Edge Security Acceleration (ESA) uses a hybrid billing model that combines a monthly subscription with pay-as-you-go for overage. Each plan provides a fixed data transfer quota and feature set. Usage that exceeds the plan quota is billed based on actual consumption.
Plan specifications
ESA offers four plan tiers. For a full feature-by-feature comparison, see Choose the right plan for you.
| Plan | Best for | Core features | Price | Data transfer quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entrance | Personal projects and experimentation with no upfront cost | Free data transfer, free requests | USD 0/month | Not applicable |
| Pro | Professional websites that need Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees and Web Application Firewall (WAF) protection | SLA guaranteed, accelerated API calls, malicious scan and vulnerability prevention, real-time logs. Blocked traffic is not billed. HTTPS and WAF requests are not billed. | USD 15/month | 500 GB |
| Premium | Businesses that need advanced security rules, bot defense, and traffic management | Double the security rules of the Pro plan, Bot Management, Waiting Room, Version Management. Blocked traffic is not billed. HTTPS and WAF requests are not billed. | USD 249/month | 1,500 GB |
| Enterprise | Organizations with Layer 4 workloads, large-scale Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) threats, or custom requirements | Layer 4 acceleration (for TCP/UDP), origin load balancing, deep learning and protection, Bot Management - Professional Mode, best-effort DDoS protection | Contact us to customize the Enterprise plan. |
Billing rules
Billable items
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Billable data transfer: The total volume of request and response traffic between clients and ESA points of presence (POPs).
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Includes: Traffic from HTTP/HTTPS requests and responses, WebSocket transmissions, and more.
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Excludes: Malicious requests blocked by WAF, and origin traffic from POPs to your origin server.
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If your origin is Alibaba Cloud OSS, OSS charges separately for origin traffic. This OSS charge is waived if the OSS region and the ESA POP fetching the resource are both outside the Chinese mainland.
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Unit of measurement: Data transfer is measured in decimal units (base 1,000): 1 GB = 1,000 MB, 1 TB = 1,000 GB, and so on.
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Subscription period: A plan is valid from the day you subscribe. The expiration date is calculated based on the subscription duration. For example, if you subscribe to a 3-month plan at 14:32:10 on June 25, 2024, the plan expires at 00:00:00 on September 26, 2024.
Data transfer quota allocation
After you purchase a plan, the system allocates data transfer according to these rules:
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For any partial month of service, data transfer is prorated based on the remaining hours in that calendar month.
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Data transfer calculations are always rounded up.
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The monthly data transfer quota is valid for the current month only and does not roll over to the next month.
Allocation example
User A subscribes to a 3-month Pro plan at 13:37:10 on June 26, 2024. The plan is valid until 00:00:00 on September 27, 2024. The system allocates data transfer each month as follows:
| Month | Remaining hours | Total hours in the month | Ratio of remaining hours | Allocated data transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June | 11 + 4 x 24 = 107 | 30 x 24 = 720 | 14.86% | 75 GB |
| July | 31 x 24 = 744 | 31 x 24 = 744 | 100% | 500 GB |
| August | 31 x 24 = 744 | 31 x 24 = 744 | 100% | 500 GB |
| September | 26 x 24 = 624 | 30 x 24 = 720 | 86.67% | 433 GB |
Overage billing
If your monthly data transfer exceeds the quota in your plan, the system automatically switches to pay-as-you-go billing. Excess usage is billed hourly at the following rates:
| Plan | Overage rate |
|---|---|
| Entrance | None |
| Pro | USD 0.03/GB |
| Premium | USD 0.166/GB |
Higher-tier plans include more features, a greater number of rules, and more capabilities, so their per-GB overage rate is higher.
Quick overage cost reference
The following table shows how overage costs scale for each paid plan:
| Overage amount | Pro (USD 0.03/GB) | Premium (USD 0.166/GB) |
|---|---|---|
| 100 GB | USD 3.00 | USD 16.60 |
| 500 GB | USD 15.00 | USD 83.00 |
| 1,000 GB | USD 30.00 | USD 166.00 |
| 1,200 GB | USD 36.00 | USD 199.20 |
Billing examples
Example 1: Premium plan with overage
Customer B runs a personal website and estimates about 2 TB of data transfer per month. They need WAF protection, including custom rules, an allowlist, rate limiting, and managed rules. They do not need DDoS protection but want smart routing and real-time log delivery. The recommended plan is Premium.
If the actual monthly usage is 2.7 TB, the charges break down as follows:
| Item | Usage | Included in Premium plan | Calculation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base plan fee | -- | -- | USD 249.00 |
| Data transfer | 2.7 TB (2,700 GB) | 1.5 TB (1,500 GB) | Overage: 2,700 - 1,500 = 1,200 GB |
| Data transfer overage | 1,200 GB | -- | 1,200 x USD 0.166 = USD 199.20 |
| WAF requests | 20 million | Unlimited | Included |
| Static requests | 8 million | Unlimited | Included |
| Dynamic requests | 20 million | Unlimited | Included |
| Monthly total | USD 448.20 (excluding smart routing) |
Smart routing is a value-added service billed separately at USD 0.015 per 10,000 requests, billed daily.
Example 2: Enterprise plan (custom)
Customer C runs a website with mixed dynamic and static workloads. Some services require Layer 4 acceleration. The website uses about 10 TB of data transfer per month. They need protection against large-volume DDoS attacks and want to prevent business risks such as fraud and resource abuse. They also require protection against SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and web shell uploads.
An Enterprise plan is customized for this case.
Bandwidth limits
As your business grows, your domain may experience sudden bandwidth spikes. The following table shows the peak bandwidth limit for each plan:
| Entrance | Pro | Premium | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak bandwidth limit | 1 Gbps | 10 Gbps | 10 Gbps | None |
To request a higher bandwidth limit, contact your Alibaba Cloud account manager or submit an application. If your request is approved, Alibaba Cloud bills you at the newly agreed-upon rate. If your request is denied or you do not submit one, Alibaba Cloud bills you at your current rate. Your ESA bill reflects the final charges.
FAQ
How do I avoid overage charges?
Configure a usage cap rule and set the cap to match your plan's data transfer quota. When you consume the included data transfer, the system automatically disables your website, which prevents any overage charges. For more information, see Usage cap rule.
Disabling your website makes all of its subdomains inaccessible. Use this option with caution.
Does unused data transfer roll over?
No. The monthly data transfer quota is valid for the current month only and does not roll over to the next month. If you subscribe partway through a month, the quota is prorated based on the remaining hours in that calendar month.
Why is the Premium overage rate higher than the Pro rate?
Higher-tier plans include more features, a greater number of security rules, and more capabilities. The overage rate reflects the broader set of services applied to each gigabyte of traffic processed through the platform.