Savings plan FAQ
What is a savings plan?
A savings plan is a discount program that offers lower pay-as-you-go rates in exchange for a commitment to a consistent amount of resource usage (measured in USD/hour) for a 1-year or 3-year term. After you purchase a savings plan, the plan covers your hourly pay-as-you-go usage up to your commitment amount at the discounted rate. For more information, see What is a savings plan?
What are the features of a savings plan?
Flexible purchase: Starts at USD 0.01/hour and is free from pricing restrictions. Supports installment payments with no entry barrier to help optimize your cash flow.
Cost optimization: Significantly reduces the cost of pay-as-you-go resources with discounts of up to 76%.
Simplified management: A single plan can cover pay-as-you-go instances of products such as ECS and ECI across multiple regions, instance families, and accounts.
What is the hourly commitment of a savings plan?
When you purchase a savings plan, you commit to a specific amount of spending for a specific term. Your hourly commitment is the minimum usage that you commit to, measured in USD per hour. Hourly bills up to this amount receive an exclusive discount and are covered by the savings plan. When your hourly bill is less than your hourly commitment, your payment depends on the plan's payment option. For a Partial Upfront plan, you pay 50% of your hourly commitment. For a No Upfront plan, you pay 100% of your hourly commitment. For more information about how to select an appropriate hourly commitment value, see Purchase and use savings plans.
The hourly commitment is the upper limit of pay-as-you-go bills that a savings plan can cover. Within this limit, your pay-as-you-go bill is first discounted and then covered by the plan. For example:
The prices in the following example are for reference only. The actual price is displayed on the purchase page.
The pay-as-you-go price for an ecs.c5.large instance type in the Hangzhou region is USD 0.106/instance/hour, and for the ecs.c5 instance family under a 1-year, all-upfront, general-purpose savings plan, the pay-as-you-go price is discounted to 42.2%. Assume that you select an hourly commitment of USD 1. Then, the number of ecs.c5.large instances that can be covered by this savings plan per hour is: 1/(0.106 × 0.422) = 22.35 instances.
How does a savings plan work when the number of covered instances is not an integer?
Suppose your savings plan covers 38.22 instances per hour. This means that if you run 39 instances, the bill for one of those instances is 22% covered by the savings plan, while the remaining 78% is charged at the pay-as-you-go rate. However, if you run only 38 instances, the commitment for the remaining 0.22 instances is wasted for that hour.
What types of savings plans are there?
Alibaba Cloud offers two types of savings plans:
General-purpose
Covers the pay-as-you-go bills of services such as ECS and ECI. General-purpose savings plans automatically apply to matching pay-as-you-go instances, with no restrictions on region, instance family, instance size, or operating system.
ECS Compute
Covers the pay-as-you-go bills of ECS instances. ECS Compute savings plans apply only to a single region and a specific instance family, but have no restrictions on instance size or operating system.
General-purpose savings plans are more flexible than ECS Compute savings plans. However, ECS Compute savings plans offer higher discounts and greater cost savings. For more information, see What is a savings plan?
What payment methods do savings plans support?
Savings plans support three payment methods: all upfront, partial upfront, and no upfront. The discount varies based on the subscription duration and payment method. The 3-year, all upfront option offers the best discount, followed by the 3-year partial upfront, 3-year no upfront, 1-year all upfront, 1-year partial upfront, and 1-year no upfront options, in that order. For more information, see What is a savings plan?
Where can I find the recommendation and purchase pages for savings plans?
Method 1
You can visit the Savings Plan purchase page to make a purchase. You can also visit the Savings Plan recommendation page to obtain recommendations. The system automatically recommends a suitable savings plan for you based on the criteria that you select, such as reference usage data, savings plan type, and payment method.
Method 2
You can go to ECS Console - Savings Plan.
How do I query the discounts for a savings plan?
You can visit the Savings Plan Pricing page and set the properties of the savings plan to view the corresponding pay-as-you-go discounts.
How do I check the cost savings after purchasing a savings plan?
You can go to the Savings Plan Overview page to view your cost savings after purchasing savings plans, including cumulative savings, savings for the current year, and savings for the current month.
Can I have multiple active savings plans at the same time?
Yes, you can. You can use multiple savings plans at the same time. The system automatically applies the plan that provides the optimal discount.
Can I purchase reserved instances after purchasing a savings plan?
Yes, you can. However, when covering the cost of pay-as-you-go instances, reserved instances are applied before savings plans.
Can I purchase SCUs after purchasing a savings plan?
Yes, you can. However, when covering the cost of pay-as-you-go instances, Storage Capacity Units (SCUs) are applied before savings plans.
If I upgrade an instance type, can it still be covered by a savings plan?
Whether the upgraded instance can be covered depends on the type of savings plan you purchased. Savings plans can cover multiple instance types and can be combined. If the new instance type is not covered by your current savings plan, you can purchase another savings plan that covers the new instance type.
Do savings plans provide inventory reservation?
No, they do not. Savings plans do not reserve resources. When you purchase a savings plan, you do not specify resources, so inventory cannot be reserved.
Do savings plans offer discounts for spot instances?
No, they do not. Savings plans do not cover spot instances.
What happens when a savings plan expires?
When a savings plan expires, you no longer receive the discount it provides. The pay-as-you-go instances that were covered by the plan will be billed at the normal pay-as-you-go rate. The instances will not be released, and your services will not be affected.
Reserved instance FAQ
Do reserved instances provide inventory reservation?
When you purchase a zonal reserved instance, the system reserves instance inventory that matches the reserved instance. When you purchase a regional reserved instance, inventory is not reserved.
What operating systems do reserved instances support?
Reserved instances can cover the pay-as-you-go bills of Linux and Windows instances. For example, if you purchase a reserved instance for the Linux operating system, it can be applied to any Linux instance, regardless of how the image was imported (public image, custom image, shared image, or Alibaba Cloud Marketplace image).
If your pay-as-you-go instance uses a Bring Your Own License (BYOL) image and you want to use a reserved instance to offset your bill, you must submit a ticket.
Which instance families can use reserved instances?
The instance families that support reserved instances are listed on the reserved instance purchase page.
To learn how to purchase a reserved instance, see Purchase a reserved instance.
For more information about instance families, see Instance families.
Can reserved instances cover the bills of spot instances?
No, they cannot.
Can I modify the instance family of a reserved instance?
No, you cannot.
In what scenarios should I purchase zonal reserved instances?
You can purchase a zonal reserved instance when you have a clear need for inventory reservation.
In what scenarios should I purchase regional reserved instances?
You can purchase a regional reserved instance if you do not need inventory reservation but want to use the reserved instance to cover pay-as-you-go instance bills more flexibly. For example, if you need better zone flexibility and instance size flexibility.
How is the zone flexibility of a reserved instance applied?
Only regional reserved instances support zone flexibility. The following example shows how it works:
You have the following running pay-as-you-go instance:
One Linux instance, ecs.c5.xlarge, in China (Qingdao) Zone B. Its name is C5PAYG-b.
You purchase the following reserved instance:
One regional reserved instance, ecs.c5.xlarge, in China (Qingdao). Its name is C5RI.
After the purchase, C5RI matches C5PAYG-b and covers the bill for C5PAYG-b.
Due to business needs, you release C5PAYG-b and launch an identical instance named C5PAYG-c in Zone C. The reserved instance then matches C5PAYG-c and covers the bill for C5PAYG-c.
How is the instance size flexibility of a reserved instance applied?
Only regional reserved instances support instance size flexibility. The following examples show how it works:
Your account has a regional reserved instance of the ecs.g5.4xlarge instance type. It can cover one ecs.g5.4xlarge pay-as-you-go instance, two ecs.g5.2xlarge pay-as-you-go instances, or four ecs.g5.xlarge pay-as-you-go instances.
Your account has a 1-year regional reserved instance of the ecs.g5.xlarge instance type. It can cover the bill for one ecs.g5.xlarge pay-as-you-go instance per hour for one year. Alternatively, it can cover 50% of the bill for one ecs.g5.2xlarge pay-as-you-go instance per hour for one year.
Can a zonal reserved instance be changed to a regional reserved instance?
Yes, it can. After you purchase a reserved instance, you can modify its scope at any time. The modifications include the following:
Change the scope from zonal to regional.
Change the scope from regional to zonal.
For a zonal reserved instance, change the zone within the same region.
Can I modify the region of a reserved instance?
No, you cannot. For example, if you have a zonal reserved instance in China (Hangzhou) Zone B, you can change it to a zonal reserved instance in another zone within the China (Hangzhou) region, or change it to a regional reserved instance in the China (Hangzhou) region. You cannot change its scope to another region or a zone in another region.
Can reserved instances be used across accounts?
No, they cannot.
If you are an enterprise user, Alibaba Cloud allows a reserved instance to be shared among multiple accounts. You can enable the Benefit Asset Sharing feature in the Alibaba Cloud account where you enabled Enterprise Account Center. This shares the reserved instance with other Alibaba Cloud accounts. For more information, see Share a reserved instance among multiple accounts.
Can reserved instances cover the storage and network bills of pay-as-you-go instances?
No, they cannot. A reserved instance covers the bills for the computing resources (vCPUs and memory) of a pay-as-you-go instance. A Windows reserved instance can also cover the bill for the image.
Can I control which specific instances are covered by a reserved instance?
No, you cannot. When you have multiple instances that meet the criteria, the system automatically applies the reserved instance based on an optimized matching scheme.
How are reserved instances billed?
Reserved instances are billed separately. They support multiple payment methods: all upfront, partial upfront, and no upfront.
After purchase, the term of the reserved instance begins. You must pay the fees according to the payment method for the entire term, regardless of whether it is matched with a pay-as-you-go instance. Choosing the all upfront option results in greater cost savings. For more information, see What is a reserved instance?
How is the effective time calculated after a reserved instance is purchased?
After a successful purchase, the effective time of a reserved instance is calculated on the hour. Billing starts from the effective time. The expiration time is 00:00:00 on the day after the expiration date. For example:
You purchase a reserved instance with a 1-year term that takes effect immediately at 13:45:00 on February 26, 2019. The effective time and billing start time is 13:00:00 on February 26, 2019. The expiration time is 00:00:00 on February 27, 2020. If you already have a matching instance when you purchase the reserved instance, the discount is applied starting from the hourly bill for 13:00–14:00 on February 26, 2019, until the reserved instance expires.
You purchase a reserved instance with a 1-year term at 13:45:00 on February 26, 2019, and specify it to take effect at 00:00:00 on March 1, 2019. The effective time and billing start time is 00:00:00 on March 1, 2019. The expiration time is 00:00:00 on March 1, 2020. If you already have a matching instance when you purchase the reserved instance, the discount is applied starting from the bill for 00:00 on March 1, 2019, until the reserved instance expires.
How is the effective time calculated after a reserved instance is modified, split, or merged?
If you modify, split, or merge a reserved instance, a new reserved instance is generated and the old one becomes invalid. The effective time of the new reserved instance is calculated on the hour, and the old reserved instance becomes invalid at the same time. For example, you split a zonal reserved instance (RI1) of the ecs.g5.2xlarge instance type into two zonal reserved instances (RI2 and RI3) of the ecs.g5.xlarge instance type at 13:45:00 on February 26, 2019. The expiration time for RI1 is 13:00:00 on February 26, 2019. The effective time for RI2 and RI3 is also 13:00:00 on February 26, 2019. Starting from 13:00:00 on February 26, 2019, the covered and reserved instance type changes from ecs.g5.2xlarge to ecs.g5.xlarge. The hourly bill for ecs.g5.2xlarge instances is no longer covered. If RI2 and RI3 are immediately matched with instances after they take effect, they start to cover the hourly bills of ecs.g5.xlarge instances from 13:00:00 on February 26, 2019.
Why can't I see the no upfront option when purchasing a reserved instance?
The availability of this option depends on your ECS usage. To enable this option, submit a ticket.
Can I change the payment method of a reserved instance?
No, you cannot.
Can reserved instances be resold?
No, they cannot.
Can a Windows reserved instance cover the image fee?
Yes, it can. The purchase price of a Windows reserved instance includes the Windows image fee. It can cover the image portion of the bill for a pay-as-you-go instance that runs Windows.
Can a Linux reserved instance cover the image fee?
No, it cannot.
Is the coverage of a reserved instance refreshed every hour?
Yes, it is. You can go to the User Center to view the matching and coverage details of your reserved instances and pay-as-you-go instances. For more information, see View reserved instances.
Can a reserved instance cover multiple instances at the same time?
Yes, it can. Every hour, the reserved instance checks for pay-as-you-go bills that it can cover and applies its computing power to cover the bills.
A reserved instance has fixed computing power and a fixed term. You cannot shorten the term to deliver more computing power in a shorter period.
For example, you have a reserved instance with the following properties:
Instance type: c5.large
Number of instances covered: 1
Term: 1 year
Within one hour, the bill coverage depends on your pay-as-you-go instances, as shown in the following examples:
You have six pay-as-you-go c5.large instances, all running for the full hour. Each instance consumes one hour of computing power. The reserved instance randomly covers the bill for one of the instances. It does not shorten its term to two months to cover all six instances at once.
You have six pay-as-you-go c5.large instances, each running for 10 minutes. The total computing power consumed is equal to the computing power that the reserved instance can deliver per hour. The reserved instance covers the bills for all six instances.
You have six pay-as-you-go c5.large instances, each running for 15 minutes. The total computing power consumed exceeds what the reserved instance can deliver per hour. The reserved instance covers bills up to one hour of computing power, but the specific amount covered for each instance is random.
Storage Capacity Unit (SCU) FAQ
What is a Storage Capacity Unit (SCU)?
A Storage Capacity Unit (SCU) is a prepaid storage offering that can be used to cover the pay-as-you-go bills of storage products, such as disks. Compared with purchasing disks with subscription ECS instances, the combination of SCUs and pay-as-you-go disks offers both cost-effectiveness and resource flexibility.
Which block storage products can use SCUs?
An SCU can cover the pay-as-you-go bills of various storage products. The supported products are as follows:
SCUs can be used to offset the bills of Enterprise SSDs (ESSDs), standard SSDs, ultra disks, and basic disks. SCUs cannot be used to offset the bills of local disks.
SCUs can be used to offset the bills of Capacity NAS file systems and Performance NAS file systems in File Storage NAS. SCUs cannot be used to offset the bills of Extreme NAS file systems or Infrequent Access (IA) storage media.
SCUs can be used to offset the bills of snapshots.
SCUs can be used to offset bills of OSS Standard, Infrequent Access, and Archive storage classes.
Can SCUs be used alone?
No, they cannot. An SCU must be matched with a pay-as-you-go disk or snapshot to cover its pay-as-you-go bill.
What are the deduction rules for SCUs?
An SCU covers the pay-as-you-go bill of a disk or snapshot based on a specific deduction coefficient. For more information, see Deduction rules.
How are SCUs billed?
SCUs are billed based on their capacity. SCU capacity prices vary by region. For a list of prices for SCUs in different regions, see the Storage Capacity Unit product page.