Billing rules - ApsaraMQ for Kafka - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

The subscription billing method is a billing method that requires you to pay before you use resources. This billing method is suitable for stable business scenarios. Before you use the subscription billing method, you must estimate the number of resources required for your business. You can subscribe to the required resources for a month, multiple months, or multiple years. You must pay the subscription fee in a one-off manner. After you place an order and complete the payment, the system allocates resources to your account. If you do not renew a resource after the resource expires, the resource is reclaimed by the system.

Billable items

The following table describes the billable items of ApsaraMQ for Kafka instances that are billed based on the subscription billing method.


Billable item	Description
Internet traffic	Internet traffic is divided into read traffic and write traffic. The maximum read traffic and the maximum write traffic that are supported by ApsaraMQ for Kafka are the same. When you purchase an ApsaraMQ for Kafka instance, compare the peak values of read and write traffic to determine the higher value. Then, select a traffic specification based on the higher value. You are charged for this billable item only if you use Internet- and virtual private cloud (VPC)-connected instances.
Traffic specification	Traffic specification refers to the computing and processing capabilities of a cluster in ApsaraMQ for Kafka. The capabilities are measured by the amount of traffic that is consumed by elastic network interfaces (ENIs). The ENI traffic is calculated based on the following formula: ENI traffic = Business traffic + Replication traffic in the cluster. Business traffic is the actual messaging traffic that is generated in business scenarios. Replication traffic in the cluster refers to the amount of traffic that is generated when the data in your ApsaraMQ for Kafka cluster is backed up. By default, the cluster has three replicas after a backup is performed. Business traffic is divided into read traffic and write traffic. The ratio of the maximum read traffic to the maximum write traffic is 1:1 for Professional Edition (High Write) instances and Standard Edition (High Write) instances, and 5:1 for Professional Edition (High Read) instances. When you purchase an instance, compare the peak values of read and write traffic to determine the higher value. Then, select a traffic specification based on the higher value. To ensure business stability, we recommend that you purchase a quota that is approximately 130% of your peak read or write traffic. The excess traffic is used for buffering.
Disk capacity	The minimum disk capacity varies based on the traffic specification. This helps ensure high performance and cost-effective storage. ApsaraMQ for Kafka supports ultra disks and SSDs. We recommend that you use SSDs. The price of a disk varies based on the disk type. Exercise caution when you select a disk type. The disk type cannot be changed after the order is placed. By default, data is stored in three replicas. For a Standard Edition instance, if you purchase a disk that has a space of 300 GB, the actual storage space that you can use to store your business data is 100 GB. The remaining 200 GB is used to store backups. The disk cost of a Professional Edition instance that stores data in three replicas is approximately 60% lower than the disk cost of a self-managed Apache Kafka instance. If you purchase a disk that has a space of 300 GB, the actual storage space that you can use to store your business data is 300 GB. An additional 600 GB of storage space is provided for you free of charge to store backups. Important Free storage space is available only for topics that use cloud storage as the storage engine. For information about cloud storage, see Storage engine comparison.
Partition	The number of free partitions in an instance varies based on the traffic specification. The number of available topics is closely related to the total number of partitions. For example, if you purchase an instance that contains 50 partitions based on the alikafka.hw.2xlarge traffic specification that provides 1,000 free partitions, the total number of partitions in the instance is 1,050. The total number of partitions is calculated by using the following formula: Total number of partitions = Number of purchased partitions + Number of free partitions. The number of available topics equals the total number of partitions. Therefore, the number of available topics is also 1,050. The number of available groups is 2,100. The number of available groups is calculated based on the following formula: Number of available groups = Total number of partitions × 2. Note ApsaraMQ for Kafka no longer allows you to purchase instances based on topic specifications. If you purchased your existing instance based on the topic specification, the topic specification is converted into the partition specification. The number of partitions after conversion is based on the number of topics that you purchased.

Note

You are charged for the billable items that you use.
You can adjust the value of the Maximum Message Retention parameter to save disk space. The system deletes messages when the disk usage reaches the predetermined threshold or the retention period of the messages reaches the specified value of the Maximum Message Retention parameter. The Maximum Message Retention parameter specifies the maximum period that messages can be retained when the disk capacity is sufficient. If the disk usage reaches 85%, the disk capacity is insufficient. In this case, the system deletes the earliest stored messages to ensure service availability. By default, messages are retained for a maximum of 72 hours. You can also select a period from 24 hours to 168 hours. For more information, see When are historical messages deleted from Message Queue for Apache Kafka? .
The number of API calls is not a billable item.

Billing formulas

For the subscription billing method, you are charged for the billable items, such as the traffic specification and disk capacity, that you specify when you create an instance. Billable items and their unit prices vary based on the instance edition. For more information about the billable items, see Billable items.

Internet- and VPC-connected instances: Instances of this type can be accessed over the Internet or virtual private clouds (VPCs).
Total fee = (Unit price of Internet traffic + Unit price of a traffic specification + Unit price of disk capacity × Purchased disk capacity/100 + Price of a single partition × Number of purchased partitions) × Number of months
Note The unit prices of Internet traffic are approximately the same with the unit prices of Elastic IP Address (EIP) traffic. If you purchased an Internet- or VPC-connected instance based on the topic specification, the fee is calculated by using the following formula: Total fee = (Unit price of Internet traffic + Price of a traffic specification + Unit price of disk capacity × Purchased disk capacity/100 + Price of a single topic × Number of additional topics) × Number of hours.
VPC-connected instances: Instances of this type can be accessed only over VPCs.
Total fee = (Price of a traffic specification + Unit price of disk capacity × Purchased disk capacity/100 + Price of a single partition × Number of purchased partitions) × Number of months
Note If you purchased an Internet- or VPC-connected instance based on the topic specification: Total fee = (Price of a traffic specification + Unit price of disk capacity × Purchased disk capacity/100 + Price of a single topic × Number of additional topics) × Number of hours.

Prices

Note The prices and regions described in the following table are only for reference. The actual prices on the buy page shall prevail.

Internet traffic

Internet traffic is billed based on bandwidth. The unit price of Internet traffic varies based on the region.

Table 1. Prices for Internet traffic
Region	Unit price (USD/month)
Region	1 Mbps	2 Mbps	3 Mbps	4 Mbps	5 Mbps	6 Mbit/s and higher (n indicates the bandwidth value)
China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu), Indonesia (Jakarta), India (Mumbai), Philippines (Manila), and Thailand (Bangkok)	3.6	7.2	11.1	15	19.6	19.6+(n-0.8)×12.5
China (Qingdao)	3.3	6.5	10	13.5	17.6	17.6+(n-0.8)×11.3
Singapore, Germany (Frankfurt), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Australia (Sydney)	3.6	7.2	10.8	14.4	18	18+(n-0.8)×12.5
US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), and China (Hong Kong)	4.7	9.4	14.1	18.8	23.5	23.5+(n-0.8)×15.7
Japan (Tokyo) and South Korea (Seoul)	4	7.9	11.8	15.7	19.6	19.6+(n-0.8)×13.2

Billing notes for traffic specifications

The billing rules for traffic specifications vary based on the instance edition. Standard Edition (High Write), Professional Edition (High Write), and Professional Edition (High Read) instances support different traffic specifications. The maximum traffic processed by a cluster and the number of partitions vary based on the traffic specification. The unit price of a traffic specification varies based on the region group to which your region belongs. For more information about region groups, see Region groups.

For information about the specifications of each instance edition, see Instance editions.

Note For information about the billing rules of the instances that are purchased by topic, see What are the number of free topics and partitions in the traffic specification of an instance that is purchased based on topic specifications? .

For information about the billing rules for the traffic specifications of Standard Edition (High Write) instances, see Prices for the traffic specifications of Standard Edition (High Write) instances.
For information about the billing rules for the traffic specifications of Professional Edition (High Write) instances, see Prices for the traffic specifications of Professional Edition (High Write) instances.
For information about the billing rules for the traffic specifications of Professional Edition (High Read) instances, see Prices for the traffic specifications of Professional Edition (High Read) instances.

Table 2. Prices for the traffic specifications of Standard Edition (High Write) instances
Traffic specification	Maximum read traffic of ENIs (MB/s)	Maximum write traffic of ENIs (MB/s)	Number of partitions included	Unit price in region group 1 (USD/month)	Unit price in region group 2 (USD/month)	Unit price in region group 3 (USD/month)
alikafka.hw.2xlarge	3×20	3×20	1000	250	370	340
alikafka.hw.3xlarge	3×30	3×30	1000	360	530	480
alikafka.hw.6xlarge	3×60	3×60	1000	520	760	700
alikafka.hw.9xlarge	3×90	3×90	1000	660	960	880
alikafka.hw.12xlarge	3×120	3×120	1000	800	1160	1070

Table 3. Prices for the traffic specifications of Professional Edition (High Write) instances
Traffic specification	Maximum read traffic of ENIs (MB/s)	Maximum write traffic of ENIs (MB/s)	Number of partitions included	Unit price in region group 1 (USD/month)	Unit price in region group 2 (USD/month)	Unit price in region group 3 (USD/month)
alikafka.hw.2xlarge	3×20	3×20	1000	600	870	800
alikafka.hw.3xlarge	3×30	3×30	1000	780	1040	1040
alikafka.hw.6xlarge	3×60	3×60	1000	1130	1510	1510
alikafka.hw.9xlarge	3×90	3×90	1000	1440	1920	1920
alikafka.hw.12xlarge	3×120	3×120	1000	1750	2330	2330
alikafka.hw.16xlarge	3×160	3×160	2000	2060	2740	2740
alikafka.hw.20xlarge	3×200	3×200	2000	2980	3970	3970
alikafka.hw.25xlarge	3×250	3×250	2000	3430	4570	4570
alikafka.hw.30xlarge	3×300	3×300	2000	3880	5170	5170
alikafka.hw.60xlarge	3×600	3×600	2000	5280	7030	7030
alikafka.hw.80xlarge	3×800	3×800	2000	6220	8280	8280
alikafka.hw.100xlarge	3×1000	3×1000	3000	7270	9670	9670
alikafka.hw.120xlarge	3×1200	3×1200	3000	8100	10780	10780
alikafka.hw.150xlarge	3×1500	3×1500	3000	9500	12640	12640
alikafka.hw.180xlarge	3×1800	3×1800	3000	10910	14520	14520
alikafka.hw.200xlarge	3×2000	3×2000	3000	12070	16060	16060

Table 4. Prices for the traffic specifications of Professional Edition (High Read) instances
Traffic specification	Maximum read traffic of ENIs (MB/s)	Maximum write traffic of ENIs (MB/s)	Number of partitions included	Unit price in region group 1 (USD/month)	Unit price in region group 2 (USD/month)	Unit price in region group 3 (USD/month)
alikafka.hr.2xlarge	50+2×10	10+2×10	1000	600	870	800
alikafka.hr.3xlarge	75+2×15	15+2×15	1000	780	1040	1040
alikafka.hr.6xlarge	150+2×30	30+2×30	1000	1130	1510	1510
alikafka.hr.9xlarge	180+2×45	45+2×45	1000	1440	1920	1920
alikafka.hr.12xlarge	240+2×60	60+2×60	1000	1750	2330	2330
alikafka.hr.16xlarge	240+2×80	80+2×80	2000	2060	2740	2740
alikafka.hr.20xlarge	300+2×100	100+2×100	2000	2980	3970	3970
alikafka.hr.25xlarge	375+2×125	125+2×125	2000	3430	4570	4570
alikafka.hr.30xlarge	450+2×150	150+2×150	2000	3880	5170	5170
alikafka.hr.60xlarge	900+2×300	300+2×300	2000	5280	7030	7030
alikafka.hr.80xlarge	1200+2×400	400+2×400	2000	6220	8280	8280
alikafka.hr.100xlarge	1500+2×500	500+2×500	3000	7270	9670	9670
alikafka.hr.120xlarge	1800+2×600	600+2×600	3000	8100	10780	10780
alikafka.hr.150xlarge	2250+2×750	750+2×750	3000	9500	12640	12640
alikafka.hr.180xlarge	2700+2×900	900+2×900	3000	10910	14520	14520
alikafka.hr.200xlarge	3000+2×1000	1000+2×1000	3000	12070	16060	16060

Billing notes for disk capacity
The billing rules for disk capacity vary based on the disk type. The unit price of disk capacity varies based on the region group to which your region belongs. If the disk capacity provided for free in the traffic specification does not meet your business requirements, you can purchase additional disk capacity by increasing the value of the Disk Capacity parameter on the buy page.
Disk type Disk capacity (GB) Unit price in region group 1 (USD/month) Unit price in region group 2 (USD/month) Unit price in region group 3 (USD/month)
Ultra Disk 100 6 8 8
SSD 100 16 23 21
Note
- The disk cost of a Professional Edition instance that stores data in three replicas is approximately 60% lower than the disk cost of a self-managed open source instance.
- A minimum number of disks are used to prevent issues like rollback failures caused by frequent deletion of messages. If you want to reduce the minimum number of disks, submit a ticket.
Billing notes for partitions
If the number of partitions that are provided for free in the traffic specification does not meet your business requirements, you can purchase additional partitions by increasing the value of the Partitions parameter on the buy page. The unit price of each additional partition varies based on the region group.
Billable item Unit price in region group 1 (USD/partition/month) Unit price in region group 2 (USD/partition/month) Unit price in region group 3 (USD/partition/month)
Number of partitions 0.32 0.46 0.42
Billing notes for additional topics
If the number of topics that are provided for free in the traffic specification does not meet your business requirements, you must purchase more topics by increasing the value of the Topics parameter on the topic creation page. However, this option is available only to instances that are purchased by topic. Each time you purchase an additional topic, the quota of partitions is increased by 16. If the number of topics in your instance reaches the upper limit that is allowed by the current traffic specification, we recommend that you select a higher traffic specification because a higher traffic specification corresponds to more topics. This helps reduce your costs. The unit price of each additional topic varies based on the region group.
Billable item Unit price in region group 1 (USD/topic/month) Unit price in region group 2 (USD/topic/month) Unit price in region group 3 (USD/topic/month)
Topic 7 11 10
Note The default number of topics indicates the minimum number of topics that are supported by an instance. The system allocates resources to the instance based on the minimum number of topics even if you specify a smaller number of topics. In this case, your costs are not reduced.

Disk type	Disk capacity (GB)	Unit price in region group 1 (USD/month)	Unit price in region group 2 (USD/month)	Unit price in region group 3 (USD/month)
Ultra Disk	100	6	8	8
SSD	100	16	23	21

Billable item	Unit price in region group 1 (USD/partition/month)	Unit price in region group 2 (USD/partition/month)	Unit price in region group 3 (USD/partition/month)
Number of partitions	0.32	0.46	0.42

Billable item	Unit price in region group 1 (USD/topic/month)	Unit price in region group 2 (USD/topic/month)	Unit price in region group 3 (USD/topic/month)
Topic	7	11	10

Region group description

Table 5. Region groups
Region group	Alibaba Cloud region
Region group 1	China (Hangzhou)
	China (Shanghai)
	China (Qingdao)
	China (Beijing)
	China (Zhangjiakou)
	China (Hohhot)
	China (Ulanqab)
	China (Shenzhen)
	China (Heyuan)
	China (Guangzhou)
	China (Chengdu)
Region group 2	China (Hong Kong)
	Singapore (Singapore)
	Japan (Tokyo)
	South Korea (Seoul)
	US (Virginia)
	US (Silicon Valley)
	Germany (Frankfurt)
	UK (London)
	Australia (Sydney)
Region group 3	Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
	India (Mumbai)
	Indonesia (Jakarta)
	Philippines (Manila)
	Thailand (Bangkok)