This topic describes the cost components of DLF, the scope, billing rules, and metering cycles of each billable item, and the available billing methods. It also links to detailed pricing information to help you understand your costs.
Cost components
DLF is billed per catalog. Costs include lake table storage fees, compute resource fees, cache fees, and network fees. Each item is billed based on its resource usage or the configuration in effect.
Charges for internet traffic and object tagging are currently waived. We will notify you in advance if these items become billable.
Billable items
Lake table storage fees
For detailed billing rules and unit prices, see Lake table storage fees.
Billable item | Description | Billing rule | Metering cycle |
Lake table storage capacity fees | Fees for table data stored in DLF managed storage. |
| Hourly |
Lake table data request fees | Fees for PUT and GET requests to access or manage files and objects in the DLF storage layer. Restoring Cold Archive data also incurs data retrieval request fees. | Charges are based on the request type and number of requests. | Hourly |
Data retrieval fees | Fees for retrieving Infrequent Access data, directly reading Archive data, and restoring Cold Archive data. | Charges are based on the retrieval type and volume of data retrieved. | Hourly |
Temporary storage fees | Fees for temporary copies created to access restored Cold Archive files. | Charges are based on the amount of data in temporary storage. | Hourly |
Compute resource fees
For detailed billing rules and unit prices, see Compute resource fees.
Billable item | Description | Billing rule | Metering cycle |
Compute resource fees | Fees for running lake table optimization and management tasks. Billable operations include compaction, snapshot and partition cleanup, orphan file cleanup, and bucket rebalancing. | Charges are based on the billing method and CU consumption. 1 CU = 1 vCPU + 4 GiB of memory. | Monthly for subscription; hourly for pay-as-you-go. |
Cache fees
For detailed billing rules and unit prices, see General-purpose cache fees and High-performance cache fees.
Cache fees are calculated separately and do not replace storage or request fees. If you also use compute engines or other services, the billing rules in effect for those services apply.
Billable item | Description | Billing rule | Metering cycle |
General-purpose cache fees | Fees for configured general-purpose cache capacity. | Charges are based on the configured capacity, not the amount of cached data or cache-hit traffic. You are charged for the configured capacity even when the cache is not full. | Hourly |
High-performance cache fees | Fees for configured high-performance cache capacity. | Charges are based on the configured capacity and billing duration for the selected region and cluster configuration. | Hourly |
Network fees
For detailed billing rules and unit prices for additional internal bandwidth, see Additional internal network bandwidth billing.
Billable item | Description | Billing rule | Metering cycle |
Internet traffic fees | Fees for data transfer over the internet. | Currently waived. | — |
Additional internal bandwidth fees | Fees for increasing the internal bandwidth quota for DLF data uploads or downloads. Upload and download bandwidth are priced separately. | Charges are based on the additional internal bandwidth quota that is activated and in effect, measured in Gbps, rather than the actual volume of data transferred. | Hourly |
Billing methods
Pay-as-you-go
By default, all billable items use pay-as-you-go billing: you pay after use with no upfront purchase. Catalog charges are calculated using the metering basis for each item. This method is suitable for fluctuating demand or short-term use.
General-purpose and high-performance caches are metered by configured capacity. Additional internal bandwidth is metered by the quota that is activated and in effect. If the configured capacity or quota remains unchanged, lower actual usage does not necessarily reduce the corresponding charges.
Hybrid billing
Compute resources also support subscription billing. If you purchase a subscription plan, usage is deducted from the plan first. Any excess usage is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.
This method combines the flexibility of pay-as-you-go billing with the cost benefits of a subscription. It suits workloads with a stable baseline and fluctuating additional demand, helping you balance cost and flexibility.
Impact of overdue payments
If your payment is overdue for up to 72 hours, your managed metadata and storage in DLF are unaffected. However, you cannot perform the following actions:
Create a new catalog.
Create new databases or tables, or modify existing tables.
Start a storage optimization task.
If your payment is more than 72 hours overdue, the system will further restrict your use of resources:
The system will stop all running storage optimization tasks.
The system will block calls to the metadata API.
If your payment is more than 360 hours overdue, the system will release and delete your resources:
The system will clear all metadata (including databases, tables, and partitions) and data from your account, and delete your catalog.
You will lose access to the console.
You cannot recover data from a deleted catalog, so back up important data in advance.