Elasticsearch:Alibaba Cloud ES billing

Quick overview

Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch supports two billing methods: Subscription and Pay-as-you-go. Your total cost depends on the resources you configure for your ES cluster and, if applicable, any Logstash components you use.

Charges fall into two main categories:

• ES cluster fees — based on your cluster configuration (node specifications, node count, and storage). Optional advanced features incur additional charges only when you use them.

• Logstash component billing — based on the Logstash node specifications and storage you configure.

The following table summarizes all billable items at a glance:

Billable item	Billing mode	Notes
Node specifications (CPU and memory)	Subscription or Pay-as-you-go	Elastic nodes are always Pay-as-you-go
Node storage space	Subscription or Pay-as-you-go	—
Indexing Service	Subscription or Pay-as-you-go	Kernel-enhanced Edition only
Openstore intelligent hybrid storage	Subscription or Pay-as-you-go	Kernel-enhanced Edition only
AI model service	Pay-as-you-go (per call)	Vector Search Edition only; free to enable
Logstash node specifications	Subscription or Pay-as-you-go	—
Logstash storage space	Subscription or Pay-as-you-go	—

Comparison of billing methods

Alibaba Cloud Elasticsearch supports the following billing methods for ES clusters and Logstash components:

Billing method	Description	Recommended scenarios
Pay-as-you-go	A pay-as-you-go model that is billed hourly. It supports flexible scaling and has no long-term commitment. You can change the billing method from pay-as-you-go to subscription at any time.	Short-term testing, temporary services, and scenarios with fluctuating traffic
Subscription	An upfront payment model that offers lower prices. Resources are reserved for a long term to save costs. You can change the billing method from subscription to pay-as-you-go at any time.	Stable services and scenarios with predictable resource usage

Billing rules

ES cluster billing

Basic configuration fees

ES cluster fees are incurred when you create an ES cluster or modify its configuration. The following table lists the billing formulas for basic ES cluster resources.

Billable item	Billing formula
Node specifications (CPU and memory)	Subscription: Fee = Unit price of node specifications × Number of nodes × Subscription duration. Pay-as-you-go: Fee = Unit price of node specifications × Number of nodes × Usage duration. Note Elastic nodes are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis, regardless of whether the ES instance uses the subscription or pay-as-you-go billing method.
Node storage space	Subscription: Fee = Storage space per node × Number of nodes × Unit price of disks × Subscription duration. Pay-as-you-go: Fee = Storage space per node × Number of nodes × Unit price of disks × Usage duration.

Advanced feature fees (optional)

Advanced features are billed only when you use them. The available advanced features depend on your cluster edition.

Kernel-enhanced Edition features (Supported only by Kernel-enhanced Edition instances)

Kernel-enhanced Edition clusters support the following optional paid features:

• Indexing Service — accelerated indexing for high-throughput write scenarios

• Openstore intelligent hybrid storage — tiered storage that automatically moves cold data to lower-cost storage

AI model service fees (Supported only by Vector Search Edition)

This edition provides built-in model services, such as multi-modal data parsing, chunking, vectorization, query analysis, reranking, and Large Language Models (LLMs). You can use these services after you enable them. Enabling the model services is free of charge (models are sourced from the AI Search Open Platform), and you are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis for the number of calls. For more information, see AI model billing methods and billable items.

How to check prices

• During purchase: On the ES buy page, click View Details in the lower-right corner to view the total price of the instance and the price details for each node.

  Instance prices may vary based on factors such as the region and subscription duration, even for instances with the same specifications. Make sure to configure the instance as required before you check the price.

• During usage: In the Expenses and Costs center, you can view your usage details.

Logstash component billing

If you use Logstash components with your Elasticsearch cluster, you are charged separately for Logstash resources. The following table lists the billing formulas.

Billable item	Billing formula
Instance type (CPU and memory specifications of computing resources)	Subscription: Fee = Unit price of node specifications × Number of nodes × Subscription duration. Pay-as-you-go: Fee = Unit price of node specifications × Number of nodes × Billing duration.
Storage space	Subscription: Fee = Storage space per node × Unit price of disks × Number of nodes × Subscription duration. Pay-as-you-go: Fee = Storage space per node × Unit price of disks × Number of nodes × Billing duration.

In the lower-right corner of the Logstash purchase page, view the price details for the instance.

Note

Instance prices may vary based on factors such as the region and subscription duration, even for instances with the same specifications. Make sure to configure the instance as required before you check the price.