You may be charged software license fees for paid images when you use the images to create Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances. This topic describes the billing rules and billing examples of ECS images and how to view the billing details of ECS images.
Billable items
When you use paid commercial images or images created based on paid commercial images to create ECS instances, you are charged operating system license fees.
When you use custom images, you may be charged for other resources, such as snapshots. For more information, see the Image-related operations section of this topic.
If you are still charged after you release all instances created from an image, check whether paid resources used by the instances exist. For more information, see the Stop billing for images section of this topic.
The following table describes the scenarios in which you are charged operating system license fees for different types of images.
Image type | Scenario in which you are charged software license fees for images |
Public images | You are charged operating system license fees when you create ECS instances by using a Red Hat, SUSE, or Windows public image in the China (Hong Kong) region or a region outside China. |
Custom images |
|
Shared images | You are charged operating system license fees when you create ECS instances by using a shared or community image that is derived from a public image for a paid operating system. |
Community images | |
Alibaba Cloud Marketplace images | Alibaba Cloud Marketplace images are provided by independent software vendors (ISVs). When you create ECS instances by using an Alibaba Cloud Marketplace image, you are charged software application license fees and operating system license fees. The prices for Alibaba Cloud Marketplace images are displayed on the image product pages in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace. |
Billing methods
Software license fees for images are billed based on the same billing duration as ECS instance types. The following table describes how software license fees are billed for ECS instances that are created from a paid image and use different billing methods.
Billing method | Subscription | Pay-as-you-go |
Instance billing method | Subscription | Pay-as-you-go or Preemptible Instance |
Billing duration | The default billing duration for a paid image is the subscription duration of a subscription ECS instance created from the image. If you release the instance before the subscription duration ends, the billing duration for the image starts when the instance is created and ends when the instance is released. | Software license fees for images are billed in per-second increments. The billing duration for a paid image starts when a pay-as-you-go or preemptible ECS instance is created from the image and ends when the instance is released or the operating system of the instance is replaced. |
Operating system license prices
Windows
You are charged operating system license fees when you use Windows Server images in the China (Hong Kong) region or regions outside China. When you create ECS instances, the prices are displayed on the ECS instance buy page.
Red Hat
The operating system license prices for Red Hat images vary based on the number of vCPUs of the instance type. Formula:
The following tables describe the operating system license prices for Red Hat images based on the number of vCPUs and the billing method.
Image type | vCPUs | Pay-as-you-go price per vCPU-hour (in USD) | Monthly subscription price per vCPU-month (in USD) | Yearly subscription price per vCPU-year (in USD) |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) | 1 to 8 vCPUs | 0.015 | 10.15 | 105.54 |
9 to 127 vCPUs | 0.011 | 7.61 | 79.16 | |
128 or more vCPUs | 0.01 | 6.60 | 68.60 | |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP with HA and US (RHEL for SAP) | 1 to 8 vCPUs | 0.023 | 15.26 | 158.72 |
9 to 127 vCPUs | 0.017 | 11.45 | 119.04 | |
128 or more vCPUs | 0.016 | 9.92 | 103.17 |
On July 31, 2024, the prices of Red Hat product subscriptions in Alibaba Cloud, including RHEL and RHEL for SAP subscriptions, are updated due to changes in the RHEL cloud pricing model. As a result, the prices of ECS instances that use RHEL or RHEL for SAP changed. For more information, see Announcement of Red Hat Product Subscription Price Change on Alibaba Cloud.
On July 1, 2024, RHEL 7 entered the Extended Lifecycle Support (ELS) phase. We recommend that you upgrade RHEL 7 to RHEL 8. If you want to continue using RHEL 7 and obtaining security updates and bug fixes for RHEL7, submit a ticket to purchase a RHEL 7 ELS Add-on subscription. For information about the price of a RHEL 7 ELS Add-on subscription, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems.
SUSE
The operating system license prices for SUSE images, unlike Red Hat images, vary based on the number of vCPUs of the instance type. Formula:
The following tables describe the operating system license prices for SUSE images based on the number of vCPUs and the billing method.
Image type | vCPUs | Hourly pay-as-you-go price (in USD) | Monthly subscription price (in USD) | Yearly subscription price (in USD) |
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server | 1 or 2 vCPUs | 0.064 | 24.46 | 235.23 |
3 or 4 vCPUs | 0.127 | 50.15 | 471.54 | |
5 or more vCPUs | 0.152 | 58.62 | 564.60 | |
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP | 1 to 4 vCPUs | 0.387 | 186.07 | 1,898.69 |
5 or more vCPUs | 0.466 | 224.17 | 2,285.92 |
Billing examples
This section provides examples on how to calculate image software license fees for a pay-as-you-go or subscription ECS instance. In the examples, an ECS instance that runs a RHEL public image and has 32 vCPUs is used for 24 hours, 3 months, or 1 year.
The prices in the following table are only for reference. The actual prices on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service product page shall prevail.
The following table describes the unit prices for image software license fees for an ECS instance that has 32 vCPUs. For more information about the prices, see the Operating system license prices section of this topic.
vCPUs | Pay-as-you-go price per vCPU-hour (in USD) | Monthly subscription price per vCPU-month (in USD) | Yearly subscription price per vCPU-year (in USD) |
9 to 127 vCPUs | 0.011 | 7.61 | 79.16 |
The following table provides examples on how to calculate image software license fees for a pay-as-you-go or subscription ECS instance that is used for different periods of time.
Billing duration | Subscription | Pay-as-you-go |
24 hours | Images used on subscription ECS instances use the subscription billing method and share the same subscription duration as the instances. Subscription ECS instances have a minimum subscription duration of one month. The billing duration of an image used on a subscription ECS instance cannot be as short as 24 hours. | Fees for 24 hours = USD 0.011 per vCPU-hour × 32 vCPUs × 24 hours = USD 8.448 |
3 months (91 days) | Fees for 3 months = USD 7.61 per vCPU-month × 32 vCPUs × 3 months = USD 730.56 | Fees for 91 days = USD 0.011 per vCPU-hour × 32 vCPUs × 2,184 hours = USD 768.768 |
1 year (365 days) | Fees for 1 year = USD 79.16 per vCPU-year × 32 vCPUs × 1 year =USD 2,533.12 | Fees for 365 days = USD 0.011 per vCPU-hour × 32 vCPUs × 24 hours × 365 days = USD 3,083.52 |
Image-related operations
In addition to image software license fees, you may be charged fees for snapshot storage, data storage in Object Storage Service (OSS) buckets, and traffic. You are charged for snapshots on a pay-as-you-go basis. For information about the billing of snapshots, see Snapshots. For information about the billing of OSS, see Billing.
When you create a custom image from an ECS instance, a snapshot is automatically created for each disk on the instance. You are charged for the snapshots.
When you copy a custom image, you are charged for the snapshots associated with the image copy.
When you import an on-premises image to Alibaba Cloud to generate a custom image, a snapshot is automatically created. You are charged for the snapshot.
Exported image files are stored in OSS buckets. You are charged for the data storage in OSS buckets and data transfers for downloading the image files from OSS.
Cost optimization
To reduce image software license fees, you can enable the economical mode or purchase Alibaba Cloud discount plans.
Economical mode
Pay-as-you-go and preemptible ECS instances support the economical mode. You can stop pay-as-you-go ECS instances in economical mode to retain instance data and configurations and reduce costs. After you stop pay-as-you-go ECS instances in economical mode, you are no longer charged software license fees for the images but are still charged for other resources, such as system disks, data disks, elastic IP addresses (EIPs), and snapshots. For information about the billing rules of the economical mode, see Economical mode.
Discount plans
If you use pay-as-you-go ECS instances that run Windows Server public images in the China (Hong Kong) region or a region outside China, you can purchase the following discount plans to offset the operating system license fees for the instances:
Savings plans: Savings plans are discount plans that provide significant savings over pay-as-you-go rates in exchange for a commitment to an hourly spend for a specific period of time. For information about savings plans and how to purchase a savings plan, see What is a savings plan?.
Reserved instances: You can purchase reserved Windows instances in a region to offset image software license fees for pay-as-you-go ECS instances that run Windows public images in the region.
Expiration and overdue payments
Images used on subscription or pay-as-you-go instances are handled differently when instances expire or payments become overdue.
Subscription: If auto-renewal is not enabled for a subscription ECS instance, the image used on the instance becomes unavailable when the instance expires. For more information, see Subscription.
Pay-as-you-go: Overdue payments may affect the availability of images used on pay-as-you-go ECS instances. For more information, see Overdue payments.
View billing details
For information about how to view the billing details of images, see View billing details.
Refunds
You can request refunds only for subscription resources, such as subscription ECS instances and resource plans. If you no longer use a subscription resource, you can unsubscribe from the resource and request a refund for the resource. Then, Alibaba Cloud collects the resource based on the rules for unsubscribing from resources and refunds you for the resource.
For information about how to unsubscribe from and request refunds for subscription ECS instances and associated resources, see Refunds.
Stop billing for images
Scenario 1: If you no longer require a custom image that is used to create ECS instances, you can delete the custom image and the associated snapshots to stop billing for the image and snapshots.
Scenario 2: If you use a paid image to create an ECS instance, you can replace the operating system of the instance by using a free image to reduce image costs. You are charged license fees for an image within the lifecycle of an ECS instance that uses the image. After the ECS instance is released, billing for the image stops.
References
For answers to some frequently asked questions about image fees, see FAQ about image fees.
For information about image types and how to use images, see Overview.
When you use ECS, take note of the lifecycle plans of the operating systems contained in the images that you use to create ECS instances. You can visit the official websites of the operating systems to obtain the corresponding lifecycle plans and update your ECS instances to stable operating system versions at the earliest opportunity. For more information, see Maintenance support for operating systems.
Technical support for the operating systems of ECS instances may be discontinued due to reasons such as end of life (EOL), end of third-party support, and evolution of open source projects. If you require technical support for the operating system of an ECS instance and want to retain the data on the system disk, you can migrate or upgrade the operating system. For more information, see Migrate and upgrade the operating system of an ECS instance.