ApsaraMQ for Kafka supports three billing methods: serverless, subscription, and pay-as-you-go. Each method suits different workload patterns and cost preferences.
Choose a billing method
The following table compares the three billing methods. For differences between instance editions and feature availability, see Instance editions.
Payment model | Post-use, based on actual consumption | Pre-pay for a fixed term | Post-use, based on actual consumption |
Auto scaling | Yes | No | No |
Best for | Short-term use with unpredictable traffic or high scaling requirements | Stable, long-running production workloads | Testing or short-term workloads |
Serverless: Pay based on actual resource usage. Serverless instances scale automatically, making this method suitable for short-term use scenarios with unpredictable traffic peaks or high scaling requirements.
Subscription: Pay upfront for a fixed duration. This method provides cost predictability and suits workloads with stable traffic patterns.
Pay-as-you-go: Pay based on actual resource usage. In most cases, this method suits testing or short-term workloads with uncertain traffic peaks.
CU Postpaid: Pay based on actual compute unit (CU) usage. This method is suitable for migration to cloud and data synchronization scenarios.
VPC Data Transfer Postpaid: Pay based on actual data transfer volume between Kafka instances across accounts. This method is suitable for cross-account data synchronization scenarios.
Switch billing methods
You can switch an instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription. The reverse is not supported. When you switch the billing method, the instance configuration remains unchanged.
For details, see Change the billing method from pay-as-you-go to subscription.
Connector feature billing
The connector feature depends on EventBridge. ApsaraMQ for Kafka does not charge fees for connectors. EventBridge charges apply separately. For EventBridge pricing, see Billing.
Alibaba Cloud does not provide a service level agreement (SLA) for the connector feature. For the SLAs and fees of services that connectors depend on, see the documentation of those services.
Related topics
Topic | Description |
Serverless billing rules | |
Subscription billing rules | |
Renew a subscription instance | |
Pay-as-you-go billing rules | |
Change the billing method from pay-as-you-go to subscription | Switch from pay-as-you-go to subscription |
Overdue payment impact and resolution | |
View billing and usage details | |
Common billing questions | |
CU-based billing for compute capabilities | |
Cross-VPC data transfer billing rules | |
Create and manage data synchronization tasks |