A comprehensive breakdown of all billable items - ApsaraDB RDS

ApsaraDB RDS charges for three categories of resources: RDS instance resources, value-added features, and third-party Alibaba Cloud services used alongside RDS.

Billable items at a glance:

Billable item	Billing unit	Applies to
Instance type	Per instance-hour (or per node-hour for Cluster Edition)	Subscription and pay-as-you-go instances
RCU	Per RCU per node-hour	Serverless instances
Storage capacity	Per GB per hour (or per subscription period)	All instance types
I/O burst	Per GB above free quota	Instances using premium performance disks
Data archiving	Per GB per hour	Instances using premium performance disks
Backup storage	Per GB above free quota	All instances
SQL Audit	Per GB	Instances with SQL Audit enabled
Database proxy	Per proxy	Instances using dedicated proxy
Cross-region backup	Per GB per hour (storage) + per GB (traffic)	Instances with cross-region backup enabled
Backup file download	Per GB (conversion) + per GB above free quota (outbound traffic)	On-demand

RDS instances

Choose a billing method

Billing method	How it works	Best for
Subscription	Pay upfront for a fixed term (monthly or annually). Lower unit price than pay-as-you-go.	Stable, predictable workloads
Pay-as-you-go	Billed per hour based on actual usage. No upfront commitment.	Variable or short-term workloads
Serverless	Computing resources scale automatically within a specified range; storage expands as data grows. Billed per RCU-hour and per GB-hour.	Unpredictable or intermittent workloads

For a full comparison, see Billing overview.

Instance type

Definition	Fees for the computing resource specifications of subscription or pay-as-you-go instances, including regular instances and read-only instances. The billing item appears on your bill as RDS Instance Type (rds_class) or Instance Type (ClassCode). Fees start as soon as the instance is created. If you change the instance type or adjust the number of nodes, the fee changes accordingly.
Billing formula	RDS Basic Edition and RDS High-availability Edition: Instance type fee = Unit price of the instance type x Duration<br><br>Cluster Edition: Instance type fee = Unit price per single node x Number of nodes x Duration
Billing method	Subscription or 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.

Unit price varies by region, database engine, and instance specifications. Check the ApsaraDB RDS buy page or your bill for current pricing.

RCU (serverless instances)

Definition	Fees for the computing resources of a serverless RDS instance. The billing item appears on your bill as RCU (rds_serverless_rcu). Fees are charged based on actual RCU consumption. When the instance is suspended, RCU fees stop.
Billing formula	RCU fee = Unit price per RCU (single node) x Number of RCUs used (single node) x Number of nodes x Duration
Billing method	Serverless

For RCU unit prices, see Serverless ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL fees.

Storage capacity

Definition	Fees for the storage capacity of subscription, pay-as-you-go, or serverless instances, including regular instances, read-only instances, and disaster recovery instances. The billing item appears on your bill as Storage Capacity (rds_storage) or Storage. Fees start as soon as the instance is created and change when you expand or reduce storage.
Billing formula	RDS Basic Edition and RDS High-availability Edition (subscription or pay-as-you-go): Storage fee = Unit price x Storage used x Duration<br><br>Cluster Edition (subscription or pay-as-you-go): Storage fee = Unit price per single node x Storage used per single node x Number of nodes x Duration<br><br>Serverless instances: Storage fee = Unit price per single node x Storage used per single node x Number of nodes x Duration
Billing method	Subscription, pay-as-you-go, and serverless

Definition

Fees for the storage capacity of subscription, pay-as-you-go, or serverless instances, including regular instances, read-only instances, and disaster recovery instances. The billing item appears on your bill as Storage Capacity (rds_storage) or Storage. Fees start as soon as the instance is created and change when you expand or reduce storage.

Billing formula

RDS Basic Edition and RDS High-availability Edition (subscription or pay-as-you-go): Storage fee = Unit price x Storage used x Duration<br><br>Cluster Edition (subscription or pay-as-you-go): Storage fee = Unit price per single node x Storage used per single node x Number of nodes x Duration<br><br>Serverless instances: Storage fee = Unit price per single node x Storage used per single node x Number of nodes x Duration

Billing method

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

Unit price varies by region, RDS edition, storage type, and billing method. The actual price shown in the ApsaraDB RDS console takes precedence.

Duration is calculated differently based on billing method:

Subscription: Duration equals the subscription term.

Pay-as-you-go or serverless: Duration is measured in billable hours, with a billing cycle of 1 hour.

Value-added features

Enabling or using a value-added feature generates additional fees billed by ApsaraDB RDS.

I/O burst for premium performance disks

Definition	Fees for I/O burst on instances using premium performance disks. Enabling the feature is free. Fees only apply when actual I/O burst exceeds the free quota. The billing item is I/O Burst (io_burst).
Billing formula	I/O burst fee = (Total I/O burst across all nodes - Free quota) x Unit price x Duration
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go

For the free quota, unit price, and feature details, see I/O burst for ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL and Billing of I/O burst for ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL.

Premium performance disk data archiving

Definition	Fees for data archived to Object Storage Service (OSS) from instances using premium performance disks. Enabling the feature is free. Fees apply to the volume of data archived. The billing item is OSS Storage Capacity (rds_oss_storage).
Billing formula	Data archiving fee = Archived data volume x Unit price x Duration
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go

For the unit price and feature details, see Data archiving for ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL and Billing of data archiving for ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL.

Backup storage

Regular backup storage

Definition	Fees for storing data backup files and log backup files. Alibaba Cloud provides a free storage quota. Fees apply only when total backup storage exceeds the free quota. The billing item is RDS Basic Backup Fee (backup_charged). The billing product is Relational database.
Free quota	Cloud disks: 200% of the instance's storage capacity<br>Local SSDs: 50% of the instance's storage capacity
Billing formula	Backup storage fee = (Total backup storage - Free quota) x Unit price x Duration
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go

For unit prices and tips on reducing backup costs, see Backup fees for ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL and .

Cross-region backup generates billing items under both the Relational database and Database Backup (DBS) products. For details, see Cross-region backup below. Backup storage for deleted instances and download of backup files are billed as Database Backup products. For more information, see Data Disaster Recovery: cross-region backup, backup storage for deleted instances, and download of backup files.

Full restoration (instance cloning)

Full restoration creates a new RDS instance from existing data and log backups. Standard instance type and storage fees apply to the new instance — no additional restoration fee is charged.

For instructions, see Restore PostgreSQL data网络费用网络费用Network traffic fees网络费用网络费用Network traffic fees.

Database and table restoration

Restoring specific databases or tables to the original RDS instance — whether from a backup set or to a point in time — is free.

For instructions, see Restore PostgreSQL databases and tables.

SQL Audit (DAS Enterprise V0)

Definition	Fees for storing SQL logs generated by the SQL Audit feature. Charges are based on log volume and storage duration. The billing item is SQL Audit (sql_collected). The billing product is Relational database.
Billing formula	SQL Audit fee = Unit price x Storage used by SQL logs x Duration
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go

For the unit price, see Billing. For feature details, see .

For DAS Enterprise Edition V3, V2, and V1, SQL Explorer and Audit fees belong to the Database Autonomy Service (DAS) billing product. See DAS: SQL Explorer and Audit below.

Database proxy

Definition	Fees for the database proxy feature. General-purpose proxies are free. Fees apply only when you select Dedicated proxy as the proxy type. Charges are based on proxy specifications and duration. The billing item is Number of database proxy instance shards (MaxscaleChargedSliceNum).
Billing formula	Database proxy fee = Unit price x Number of database proxies x Duration
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go

For the unit price, see . For feature details, see RDS PostgreSQL database proxy.

Public endpoint traffic

Connecting to an RDS instance over a public endpoint consumes Internet traffic. Currently, both inbound and outbound Internet traffic for public endpoint connections are free.

For details, see Enable or disable the public endpoint for an RDS PostgreSQL instance.

Other Alibaba Cloud services

Certain RDS features rely on other Alibaba Cloud services, which generate their own billing items.

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

Cross-region backup

Cross-region backup generates two separate billing items:

Definition	Traffic consumed during cross-region backup replication, and storage for the resulting backup files. Billing items: Cross-region backup storage (DdrOssStorageSize) and Traffic consumed by cross-region backups (NetworkOutDuplicationSize).
Billing product	DdrOssStorageSize: Relational database<br>NetworkOutDuplicationSize: Database Backup (DBS)
Billing formula	Cross-region backup storage fee = Unit price x Size of cross-region backup files x Duration<br><br>Traffic fee = Unit price x Amount of traffic consumed
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go
Cost reduction	A DBS network plan can offset NetworkOutDuplicationSize fees for subscription or pay-as-you-go instances.

For unit prices, see Cross-region backup for PostgreSQL and Network fees. For feature details, see Cross-region backup for PostgreSQL.

Download of backup files

Downloading backup files generates fees under the Database Backup (DBS) billing product.

Definition	Fees for outbound Internet traffic when downloading backup files (outbound traffic over Internet (NetworkOutSize)), plus fees for backup set conversion when using the advanced download feature (traffic consumed for the backup set conversion (BackupAnalyticSize)).
Billing formula	Backup set conversion fee = Unit price x Size of backup sets converted<br><br>Outbound Internet traffic fee = Unit price x (Amount of traffic - Free quota)
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go
Cost reduction	A DBS network plan can offset NetworkOutSize fees for subscription or pay-as-you-go instances.

For unit prices, see Download backup. For instructions, see .

DAS: SQL Explorer and Audit

SQL Explorer and Audit fees for DAS Enterprise Edition V3, V2, and V1 belong to the Database Autonomy Service (DAS) billing product.

Enterprise Edition V3

Important

Enterprise Edition V3 uses feature-based billing, which offers more flexibility and lower costs than V1/V2. Log traffic fees apply by default when V3 is activated. Additional fees are charged only for the specific features you enable.

Data migration from Enterprise Edition V1 or V2 to V3 is free. Charges follow the source version before migration and the destination version after completion. See the FAQ for details.

Billing method overview

Billing examples

The following examples show estimated daily costs for two common scenarios.

O&M scenario

This scenario supports comprehensive SQL log recording and cluster analysis for quick SQL issue resolution and in-depth optimization. See for feature details.

Setup: 10 GB of daily write traffic; SQL Log Storage duration set to 30 days; Log Indexing hot storage set to 7 days.

The SQL Log Storage duration is the total time logs are retained, defaulting to cold storage. When log indexing is enabled, new logs are stored in hot storage for the specified duration (for example, 7 days), then automatically moved to cold storage for the remaining period (23 days in this example).

Feature	Billing item	Daily unit price (Alibaba Cloud public cloud, Chinese mainland)	Daily usage	Daily fee
SQL logs	Log traffic (DataIngestion)	0.24 CNY/GB	10 GB	2.4 CNY
	Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)	0.003 CNY/GB/day	10 GB on day 1, 20 GB on day 2, ... 230 GB on day 23	0 (free for 30 days)
Log indexing	Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics)	0.24 CNY/GB	10 GB	2.4 CNY
	Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)	0.01 CNY/GB/day	10 GB on day 1, 20 GB on day 2, ... 70 GB on day 7	10 x (7 - 1) x 0.01 = 0.6 CNY (free on day 1)
SQL Explorer	Insight analysis (InsightAnalysis)	0.08 CNY/GB	10 GB	0.8 CNY

Audit and compliance scenario

This scenario meets bank-level security compliance and regulatory requirements, offering continuous database behavior monitoring with real-time alerts for abnormal access, vulnerability attacks, and data breaches. See Security Audit (new version) for feature details.

Setup: 10 GB of daily write traffic; SQL Log Storage duration set to 180 days to meet regulatory requirements in the Chinese mainland.

The SQL Log Storage duration is the total retention time for SQL logs, defaulting to cold storage.

To comply with regulations in the Chinese mainland, cold storage duration must be at least 180 days.

Feature	Billing item	Daily unit price (Alibaba Cloud public cloud, Chinese mainland)	Daily usage	Daily fee
SQL logs	Log traffic (DataIngestion)	0.24 CNY/GB	10 GB	2.4 CNY
	Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)	0.003 CNY/GB/day	10 GB on day 1, 20 GB on day 2, ... 1,800 GB on day 180	10 x (180 - 30) x 0.003 = 4.5 CNY (free for the first 30 days)
Security audit	Security audit (SecurityAudit)	0.48 CNY/GB	10 GB	4.8 CNY

Public cloud pricing

Billing item	Billing method	Chinese mainland	Hong Kong (China) and regions outside China	Description
Log traffic (DataIngestion)	Pay-as-you-go	0.04 USD/GB	0.06 USD/GB	Default fee. Charged for traffic consumed when collecting, transferring, and writing logs to storage.
Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics)	Pay-as-you-go	0.04 USD/GB	0.06 USD/GB	Charged after you enable log indexing. Log indexes are stored as hot data. Logs can be stored in hot storage free of charge for one day.
SQL Explorer (InsightAnalysis)	Pay-as-you-go	0.0134 USD/GB	0.02 USD/GB	Charged for automatic data aggregation and analysis based on log volume.
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	0.00167 USD/GB/day	0.0025 USD/GB/day	Charged based on log volume and storage duration. Free on the first day after logs are written. Logs are automatically moved to cold storage after the specified hot storage duration (maximum 7 days).
Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	0.0005 USD/GB/day	0.00075 USD/GB/day	Default fee. Charged based on log volume and storage duration. Free quota: 30 days when hot storage is disabled; reduced by the hot storage duration when hot storage is enabled.
Cold query (SqlScanDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	0.0025 USD/GB	0.00375 USD/GB	Charged for querying logs in cold storage offline, based on log volume.
Data export and dump (SqlScanDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	0.067 USD/GB	0.1 USD/GB	Charged for data exporting and dumping. Currently free.
Security audit (SecurityAudit)	Pay-as-you-go	0.08 USD/GB	0.12 USD/GB	Charged for the security audit feature based on log volume.

Billable item	Billing method	Unit price in the Chinese mainland	Unit price in China (Hong Kong) and regions outside China	Description
Log traffic (DataIngestion)	Pay-as-you-go	USD 0.04 per GB	USD 0.06 per GB	Default fee. You are charged for the traffic consumed for collecting, transferring, and writing logs to storage on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics)		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 after they are written to hot storage;
You are charged for automatic data aggregation and analysis by using the SQL Explorer feature based on the log volume.
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)		You are charged for hot storage based on the log volume and storage duration. Logs can be stored in hot storage for up to seven days. 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 transferred to cold storage free of charge after the hot storage period expires.
Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)		Default fee. You are charged for cold storage based on the log volume and storage duration. If hot storage is not enabled, logs are stored only in cold storage, and you are not charged for the first 30 days. If hot storage is enabled: New logs are first stored in hot storage (free on the first day), and you are charged for hot storage during the storage period (`hot storage duration - first day`). After the hot storage period expires, logs are automatically transferred to cold storage for free, and you are not charged during the cold storage period (`30 days - hot storage duration`).
You are charged for querying logs in cold storage offline based on the log volume.
You can export and dump logs free of charge.
Security audit (SecurityAudit)		Charged based on log volume when using the new Security Audit feature.

Enterprise Edition V2

Public cloud pricing

Billing item	Billing method	Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta)	Hong Kong (China) and Singapore	Description
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	0.00145 USD/GB/hour	0.002175 USD/GB/hour	SQL Explorer and Audit data from the previous 7 days is stored in high-performance hot storage for faster queries.
Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	0.00018 USD/GB/hour	0.00027 USD/GB/hour	Data older than 7 days is automatically moved from hot storage to cold storage. Cold data queries have longer response times.
Data query fee (SqlScanDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	0.029 USD/GB	0.0435 USD/GB	Charged for querying data in cold storage.
Security audit (SecurityAudit)	Pay-as-you-go	0.08 USD/GB	0.12 USD/GB	Optional. Charged for the security audit feature based on log volume.

Enterprise Edition V1 and V0

Important

Enterprise Edition V1 incurs subscription fees only.

Billing item	Billing method	Pricing	Description
Subscription costs	Subscription	USD 6.2 per instance-month	Billed based on the DAS Enterprise Edition V1 quota — the total number of database instances for which you can enable DAS Enterprise Edition V1. For example, if the quota is 3 and only 1 instance has DAS enabled, the monthly fee is 6.2 x 3 = USD 18.6/month.
Storage fees for SQL Explorer (sql_storage_used)	Pay-as-you-go	Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta): 5 GB free; USD 0.0013 per GB-hour for excess storage	Free storage is available for DAS Enterprise Edition V1 only.
	Pay-as-you-go	Hong Kong (China) and Singapore: 3 GB free; USD 0.0019 per GB-hour for excess storage	Free storage is available for DAS Enterprise Edition V1 only.
Security audit (SecurityAudit)	Pay-as-you-go	Chinese mainland: USD 0.08 per GB<br>Hong Kong (China) and regions outside China: USD 0.12 per GB	Optional. Charged for the security audit feature based on log volume.

Economy Edition

Plan	Billing method	Price	Capacity
Basic plan	Subscription	USD 7.5714 per month	Up to 10 database instances
Medium plan	Subscription	USD 21.4286 per month	Up to 50 database instances
Advanced plan	Subscription	USD 42.8571 per month	No limit

Basic Edition

Complimentary.

Billable item	Billing method	Unit price in the Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta)	Unit price in China (Hong Kong) and Singapore	Description
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	USD 0.00145 per GB-hour	USD 0.002175 per GB-hour	Data is stored in high-performance storage devices, providing query acceleration and SQL aggregation information 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 usage costs. SQL Explorer and audit data older than seven days is automatically transferred 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 fee (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.