Elastic Response, Layered Cost Reduction

Applies to periodic load fluctuations (daytime peaks/nighttime lows, busy weekdays/idle weekends):

Base load: Use a Savings Plan to lock in costs.
Fluctuating portion: Use the pay-as-you-go method for on-demand scaling.

This balances cost optimization and resource efficiency, avoiding overpayment for peak loads or idle resources.

Burst Operations: Start and Stop on Demand, Zero Idle Costs

Applies to unpredictable traffic surges (sales promotions, marketing campaigns, hot spot events). Scale out before events and release resources immediately afterward — no prior planning, no idle costs.

Exploratory Operations: Flexible Experimentation, Pay on Demand

Applies to early-stage projects with uncertain usage (MVP validation, technology selection, POC testing):

Use pay-as-you-go. Start resources as needed, release when finished, and pay only for actual usage.
After validation, migrate to subscription instances or a Savings Plan for lower costs.

Storage and Data Transfer: Batch Purchase, Automatic Offset

Applies to stable, predictable usage (log storage, data backup, CDN data transfer). Estimate average monthly usage from historical consumption and purchase a matching resource plan. Offsets apply automatically.

Combination Usage Suggestions

In practice, most operations combine multiple billing methods:

Core stable load: Use subscription instances or a Savings Plan to lock in base costs.
Elastic scaling portion: Use the pay-as-you-go method to handle peak demands.
Storage and data transfer: Use resource plans for bulk purchases to get discounts.

FAQ

Pay-as-you-go

Why do I keep incurring fees on my account?

Pay-as-you-go resources are running on your account, possibly in a rarely used region or created by another account user. Check your resources:

View the Bill Overview page. Select a billing month to analyze your consumption by product.
Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Management Console. On the Overview page, check your cloud resources in all regions. Pay special attention to regions that you do not use often.

I created an ECS instance but never logged on to use it. Why am I still incurring fees?

Pay-as-you-go billing starts when a resource is created, regardless of login status. To stop charges, use the cost-saving shutdown feature or release the resource.

I have released my pay-as-you-go resources. Why am I still incurring fees and receiving bills?

Shutdown does not always stop billing. If fees continue after release:

Unreleased associated resources: Releasing a primary instance (e.g., ECS) does not release associated resources like Elastic IP Addresses (EIPs) or snapshots, which continue to incur fees.
Billing delay: Pay-as-you-go bills are generated hourly. Releasing a resource at 10:08 still generates a bill for the 10:00–11:00 cycle after 11:00.

Subscription

Which scenarios are suitable for purchasing subscription instances?

Subscriptions commit you to specific resource specifications for a fixed period at lower prices than pay-as-you-go. Resources shut down upon expiration. Best for clear budget planning and stable demand (e.g., 24/7 web services).

Savings Plan

Which scenarios are suitable for purchasing a savings plan?

Variable resource usage: Frequent ECS upgrades and downgrades (e.g., scaling before promotions) incur hidden costs under subscription. A Savings Plan with pay-as-you-go eliminates these switching costs.
Time-varying demands: When teams use different resources at different times (e.g., ECS by day, ECI by night), subscriptions waste capacity. A Savings Plan offsets both ECS and ECI pay-as-you-go fees, cutting total costs.

What are the advantages of a savings plan compared to subscription and resource plans?

A savings plan offers greater flexibility in resource usage while providing significant discounts.

Compared to subscriptions, a Savings Plan with pay-as-you-go lets you adjust resources freely without locking in specifications upfront.
Compared to resource plans, a Savings Plan offsets a broader range of services, improving flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

I want to purchase an ECS savings plan. Does the system provide recommended purchase plans?

If you have purchased ECS or ECI pay-as-you-go resources, go to the Savings Plan Purchase Plan Calculation page to view recommended configurations and evaluate suitable purchase plans. Enter the savings plan type, subscription duration, and payment method. The system automatically calculates optimization suggestions and the hourly committed spend. It also provides expected savings for your reference.

Can I continue to use the free trial after purchasing a savings plan? What if I want to use the purchased portion after 3 months?

After you purchase a savings plan, you can continue your free trial. The free trial applies first, and the savings plan offsets any usage that exceeds the trial quota.

After a savings plan takes effect, you are charged the committed amount even if you have no usage to offset. If you want to start using the savings plan after 3 months, you can specify the effective time when you purchase the plan.

How can I view the fees saved by a savings plan?

Go to the Savings Plan Overview page to view saved amounts, usage details, and coverage rates. Adjust your committed spend based on current usage and coverage data.

Can I set a stop time after a savings plan takes effect?

No, you cannot. A savings plan requires you to commit to a certain amount of spend over a period of time in exchange for lower prices.

Do savings plans support unsubscription? If so, how is the refund amount calculated?

Currently, savings plans do not support unsubscription.

I purchased a savings plan. Why am I still receiving pay-as-you-go bills?

After purchasing a Savings Plan, you may still receive pay-as-you-go bills if your instances fall outside the plan scope, offsetting rules limit coverage, or the plan has not yet taken effect. Troubleshoot as follows:

Scope mismatch: Verify the plan covers the service and billing items you are using.
Offset rules: Check the offset order and scope. Compute-optimized ECS plans, for example, are limited to specific regions and instance families.
Effective time: Confirm the plan has started offsetting fees.

If issues persist, review the Savings Plan documentation or contact customer service.

Resource Plans

Which scenarios are suitable for purchasing resource plans?

Resource plans offer discounted prices when you purchase a fixed amount of usage upfront. They suit storage and traffic products with clear budget planning and predictable consumption, while ensuring resource usage flexibility.

I purchased a resource plan. Why am I still receiving pay-as-you-go bills?

After you purchase a resource plan, if your pay-as-you-go bills are not offset, it may be for one of the following reasons:

Scope mismatch: Confirm the resource plan covers the service and billing items you are using.
Effective time: New plans may have a delay before offsetting begins. Check if the plan has taken effect for the current billing period.
Non-covered items: Resource plans only offset specific services (e.g., a transcoding plan cannot offset storage). Different plans cannot offset each other.
Unmet conditions: Some plans require specific configurations. For example, ApsaraVideo VOD data transfer plans require an accelerated domain name with pay-by-data-transfer billing enabled.

If issues persist, review the resource plan documentation or contact customer service.

Do resource plans support unsubscription? If so, how is the refund amount calculated?

Whether a resource plan supports unsubscription depends on the rules of the specific product.

Resource plans that support unsubscription fall into two scenarios: full refund for unused resources and partial refund.

For partial refunds, the refund amount is calculated as follows: Refund amount = Order payable amount - Consumed amount. The consumed amount is calculated based on the following rules:

For total usage resource plans, the consumed amount is linearly prorated based on usage.
For periodic usage resource plans, the consumed amount is calculated based on the actual usage duration.

Unsubscription Rules.