A free quota on backup storage is provided for each RDS instance. If the total size of the automatic backup files of your RDS instance exceeds the free quota, you are charged for the excess backup storage. If the total size of the manual backup files of your RDS instance exceeds the free quota, you are offered a 100% discount on excess backup storage. Starting September 14, 2022, Alibaba Cloud no longer provides the 100% discount for the storage of manual backup files of RDS instances. If your storage usage for manual backup files exceeds the free quota, you are charged for the excess backup storage. The billing method of the manual backups is the same as the billing method of the automatic backups.
Effective dates and regions
Date | Region |
September 14, 2022 | China (Hohhot), China (Chengdu), and Singapore |
September 20, 2022 | China (Hangzhou), China (Beijing), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Qingdao), China (Guangzhou), China (Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Heyuan), China (Ulanqab), US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Germany (Frankfurt), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok), UAE (Dubai), and UK (London) |
Billing rules
Application scope
ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL
ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server
ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL
You cannot manually back up your ApsaraDB RDS for MariaDB instance. You can configure a backup policy that allows the system to automatically back up the RDS instance.
Description
You can log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console and click Backup Instance in the upper-right corner of the Basic Information page to manually back up you RDS instance. 
Billing rules
The billing method of manual backups is the same as the billing method of automatic backups. If the total size of manual and automatic backup files for your RDS instance does not exceed the free quota for backup storage, you are not charged for the storage of the backup files. If the total size exceeds the free quota, you are charged an hourly fee for the excess backup storage that you use. The hourly fee is calculated by using the following formula: Hourly fee for backup storage = (Total size of manual and automatic backup files - Free quota) × Unit price of storage. For more information about the free quota on backup storage and the unit storage price of RDS instances that run different database engines, see the following topics.
Storage type | Free quota | Description |
Cloud disks | The free quota is equal to 200% of the storage capacity that you purchase for your RDS instance. | You can log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console and go to the Basic Information page of your RDS instance. Then, you can view the free quota for backup storage of your RDS instance in the lower-right corner of the page. |
Local disks | The free quota is equal to 50% of the storage capacity that you purchase for your RDS instance. |
For more information about the storage costs of an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance, see Backup storage fees.
For more information about the storage costs of an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance, see Backup storage fees.
For more information about the storage costs of an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance, see Backup storage fees.
Suggestions
You can view and download the manual backup files on the Backup and Restoration page of your RDS instance.
If you want to reduce the size and storage costs of the backup files, follow the instructions provided in Backup storage fees.
References
For more information about how to create a backup for an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance, see Manually back up an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
For more information about how to create a backup for an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance, see Back up an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance.
For more information about how to create a backup for an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance, see Back up an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.