Data Transmission Service (DTS) offers three billing methods: subscription, pay-as-you-go, and Serverless. Choose based on your workload duration and predictability. For billable items, see Billable items.
Choose a billing method
| Billing method | Supported instance types | Best for | Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Change tracking, data synchronization | Long-term, stable workloads | Pay upfront for a fixed term |
| Pay-as-you-go | Data migration, change tracking, data synchronization, data verification | Short-term or one-time tasks | Charged hourly based on instance class |
| Serverless | DTS serverless instance | Variable or unpredictable data volumes | Charged hourly based on actual resource usage |
Subscription
Subscription is a prepaid billing method. Pay upfront for a fixed duration.
More cost-effective than pay-as-you-go for long-term use.
Subscription instances cannot be manually released. If not renewed, the instance expires at the end of the subscription duration.
If a data verification task runs on a subscription synchronization instance, additional fees apply. See Billing of data verification tasks.
In the new DTS console, you can switch between subscription and pay-as-you-go in both directions. In the old DTS console, you can only switch from pay-as-you-go to subscription. Use the new DTS console. See Change the billing method.
If the source or destination database of a data synchronization instance is locked because of expiration, DTS can still connect to it. Release the DTS instance promptly to avoid additional fees.
Pay-as-you-go
Pay-as-you-go charges you hourly based on the instance class in your purchase order. Fees are deducted from your Alibaba Cloud account balance.
To reduce costs when an instance is no longer needed, release it. See Release DTS instances.
To switch a pay-as-you-go instance to subscription, see Change the billing method. Data migration instances cannot change billing methods.
If the source or destination database is locked because of expiration, DTS can still connect to it. Release the DTS instance promptly to avoid additional fees.
When billing starts and stops
Billing stops only when the instance fails, completes its task, or is released.
Data synchronization instances:
| Condition | Billed? |
|---|---|
| After the Incremental Data Collection module starts | Yes |
| While the instance is paused | Yes |
Data migration instances:
| Condition | Billed? |
|---|---|
| Incremental Data Migration not selected as migration type | No |
| After the Incremental Write module starts (Incremental Data Migration selected) | Yes |
| While the instance is paused | No |
Change tracking instances:
| Condition | Billed? |
|---|---|
| After the change tracking task starts | Yes |
| While the instance is paused | Yes |
Data verification tasks:
See Billing of data verification tasks.
The billing method of data migration instances cannot be changed.
Billing stops only when the instance fails, completes the task, or is released.
A paused data synchronization instance is still billed regardless of whether the source or destination database is reachable. A paused instance still consumes CPU and memory — DTS stops writing to the destination database but keeps reading logs from the source database so it can resume immediately when restarted.
Serverless
Serverless dynamically adjusts resource specifications at one-minute intervals based on actual workload. You are charged hourly based on resource usage, which makes it cost-effective for unpredictable or variable workloads.
Suitable scenarios:
Data volumes are large early on and level off over time.
Data volumes are unpredictable.
When billing starts and stops:
| Condition | Billed? |
|---|---|
| After the Incremental Data Collection module starts | Yes |
| While the instance is paused | Yes |
When the task is complete, release the instance to stop billing. See Release DTS instances.
If the source or destination database is locked because of expiration, DTS can still connect to it. Release the DTS instance promptly to avoid additional fees.