ApsaraDB RDS refund policy and unsubscription rules - ApsaraDB RDS

This topic describes the refund policy of ApsaraDB RDS and how to release or unsubscribe from ApsaraDB RDS instances.

Refund policies

The refund policies vary based on the billing method of your RDS instance. The following table describes the refund policies.

Billing method	Refund policy
Subscription	When you purchase a subscription RDS instance, you must pay an upfront fee based on the subscription duration. If you no longer require a subscription RDS instance, you can apply for a refund. Before you apply for a refund, you must understand the rules for unsubscribing from resources. For more information, see Rules for unsubscribing from resources. For more information about how to unsubscribe from a resource, see Methods for unsubscribing resources. The system returns a refund based on your actual resource usage.
Pay-as-you-go	Bills are generated for a pay-as-you-go RDS instance based on the actual resource usage. You cannot apply for a refund after you use the resources. If you no longer require the pay-as-you-go RDS instance, you can back up or migrate the data of the RDS instance and then release the RDS instance. Make sure that your workloads are not affected by the release operation. After the pay-as-you-go RDS instance is released, you are no longer charged for the instance. For more information about how to release an RDS instance, see Release or unsubscribe from an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance, Release or unsubscribe from an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance, Release or unsubscribe from an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance, and Release or unsubscribe from an ApsaraDB RDS for MariaDB instance.

Refunds may also be involved in scenarios such as billing method change and specification downgrade. The following table describes the scenarios. For more information, see the relevant documentation.

Scenario	Description
Billing method change	After you change the billing method of an RDS instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go, the system refunds the remaining upfront payment. For more information about billing method change, see Change the billing method of an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go, Change the billing method of an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go, Change the billing method of an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go, and Change the billing method of an ApsaraDB RDS for MariaDB instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go. The refund amount is calculated by using the following formula: Refund amount = Paid amount - Fee for consumed resources Note The paid amount equals the actual amount that you paid for the order and does not include the amount that is offset by coupons or vouchers. Fee for consumed resources = Price of subscription resources per day × Usage duration × Discount available for the usage duration
Specification downgrade of a subscription RDS instance	After you downgrade the specifications of a subscription RDS instance, the system refunds the price difference between the new specifications and the original specifications. For more information about specification downgrade, see Specification changes. The refund amount is calculated by using the following formula: Refund amount = Paid amount - Fee for consumed resources Note The paid amount equals the actual amount that you paid for the order and does not include the amount that is offset by coupons or vouchers. Fee for consumed resources = Price of subscription resources per day × Usage duration × Discount available for the usage duration
Renewal cancellation	Before the renewal of a subscription RDS instance takes effect, you can unsubscribe from the instance. In this case, the system returns the full renewal amount. For more information about instance renewal, see Renewal policy. For more information about resource unsubscription, see the Cancel the cloud resource renewal order that has not taken effect section of the Rules for unsubscribing from resources topic.