All Products
Search
Document Center

ApsaraDB RDS:[Special offers/Price changes] Commercialization of backup downloads for local disk instances

Last Updated:Mar 30, 2026

Starting November 25, 2021, Internet downloads of backup files from ApsaraDB RDS instances that use local disks are charged after you exceed the 500 GB per instance-month free quota. Internal network downloads remain free.

Rollout schedule

The commercial release is phased across two dates.

Effective date Instances Regions
00:00 on November 25, 2021 ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL instances with local disks China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Heyuan), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), Singapore, Japan (Tokyo), Germany (Frankfurt), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta), UK (London), and UAE (Dubai)
00:00 on December 2, 2021 ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL instances with local disks China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Shenzhen), China (Hong Kong), US (Virginia), and US (Silicon Valley)

Billing rules

Download method Charge
Internal network Free
Internet — within 500 GB per instance-month Free
Internet — beyond 500 GB per instance-month Pay-as-you-go; fees are deducted daily

For the pay-as-you-go rate, see Network traffic fees.

How charges are calculated

When you download a backup file, whether and when you are charged depends on the storage type of the instance:

  • Local disk instances (physical backup): The system provides a download URL immediately without converting the file. You are charged for traffic when you download the file using the URL.

  • Cloud disk instances (snapshot backup): The system converts the file and generates a download task. The download URL is only available after the task completes. You are not charged for in-progress or failed tasks. Charges apply only after the task succeeds and you download the file using the URL.

Both storage types support downloads over an internal network or the Internet.

Check your traffic usage

To view how much Internet traffic you have consumed for backup downloads, go to the ApsaraDB RDS console, click the ID of your RDS instance, and find the Backup Downloads parameter in the Usage Statistics section of the Basic Information page.

Reduce your costs

If you must download over the Internet, purchase a subscription network plan to offset traffic fees. Larger capacity plans come with higher discounts. For details, see Use network plans.

Upcoming feature upgrade

The backup download feature upgrade is scheduled for completion in January 2022. After the upgrade, you can:

  • Convert snapshot backup files or physical backup files to logical backup files in formats such as SQL, CSV, and Parquet — suitable for testing, offline data analysis, statistics, and big data workloads.

  • Download the converted logical backup files.

Next steps

References

[Special offers/Price changes] Commercial release of the backup download feature for RDS instances that use cloud disks