ECS snapshot billing rules, billing examples, and impacts of overdue payments - Elastic Compute Service

Alibaba Cloud charges you for snapshots based on the snapshot type and snapshot size by region. This topic describes the billing rules and billing cycles of Elastic Compute Service (ECS) snapshots and how to stop the billing for snapshots.

Billing rules

Billable items

Before you can create snapshots, you must activate the Snapshot service. You are not charged for activating the Snapshot service, but you are charged for the snapshots that you create. By default, manual snapshots and automatic snapshots created based on automatic snapshot policies are standard snapshots. Alibaba Cloud charges storage fees for standard snapshots based on the size and storage duration (billable duration) of the snapshots in each region.
If you use the snapshot replication feature to copy a snapshot from one region to another region, you are charged a data transfer fee for the snapshot replication and a storage fee for the new standard snapshot (snapshot copy) in the destination region.

The following table describes the billable items and billing methods of snapshots.

Billable item

Price and billing formula

Billing method

Standard snapshot

Unit storage price for standard snapshots: the unit price for standard snapshots stored in each region. To view the unit price for standard snapshots stored in each region, go to the Elastic Compute Service product page, click the Pricing tab, and then scroll down and click the Snapshot tab.
Standard snapshot size: the total size of standard snapshots. Unit: GB. For information about how to view the size of snapshots, see View the snapshot size.
Note
Alibaba Cloud provides a free quota of 5 GB for snapshot storage. You are charged for quota overages.
Billable duration: The billable duration (storage duration) of a standard snapshot starts when the snapshot is created and ends when the snapshot is deleted.

Only the pay-as-you-go billing method is supported.
- Billable cycle: Snapshots are billed by the hour. Partial hours are billed as full hours.
- Billing cycle: Bills are generated on an hourly basis.
You can purchase subscription resource plans to offset storage fees for standard snapshots to reduce snapshot costs.
You can purchase storage capacity units (SCUs) to offset the storage fees of standard snapshots. After you purchase an SCU in a region, the SCU automatically applies to offset the storage fees of standard snapshots in the region. If the snapshot size exceeds the SCU capacity, you are charged for the overage based on the pay-as-you-go rates.

Data transfer for snapshot replication

Data transfer unit price for snapshot replication: the unit price of snapshot replication data transfers between regions. To view the unit price of snapshot replication data transfers between regions, go to the Elastic Compute Service product page, click the Pricing tab, and then scroll down and click the Snapshot tab.
Snapshot size: the total size of snapshots. Unit: GB. For information about how to view the size of snapshots, see View the snapshot size.

Important

After you copy a snapshot from one region to another region, you are charged a storage fee for the new standard snapshot (snapshot copy) in the destination region.
When you copy a snapshot, you can set the copy mode to Copy and Encrypt to encrypt the snapshot copy by using a Key Management Service (KMS) key. For information about the billing of KMS keys, see Billing.
The first time you copy a snapshot of a cloud disk, the snapshot copy is a full copy that contains all data stored on the disk. All subsequent snapshot copies of the disk in the same region are incremental copies, and each incremental copy contains only the data that is changed from the previous copy. You are charged for snapshots based on the snapshot size. Incremental snapshot copies can significantly reduce the size of data to be copied.

Only the pay-as-you-go billing method is supported. Resource plans cannot be used to offset data transfer fees for snapshot replication.

Billable cycle: Snapshots are billed by the hour. Partial hours are billed as full hours.
Billing cycle: Bills are generated on an hourly basis.

Billing examples

Note

The prices used in this example are provided only for reference. The actual prices are displayed on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service product page.

Example 1: Create standard snapshots

If you create standard snapshots in a region, you are charged storage fees for the standard snapshots in the region.

Assume that you create 100 GB of standard snapshots in the China (Hangzhou) region and the unit storage price for standard snapshots in the China (Hangzhou) region is USD 0.0173 per GB-month. Formula: Storage fee for standard snapshots = Unit storage price for standard snapshots × Snapshot size × Billable duration. Hourly, daily, and monthly fees for the standard snapshots in the China (Hangzhou) region:

Hourly fee: USD 0.002403 = USD 0.0173 per GB-month/30 days/24 hours × 100 GB × 1 hour
Daily fee: USD 0.057667 = USD 0.002403 × 24 hours
Monthly fee: USD 1.73 = USD 0.0173 per GB-month × 100 GB × 1 month.

Example 2: Copy standard snapshots

If you create standard snapshots in a region and copy the snapshots to another region, you are charged storage fees for the standard snapshots in the source region, data transfer fees for copying the snapshots to the destination region, and storage fees for the new standard snapshots (snapshot copies) in the destination region.

Assume that you create 100 GB of standard snapshots in the China (Hangzhou) region and copy the standard snapshots to the China (Qingdao) region. In this case, 100 GB of new standard snapshots (snapshot copies) is generated and retained for one month in the China (Qingdao) region. The data transfer unit price for snapshot replication from the China (Hangzhou) region to the China (Qingdao) region is USD 0.118 per GB. The unit storage price for standard snapshots in the China (Qingdao) region is USD 0.0173 per GB-month.

Fees in the China (Qingdao) region:

Data transfer fee for snapshot replication: Data transfer unit price × Snapshot size = USD 0.118 per GB × 100 GB = USD 11.8
Storage fee for the new standard snapshots: Unit storage price for standard snapshots × Snapshot size × Billable duration = USD 0.0173 per GB-month × 100 GB × 1 month = USD 1.73
Total: Data transfer fee for snapshot replication + Storage fee for the new standard snapshots = USD 11.8 + USD 1.73 = USD 13.53

Storage fee for the standard snapshots in the China (Hangzhou) region: Unit storage price for standard snapshots × Snapshot size × Billable duration = USD 0.0173 per GB-month × 100 GB × 1 month = USD 1.73

Billable durations

The billable duration of a snapshot starts on the hour when the snapshot is created and ends on the hour when the snapshot is deleted. For information about how to create a snapshot, see Create a snapshot. For information about how to delete a snapshot, see Delete a snapshot.

For example, if you create a snapshot at 11:02:06 on December 20, 2024 and delete the snapshot at 15:20:20 on December 20, 2024, the billable duration of the snapshot is 5 hours, which starts at 11:00:00 and ends at 16:00:00 on the same day.

Note

Releasing cloud disks does not affect the billable duration of the snapshots that are created for the disks. If you enable the Delete Automatic Snapshots While Releasing Disk attribute for a cloud disk that is associated with an automatic snapshot policy, the automatic snapshots that are created based on the policy for the disk are automatically deleted and billing for the snapshots stops when you release the disk. For more information, see Modify an automatic snapshot policy.

Impacts of overdue payments

If your Alibaba Cloud account has overdue payments, your Snapshot service is affected. For more information, see Overdue payments.

View snapshot bills

View the billing details of snapshots on the Bill Details page in the Expenses and Costs console.

Log on to the Expenses and Costs console. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Bills > Bill Details.
On the Bill Details tab, set the Product Details parameter to snapshot and configure other search conditions based on your business requirements to view the billing details of snapshots in each region. For more information, see View billing details.

Reduce snapshot costs

To offset storage fees for standard snapshots, we recommend that you purchase SCUs. SCUs are more cost-effective than the pay-as-you-go billing method.
You can also retain an appropriate number of snapshots, delete snapshots that are no longer required, and disable unnecessary automatic snapshot policies to reduce snapshot costs. For more information, see Reduce snapshot fees.

Stop the billing for snapshots

After you activate the Snapshot service, you cannot deactivate the service. You can stop the billing for snapshots by using the following methods:

Stop the billing for snapshots for a single instance
View the existing snapshots of all cloud disks attached to an instance in the current region, including manual and automatic snapshots, and delete the snapshots. For information about how to delete a snapshot, see Delete a snapshot.
Stop the billing for snapshots in your Alibaba Cloud account
You are charged for snapshots by region. Billing for snapshots stops only after you delete all snapshots in all regions in your Alibaba Cloud account. Find the regions in which snapshots are available and delete snapshots by region. For information about how to delete a snapshot, see Delete a snapshot.
Make sure that snapshots are no longer created
After you delete all snapshots, check and delete the applied automatic snapshot policies to ensure that automatic snapshots are no longer created based on the policies. For more information, see Delete an automatic snapshot policy.

FAQ

For the frequently asked questions about how to use snapshots, see Snapshot FAQ.