Subscription is a billing method that allows you to pay upfront for the use of resources over a period of time. This billing method offers significant savings compared with the pay-as-you-go billing method and allows you to reserve resources at discounted rates. This topic describes the billing rules for subscription Elastic Compute Service (ECS) resources.
Billing overview
- The usage period of resources can be estimated.
- The resource usage remains relatively flat.
- Long-term use of resources is required.
The following table describes how to use a subscription instance.
Phase | Description |
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Before you have a subscription instance to use | You must create a subscription instance. When you create a subscription instance on the Quick Launch or Custom Launch tab of the instance buy page in the ECS console, supported subscription durations are displayed on the tab. |
When a subscription instance is being created | You must pay for the instance and subscription resources involved. For more information about how prices are calculated, see the Billing examples section of this topic. |
After a subscription instance is created | You can upgrade or downgrade instance configurations or resize subscription disks that are attached to the instance. For more information, see Overview of instance configuration changes and Overview. |
When an expired subscription instance continues to be used | You must renew the instance. For more information, see Renewal overview. |
Billable items
Resource | Description |
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Computing resource (vCPUs and memory) | When you create an instance, you must specify whether to use the subscription billing method. |
Image | The image that you select when you create a subscription instance also uses the subscription billing method. |
Cloud disk | Cloud disks created along with a subscription instance also use the subscription billing method. After a subscription instance is created, you can create subscription disks for the instance or attach pay-as-you-go disks that were separately created to the instance. For more information, see Create a subscription disk and Attach a data disk. |
Public bandwidth (pay-by-bandwidth) | If you select pay-by-bandwidth as the billing method for network usage when you create a subscription instance, the amount of public bandwidth allocated to the instance is also billed on a subscription basis. For more information, see Public bandwidth. |

- Total indicates the total price of the following resources:
- Computing resource (vCPUs and memory)
- Cloud disks
- Public bandwidth (pay-by-bandwidth) Note If you select pay-by-traffic as the billing method for network usage, the total price does not include the price of public bandwidth use. For more information, see Public bandwidth.
- Image Fees: If you selected a paid image, image Fees are displayed.
You can use the ECS TCO Calculator to analyze your cloud migration costs.
Billing cycles
Billing examples
- The first billing cycle is from 13:00:00 on August 9, 2022 to 00:00:00 on September 10, 2022.
- The second billing cycle is from 00:00:00 on September 10, 2022 to 00:00:00 on October 10, 2022.
Resource | Formula | Unit price |
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Computing resource (vCPUs and memory) | Unit price of an instance type × Subscription duration | For more information, see the Instance section on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service product page. Note Local disks are tied to specific instance types. The prices of local disks are included in the prices of the instance types. |
Image | Unit price of an image × Subscription duration | You can view the price on the instance buy page in the ECS console or in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace. |
Cloud disk (system disk) | Unit price of a disk × Disk capacity × Subscription duration | For more information, see the Storage section on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service product page. Note The prices for pay-as-you-go disks displayed on the tab are prices in USD per 100 GiB-hour. You can divide the prices by 100 to obtain the unit prices per GiB-hour. |
Cloud disk (data disk) | Unit price of a disk × Disk capacity × Subscription duration | For more information, see the Storage section on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service product page. Note The prices for pay-as-you-go disks displayed on the tab are prices in USD per 100 GiB-hour. You can divide the prices by 100 to obtain the unit prices per GiB-hour. |
Public bandwidth (pay-by-bandwidth) | You are charged for the bandwidth (in Mbit/s) based on a tiered billing model.
| A tiered billing model is used for bandwidth. You can select a bandwidth value on the instance buy page to view the fee schedule. |

Changes in resource states after a subscription instance expires
Resource | Within 15 days after the instance expires | More than 15 days after the instance expires |
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Computing resource (vCPUs and memory) | The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are retained, but the instance stops providing services. Note After an instance is stopped, you cannot connect to the instance or access websites deployed on the instance, and service errors may occur. | The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are released. |
Image | The image is unavailable. | The image is unavailable. |
Block storage device |
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Public IP address |
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If the auto-renewal feature is enabled for a subscription instance but the instance fails to renew, the instance stops providing services at some point from 00:00:00 on the 15th day after it expires to 00:00:00 on the 16th day after it expires.
Resource | Within 15 days after the instance expires | 16 to 30 days after the instance expires | More than 30 days after the instance expires |
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Computing resource (vCPUs and memory) | The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are retained, and the instance works normally. Note When an instance works normally, you can start or stop the instance and connect to the instance by using management terminals or other connection methods. | The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are retained, but the instance stops providing services. Note After an instance is stopped, you cannot connect to the instance or access websites deployed on the instance, and service errors may occur. | The computing resources (vCPUs and memory) are released. |
Image | The image is available. | The image is unavailable. | The image is unavailable. |
Block storage device |
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Public IP address |
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Switch from subscription to pay-as-you-go
You can change the billing method of an instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go. This allows you to recover a portion of the subscription costs and use the instance in a more flexible manner. For more information, see Change the billing method of an instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go.
Overdue payments
If you have overdue payments within your account, you can use your subscription resources normally but cannot perform operations that incur charges on them, such as purchasing instances, upgrading instance configurations, or renewing resources. For more information, see Overdue payments.