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Elastic Compute Service:savings plans

Last Updated:Mar 22, 2024

A savings plan is a discount plan that provides savings over pay-as-you-go rates in exchange for a commitment to use a consistent number of resources for a specific period of time. After a savings plan takes effect, the savings plan applies to eligible pay-as-you-go instances to reduce Elastic Compute Service (ECS) bills. This topic describes the payment options and discounts of savings plans and provides examples on how savings plans apply.

Payment options

When you purchase a savings plan, you must select a payment option. The following table describes the payment options supported by savings plans.

Important

You can receive the savings provided by savings plans only when the savings plans match pay-as-you-go instances. Before you purchase savings plans, familiarize yourself with the characteristics of savings plans. For more information, see Overview.

Payment option

Description

Supported savings plan type

All Upfront

Full payment is required at the time of purchase, with no other costs or additional hourly charges incurred throughout the duration of the savings plan.

  • General-purpose savings plan

  • ECS compute savings plan

  • Elastic savings plans

Partial Upfront

Partial payment (approximately 50% of the full amount) is required at the time of purchase, and the remainder is paid at a discounted hourly rate throughout the duration of the savings plan.

  • General-purpose savings plan

  • ECS compute savings plan

No Upfront

No upfront payment is required at the time of purchase. You are billed a discounted hourly rate for every hour throughout the duration of the savings plan.

Note

Your ECS usage determines whether you can use the No Upfront payment option. You can submit a ticket to check whether you can use the No Upfront payment option.

  • General-purpose savings plan

  • ECS compute savings plan

Important

For a Partial Upfront or No Upfront savings plan, hourly fees are generated since the next hour after you purchase the savings plan. For an All Upfront savings plan that is not purchased at 00:00:00 and takes effect immediately, the rest of the day on which the savings plan is purchased is included in the duration of the savings plan free of charge. The fees for the rest of the day on which the savings plan is purchased are included in the total amount for a Partial Upfront or No Upfront savings plan and excluded in the total amount for an All Upfront savings plan. Savings plans with a higher upfront payment provide greater discounts.

You commit to a specific amount of hourly spend with ECS compute savings plans or general-purpose savings plans, and commit to a total spend for a period of time with elastic savings plans. You can use the following formulas to calculate the total amount for an ECS compute savings plan or general-purpose savings plan and for an elastic savings plan:

  • Formula used to calculate the total amount based on an hourly spend commitment: Total amount = Hourly spend commitment × 24 hours × 365 days × Duration. The duration of ECS compute savings plans and general-purpose savings plans is one or three years.

    Important

    Calculate hourly spend commitments based on savings plan prices. For more information, see Purchase and apply savings plans.

  • Formula used to calculate the hourly spend based on a total spend commitment: Hourly spend = Total spend commitment/Duration/30 days/24 hours. The duration of elastic savings plans is one year.

    Important

    No hourly spend commitments are made for elastic savings plans. The total spend commitment of an elastic savings plan is not used to cover your usage if no resources match the savings plan. The hourly spend commitment that is calculated based on the total spend commitment of the elastic savings plan is provided only for reference.

For example, you purchased a one-year savings plan with an hourly commitment of USD 0.1. The total fee is calculated by using the following formula: USD 0.1 per hour × (1 × 365 × 24) hours = USD 876. Payments based on the three payment options are made in the following ways:

  • All Upfront: The full amount of USD 876 is paid upfront at purchase.

  • Partial Upfront: 50% of the full amount, USD 438, is paid upfront at purchase. The remaining USD 438 is charged at a rate of USD 0.05 per hour on an hourly basis for the duration of the term, which is one year in this case.

  • No Upfront: No upfront payment is made at purchase. The total fee is charged at a rate of USD 0.1 per hour on an hourly basis for the duration of the term.

Discounts provided by savings plans

After a savings plan takes effect, it applies to cover your pay-as-you-go usage at the savings plan rate. Elastic savings plans provide a 10% discount off pay-as-you-go prices. General-purpose savings plans and ECS compute savings plans provide a higher discount rate than elastic savings plans. The discount provided by a savings plan varies based on the following factors:

  • The duration of the savings plan. A longer the duration of a savings plan indicates a greater the discount. Three-year savings plans provide greater discounts compared with one-year savings plans.

  • The payment option of the savings plan. Savings plans with a higher upfront payment provide greater discounts. All Upfront savings plans provide the greatest discounts, followed by Partial Upfront savings plans and then No Upfront savings plans.

  • The instance family of pay-as-you-go instances to which the savings plan applies.

  • The region of pay-as-you-go instances to which the savings plan applies.

  • The operating system of pay-as-you-go instances to which the savings plan applies.

Note

You can go to the Discount Details page in the Expenses and Costs console to view more information about the discounts provided by savings plans.

The following figure shows the discounts provided by savings plans.

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Examples

The following table provides examples on how savings plans apply in common scenarios.

Important

The prices in the examples are provided only for reference. The prices and discounts displayed on the Savings Plan product page prevail. For more examples, see Overview.

Pay-as-you-go instance

Savings plan

Hourly bill

  • Number of ECS instances: 15

  • Pay-as-you-go price: USD 1 per hour

  • ECS compute savings plans

  • Hourly spend commitment: USD 5 per hour

  • Savings plan price: USD 0.4 per hour

  • Number of ECS instances to which the savings plan applies: 5/0.4 = 12.5

  • Pay-as-you-go amount: (15 - 12.5) × 1 = USD 2.5

  • Total: 5 + 2.5 = USD 7.5

  • ECS Instance Family A

    • Number of ECS instances: 15

    • Pay-as-you-go price: USD 1 per hour

  • ECS Instance Family B

    • Number of ECS instances: 10

    • Pay-as-you-go price: USD 1.2 per hour

  • General-purpose savings plans

  • Hourly spend commitment: USD 10 per hour

  • Savings plan price of Instance Family A: USD 0.4 per hour

  • Savings plan price of Instance Family B: USD 0.8 per hour

  • Amount of the savings plan commitment used for Instance Family A: 15 × 0.4 = USD 6

  • Number of ECS instances of Instance Family B to which the savings plan applies: (10 - 6)/0.8 = 5

  • Pay-as-you-go amount: (10 - 5) × 1.2 = USD 6

  • Total: 10 + 6 = USD 16

  • First hour

    Number of ECS instances: 0

  • Second hour

    • Number of ECS instances: 5

    • Pay-as-you-go price: USD 1 per hour

  • Third hour

    • Number of ECS instances: 15

    • Pay-as-you-go price: USD 1 per hour

  • Elastic savings plans

  • Total spend commitment: USD 1,200, with an hourly limit of USD 10

  • Savings plan price: USD 0.9 per hour

  • First hour

    • Total: USD 0

    • Remaining amount of the savings plan commitment: USD 1,200

  • Second hour

    • Used amount of the savings plan commitment: 5 × 0.9 = USD 4.5

    • Total: USD 4.5

    • Remaining amount of the savings plan commitment: 1,200 - 4.5 = USD 1,195.5

  • Third hour

    • Number of ECS instances to which the savings plan applies: 10/0.9 = 11.11

    • Pay-as-you-go amount: (15 - 11.11) × 1= USD 3.89

    • Total: 10 + 3.89 = USD 13.89

    • Remaining amount of the savings plan commitment: 1,195.5 - 10 = USD 1,185.5

Note

When multiple savings plans match pay-as-you-go instances, the system works out an optimal scheme on how the savings plans apply.

References