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ApsaraDB RDS:Billable items

Last Updated:Mar 19, 2025

The billable items that may be involved when you use ApsaraDB RDS include the billable items for ApsaraDB RDS instances, billable items for value-added features, and billable items for other cloud services related to ApsaraDB RDS. This topic describes the definitions, billing formulas, and billing methods of the billable items.

RDS instances

RDS instances can be classified into two types based on the billing methods of the RDS instances. For more information, see Billing methods.

  • Subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances. When you purchase a subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instance, you must specify the computing resources and storage capacity for the RDS instance. After you purchase an RDS instance, you are charged for the instance type and storage capacity.

  • Serverless RDS instances. When you purchase a serverless RDS instance, you must specify the range of computing resources. The computing resources of the serverless RDS instance are automatically scaled within the specified range based on your workloads. The storage capacity of the serverless RDS instance is automatically expanded based on the data volume. After you purchase a serverless RDS instance, you are charged for the RDS Capacity Units (RCUs) and storage capacity.

Instance type

Category

Description

Definition

Fees for the computing resources of your subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instance. The RDS instance can be a regular instance or read-only instance. The name of the billable item is RDS instance type or instance type. The code of the billable item is rds_class or ClassCode.

After you create an RDS instance, fees are generated for the billable item. If you increase the computing resources or the number of nodes, the fees for the billable item change.

Billing formula

  • RDS Basic Edition and RDS High-availability Edition: Instance type fee = Unit price of the instance type × Duration

  • RDS Cluster Edition: Instance type fee = Unit price of the instance type for a single node × Number of nodes × Duration

Note

The unit price of the instance type varies based on the region, database engine, and specifications. For more information, visit the ApsaraDB RDS buy page or check your bills.

Billing method

Subscription or pay-as-you-go.

RCUs of serverless RDS instances

Category

Description

Definition

Fees for the computing resources of a serverless RDS instance. The name of the billable item is RCU. The code of the billable item is rds_serverless_rcu.

After you create a serverless RDS instance, fees are generated for the billable item based on the actual usage of RCUs. If you suspend the serverless RDS instance, fees are no longer generated for the billable item.

Billing formula

RCU fee = Unit price of RCUs on a single node × Number of RCUs used by a single node × Number of nodes × Duration

Note

For more information about the unit price of RCUs, see Pricing of serverless ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instances.

Billing method

Serverless.

Storage capacity

Category

Description

Definition

Storage capacity fee of your subscription, serverless, or pay-as-you-go RDS instance. The RDS instance can be a regular instance, read-only instance, or DR instance. The name of the billable item is storage capacity. The code of the billable item is rds_storage or Storage.

After you create an RDS instance, fees are generated for the billable item. If you expand or reduce the storage capacity of your RDS instance, the fees for the billable item change.

Billing formula

  • Subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances on RDS Basic Edition and RDS High-availability Edition: Storage capacity fee = Unit price of the storage capacity for the instance × Storage used by the instance × Duration

  • Subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances on RDS Cluster Edition: Storage capacity fee = Unit price of the storage capacity for a single node × Storage used by a single node × Number of nodes × Duration

  • Serverless : Storage capacity fee = Unit price of the storage capacity for a single node × Storage used by a single node × Number of nodes × Duration

Note
  • The unit price of the storage capacity varies based on the region, RDS edition, storage type, and billing method. The actual price in the ApsaraDB RDS console shall prevail.

  • The duration in the preceding formulas is calculated in different methods based on the billing method of the instance.

    • Subscription instances: The duration indicates the subscription duration of the instances.

    • Pay-as-you-go or serverless instances: The duration indicates the billed duration of the instances in hours.

Billing method

Subscription, serverless, and pay-as-you-go.

Value-added features

The value-added features are the paid features that are provided by ApsaraDB RDS. After you enable or use a value-added feature, fees are generated for the feature. The fee for the value-added feature is charged by ApsaraDB RDS.

Regular backup storage and archived backup storage

Regular backup storage

Category

Description

Definition

Fees for the storage of data backup files and log backup files. Alibaba Cloud provides a free quota on backup storage. If the backup storage exceeds the free quota, you are charged for excessive backup storage based on the pay-as-you-go billing method. The name of the billable item is regular backup storage. The code of the billable item is backup_charged.

For more information, see Back up an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance .

Fees charged by

ApsaraDB RDS.

Billing formula

Backup storage fee = (Total storage of backup files - Free quota) × Unit price of backup storage × Duration

Note
  • Free quota on backup storage for instances with storage compression disabled: If your RDS instance uses cloud disks, the free quota equals 200% of the storage capacity of the RDS instance. If your RDS instance uses local disks, the free quota equals 50% of the storage capacity of the RDS instance.

  • Free quota on backup storage for instances with storage compression enabled: If your RDS instance uses cloud disks, the free quota equals 400% of the storage capacity of the RDS instance. If your RDS instance uses local disks, the free quota equals 100% of the storage capacity of the RDS instance.

  • For more information about the unit price of backup storage, see Backup storage fees for ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL.

  • For more information about how to reduce the size and storage cost of your backup files, see Methods to reduce the backup storage fee for an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

Billing method

Pay-as-you-go.

Note
  • Fees for the billable items that are generated for cross-region backups are charged by ApsaraDB RDS and the Data Disaster Recovery feature of Data Management (DMS).

  • Fees for the billable items that are generated for backup downloads are charged by Data Disaster Recovery.

Full restoration and standard restoration of individual databases and tables

Full restoration (instance cloning)

Fees generated for the instance type and storage capacity of a new RDS instance when you use the data backup files and log backup files of the original RDS instance to restore the data to the new RDS instance.

For more information, see Restore data of an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

Standard restoration of individual databases and tables

If you restore specific databases or tables to the original RDS instance by using backup sets or to a point in time, no fees are generated.

For more information, see Restore individual databases and tables of an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

SQL Audit (DAS Enterprise Edition V0)

Category

Description

Definition

Fees for the storage of the SQL logs that are generated by the SQL Audit feature. If you enable the SQL Audit feature, you are charged based on the size of the SQL logs that are generated by the SQL Audit feature and storage duration of the logs. The name of the billable item is SQL audit. The code of the billable item is sql_collected.

For more information, see Use the SQL Explorer feature for an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

Fees charged by

ApsaraDB RDS.

Billing formula

SQL audit fee = Unit price × Storage used by SQL logs that are generated by the SQL Audit feature × Duration

Note

For more information about the unit price of SQL Audit, see Use the SQL Audit feature for an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

Billing method

Pay-as-you-go.

Note

The SQL Explorer and Audit feature is provided by DAS Enterprise Edition V3, DAS Enterprise Edition V2, or DAS Enterprise Edition V1. The fee for the feature is charged by Database Autonomy Service (DAS).

Database proxy

Category

Description

Definition

Fees for the database proxy feature. If you enable the database proxy feature and dedicated database proxies, you are charged based on the proxy specifications and duration. The name of the billable item is the number of database proxy instance shards. The code of the billable item is MaxscaleChargedSliceNum. General-purpose database proxies are provided free of charge.

For more information, see What are database proxies in ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL?

Billing formula

Database proxy fee = Unit price of database proxies × Number of database proxies × Duration

Note

For more information about the unit price of database proxies, see What are database proxies in ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL?

Billing method

Pay-as-you-go.

Traffic consumed to connect to an RDS instance by using the public endpoint

If you apply for and use a public endpoint to connect to your RDS instance, Internet traffic is consumed. You are not charged for the inbound or outbound Internet traffic that is consumed to connect to your RDS instance by using the public endpoint.

For more information, see Apply for or release a public endpoint for an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

Billing items for other cloud services

ApsaraDB RDS integrates with other Alibaba Cloud services. If you use the feature of the integrated services, additional billable items are generated.

Data Disaster Recovery: cross-region backup, backup storage of deleted instances, and backup download

Cross-region backup

Category

Description

Definition

Fee for traffic that is consumed by cross-region backups and fee for the storage of backup files that are generated by cross-region backups. The following billable items are used:

Cross-region backup storage (DdrOssStorageSize) and traffic consumed by cross-region backups (NetworkOutDuplicationSize)

For more information, see Use the cross-region backup feature for an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance.

Fees charged by

  • Cross-region backup storage (DdrOssStorageSize): ApsaraDB RDS

  • Traffic consumed by cross-region backups (NetworkOutDuplicationSize): Data Disaster Recovery

Billing formula

  • Fee for cross-region backup storage = Unit price of cross-region backup storage × Size of cross-region backup files × Duration

  • Fee for traffic that is consumed by cross-region backups = Unit price of traffic × Amount of traffic that is consumed

Note

Billing method

Pay-as-you-go.

Savings plans or resource plans

You can purchase Data Disaster Recovery network plans to offset the fees that are generated for the traffic consumed by cross-region backups (NetworkOutDuplicationSize) of your subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instance. For more information, see Use network plans.

Backup download

Category

Description

Definition

Fees for the backup downloads of your RDS instance. The fees include the fee for outbound Internet traffic (NetworkOutSize) and fee for the traffic consumed for the backup set conversion (BackupAnalyticSize).

For more information, see Download backup files of an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance.

Fees charged by

Data Disaster Recovery.

Billing formula

  • Fee for the traffic consumed for the backup set conversion = Unit price × Size of backup sets that are converted

  • Fee for outbound Internet traffic = Unit price × (Amount of traffic - Free quota)

Note

For more information about the unit prices of backup set conversion and outbound Internet traffic, see Download backup files.

Billing method

Pay-as-you-go.

Savings plans or resource plans

You can purchase Data Disaster Recovery network plans to offset the fees that are generated for the outbound Internet traffic (NetworkOutSize) of your subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instance. For more information, see Use network plans.

DAS: SQL Audit and Explorer

The fees for the SQL Audit and Explorer feature that is provided by DAS Enterprise Edition V3, DAS Enterprise Edition V2, or DAS Enterprise Edition V1 are charged by DAS.

DAS Enterprise Edition V3

Important

The billable items of DAS Enterprise Edition V3 are defined based on features. This makes billing more flexible and significantly reduces costs.

  • After you enable DAS Enterprise Edition V3, you are charged log traffic fees by default. Other fees are charged based on the usage of the corresponding features.

  • Data can be migrated from DAS Enterprise Edition V1 or DAS Enterprise Edition V2 to DAS Enterprise Edition V3 free of charge. Before the migration is complete, you are charged based on the source version. After the migration is complete, you are charged based on the destination version. For more information, see the "How do I migrate data between different versions of DAS Enterprise Edition?" section of the FAQ topic.

Billing of DAS Enterprise Edition V3

image
Billing examples

The following section describes two billing examples based on business scenarios and selected features:

O&M

DAS supports full SQL logging and clustering, which can be used to query, locate, and analyze problematic SQL statements, provide emergency responses to affected business operations, and perform in-depth optimization. For more information, see SQL Explorer and Audit. In the O&M scenario, you can enable the following features.

image

If 10 GB of data is written to your instance per day, you can specify the storage duration of SQL logs to 30 days in the SQL Log option and the hot storage duration to 7 days in the Log Index option.

Note

The storage duration of SQL logs is the total duration for which SQL logs are stored. By default, SQL logs are stored in cold storage. If you also enable the log indexing feature, new logs are stored in hot storage for seven days and then stored in cold storage for the remaining 23 days.

Feature

Billable item

Daily unit price (Alibaba Cloud public cloud in the Chinese mainland)

Daily usage

Daily fee

SQL log

Log traffic (DataIngestion)

USD 0.04 per GB

10 GB

USD 0.4

Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)

USD 0.0005 per GB-day

After SQL logs start to be stored in cold storage,

the daily usage is 10 GB on the first day,

20 GB on the second day,

...

and 230 GB on the 23rd day.

0

(Logs can be stored in cold storage free of charge for 30 days.)

Log indexing

Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics)

USD 0.04 per GB

10 GB

USD 0.4

Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)

USD 0.00167 per GB-day

After this feature is enabled,

the daily usage is 10 GB on the first day,

20 GB on the second day,

...

and 70 GB on the seventh day.

(Data is dumped to cold storage after seven days.)

If data is stored in hot storage for seven days, the daily fee is calculated by using the following formula:

10 × (7 - 1) × 0.00167 = 0.1002

(Logs are stored in hot storage free of charge on the first day.)

SQL Explorer

Insight analysis (InsightAnalysis)

USD 0.0134 per GB

10 GB

USD 0.134

Audit and compliance

DAS supports bank-level security compliance capabilities to meet classified protection requirements in China. It monitors database behavior over a long period of time, provides real-time alerts, and detects all aspects such as unauthorized access, vulnerability attacks, data leaks, and baseline to prevent database service interruption. For more information, see Security audit (new version). In the audit and compliance scenario, you can enable the following features.

image

If 10 GB of data is written to your instance per day, you can specify the storage duration of SQL logs to 180 days to meet compliance regulations in China.

Note
  • The storage duration of SQL logs is the total duration for which SQL logs are stored. By default, SQL logs are stored in cold storage.

  • To meet compliance regulations in China, the cold storage duration cannot be less than 180 days.

Feature

Billable item

Daily unit price (Alibaba Cloud public cloud in the Chinese mainland)

Daily usage

Daily fee

SQL log

Log traffic (DataIngestion)

USD 0.04 per GB

10 GB

USD 0.4

Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)

USD 0.0005 per GB-day

the daily usage is 10 GB on the first day,

20 GB on the second day,

...

and 1,800 GB on the 180th day.

The daily fee is calculated by using the following formula: 10 × (180 - 30) × 0.0005 = 0.75

(Logs can be stored in cold storage free of charge for 30 days.)

Security audit

Security audit (SecurityAudit)

USD 0.08 per GB

10 GB

USD 0.8

Alibaba Cloud public cloud

Billable item

Billing method

Unit price in the Chinese mainland

Unit price in the China (Hong Kong) region and regions outside China

Description

Log traffic (DataIngestion)

Pay-as-you-go

USD 0.04 per GB

USD 0.06 per GB

By default, you are charged for the log traffic.

You are charged for the traffic consumed for collecting, transferring, and writing logs to storage on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Logs can be stored in cold storage free of charge for an amount of time. For more information, see the description of the cold storage billable item.

Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics)

USD 0.04 per GB

USD 0.06 per GB

You are charged fees after you enable the log indexing feature.

Log indexes are stored as hot data. DAS dynamically adjusts and optimizes indexes to ensure rapid data retrieval.

Log indexes can be stored in hot storage free of charge for one day.

SQL Explorer (InsightAnalysis)

USD 0.0134 per GB

USD 0.02 per GB

You are charged for automatic data aggregation and analysis by using the SQL Explorer feature based on the log volume.

Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)

USD 0.00167 per GB-day

USD 0.0025 per GB-day

You are charged for hot storage based on the log volume and storage duration.

Logs can be stored in hot storage free of charge for one day after they are written to hot storage. If cold storage is enabled, the logs are automatically dumped to cold storage free of charge after the specified hot storage duration ends.

Logs can be stored in hot storage for up to seven days.

Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)

USD 0.0005 per GB-day

USD 0.00075 per GB-day

By default, you are charged for cold storage.

You are charged for cold storage based on the log volume and storage duration.

  • If hot storage is disabled, logs are stored only in cold storage. Logs can be stored in cold storage free of charge for 30 days.

  • If hot storage is enabled, you are charged based on the following scenarios:

    • Logs are first stored in hot storage and are not charged within the first day. After the first day, you are charged for hot storage based on the storage duration. Billable hot storage duration: Total hot storage duration - 1 day.

    • After the specified duration for hot storage ends, logs are automatically dumped to cold storage free of charge. Free cold storage duration: 30 days - Total hot storage duration

Cold data query (SqlScanDataSize)

USD 0.0025 per GB

USD 0.00375 per GB

You are charged for querying logs in cold storage offline based on the log volume.

Cold data query (SqlScanDataSize)

USD 0.067 per GB

USD 0.1 per GB

You can export and dump logs free of charge.

Security audit (SecurityAudit)

USD 0.08 per GB

USD 0.12 per GB

You are charged for the new version of the security audit feature based on the log volume.

DAS Enterprise Edition V2

Alibaba Cloud public cloud

Billable item

Billing method

Unit price in the Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta) regions

Unit price in the China (Hong Kong) and Singapore regions

Description

Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)

Pay-as-you-go

USD 0.00145 per GB-hour

USD 0.002175 per GB-hour

Data is stored on high-performance storage devices to provide accelerated query and SQL aggregation capabilities. The SQL Explorer and Audit data generated in the previous seven days is stored in hot storage.

Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)

USD 0.00018 per GB-hour

USD 0.00027 per GB-hour

Data is stored on low-cost storage devices to reduce costs. The SQL Explorer and Audit data generated seven days ago is dumped from hot storage to cold storage. The response time of a cold data query is longer than that of a hot data query.

Data query (SqlScanDataSize)

USD 0.029 per GB

USD 0.0435 per GB

You are charged for querying data that is stored in cold storage on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Security audit (SecurityAudit)

USD 0.08 per GB

USD 0.12 per GB

  • Optional. You can enable or disable the feature separately.

  • You are charged for the new version of the security audit feature based on the log volume.

DAS Enterprise Edition V1 and DAS Enterprise Edition V0

Important

You are charged subscription fees only for DAS Enterprise Edition V1.

Billable item

Billing method

Unit price

Description

Subscription

Subscription

USD 6.2 per instance-month

You are charged based on the specified quota of DAS Enterprise Edition V1, which indicates the total number of database instances for which you can enable DAS Enterprise Edition V1.

For example, you purchased DAS Enterprise Edition V1 with a quota of three instances and have enabled DAS Enterprise Edition V1 for one database instance. The subscription fees for DAS Enterprise Edition V1 are calculated based on the following formula: USD 6.2 per instance-month × 3 = USD 18.6 per month.

Important

You are charged subscription fees only for DAS Enterprise Edition V1.

Storage for SQL Explorer data (sql_storage_used)

Pay-as-you-go

  • Free quota: 5 GB of free storage.

    Important

    Free storage is provided only for DAS Enterprise Edition V1.

  • Unit price for excess storage: USD 0.0013 per GB-hour.

Applicable regions: regions in the Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta).

  • Free quota: 3 GB of free storage.

    Important

    Free storage is provided only for DAS Enterprise Edition V1.

  • Unit price for excess storage: USD 0.0019 per GB-hour.

Applicable regions: China (Hong Kong) and Singapore.

Security audit (SecurityAudit)

  • Chinese mainland: USD 0.08 per GB.

  • China (Hong Kong) and regions outside China: USD 0.12 per GB.

  • Optional. You can enable or disable the feature separately.

  • You are charged for the new version of the security audit feature based on the log volume.

DAS Economy Edition

Billable item

Billing method

Unit price

Description

Basic plan

Subscription

USD 7.5714 per month

Up to 10 database instances can be connected to DAS Economy Edition.

Medium plan

USD 21.4286 per month

Up to 50 database instances can be connected to DAS Economy Edition.

Advanced plan

USD 42.8571 per month

The number of database instances that can be connected to DAS Economy Edition is not limited.

DAS Basic Edition

You are not charged for DAS Basic Edition.