Pricing of ApsaraDB RDS: billable items - ApsaraDB RDS - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

The billable items for ApsaraDB RDS include RDS instance fees, value-added service fees, and fees for other related Alibaba Cloud services. This topic describes the definitions, billing formulas, and billing methods for these items.

RDS instances

Based on the billing method, RDS instances are classified into two types:

Subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances: When you purchase this type of instance, you must specify the compute resources and storage capacity. After the purchase, you are charged for the RDS instance type and storage capacity.
Serverless instances automatically scale their compute resources within a specified range based on your workload and their storage capacity based on your data volume. You are charged for RCUs and storage capacity.

When you purchase a subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instance, you must specify the compute resources and storage capacity. You are then billed for the RDS instance type and storage capacity.

RDS instance type

Category	Description
Definition	Fees for the compute resource specifications of subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances. This includes regular instances, read-only instances, disaster recovery instances.The billable item is named RDS Instance Type (rds_class) or Instance Type (ClassCode). After you create an instance, fees are generated for this billable item. An increase or decrease in the instance's compute resource specifications typically changes the fees for this item.
Billing formula	Basic Edition and High-availability Edition: RDS instance type fee = Unit price of the instance type × Duration Cluster Edition: RDS instance type fee = Primary instance type fee + Read-only instance type fee Note The unit price of an RDS instance type varies by region, database engine, and specifications. Refer to the product page and your bills for details.
Billing method	Subscription or pay-as-you-go.

RCU for serverless instances

Category	Description
Definition	Fees for the compute resources of a serverless RDS instance. The billable item is named RCU (rds_serverless_rcu). After you create a serverless instance, fees are generated for this billable item based on the actual RCU usage. If you pause the instance, billing for this item also pauses.
Billing formula	RCU fee = Unit price per RCU on a single node × RCU usage on a single node × Number of nodes × Duration RCU fee = Unit price per RCU × RCU usage × Duration Note For RCU unit prices, see , , or Serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server fees.
Billing method	Serverless.

Storage capacity

Category	Description
Definition	Fees for the storage capacity of subscription, pay-as-you-go, or serverless RDS instances. This includes regular instances, read-only instances, and disaster recovery instances. The billable item is named Storage Capacity (rds_storage or Storage). After you create an instance, fees are generated for this billable item. An increase or decrease in the instance's storage capacity changes the fees for this item.
Billing formula	Storage capacity fee = Unit price of instance storage × Instance storage capacity × Duration Note The unit price of RDS storage capacity varies by region, product series, storage type, and billing method. The price displayed in the console prevails. The duration in the formula varies based on the billing method. For subscription instances, the duration is the subscription duration. For pay-as-you-go or serverless instances, the duration is the billable hours. The billing cycle is 1 hour.
Billing method	Subscription, pay-as-you-go, and serverless.

RDS value-added services

RDS value-added services are paid features. You are charged for these features only after you enable or use them. The billable product for RDS value-added services is ApsaraDB RDS.

disk data archiving

Category	Description
Definition	Fees for the archived data volume of an RDS instance that uses ESSDs. Enabling data archiving is free. However, after it is enabled, data archived to Object Storage Service (OSS) incurs OSS bucket (rds_oss_storage) fees. For more information, see Data archiving for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server.
Billing formula	disk data archiving fee = Archived data volume × Unit price of data archiving × Duration Note For the unit price of data archiving, see , , or Billing of data archiving for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server.
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go.

Regular and archived backups

Regular backup storage

Category	Description
Definition	Data and log backups are stored in the backup space provided by Alibaba Cloud. Alibaba Cloud offers a free backup quota. If your backup storage exceeds the free quota, the excess amount is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. The billable item is named RDS Basic Backup Fee (backup_charged). For more information, see Back up ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server data.
Billable product	Relational database.
Billing formula	Backup storage fee = (Total backup size - Free backup quota) × Unit price of backup storage × Duration Note Free backup quota : The free quota for cloud disk instances is 200% of the storage capacity. The free quota for instances with Premium Local SSDs is 50% of the storage capacity. For the unit price of backup storage, see , , ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server backup fees, or . To reduce backup costs and size, see , Reduce ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server backup costs, , or .
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go.

Note

The billable items for cross-region backups are billed under the ApsaraDB and Database Backup products. For more information, see Data disaster recovery: cross-region backup, backup storage for deleted instances, and backup download.
backup downloads are billed under the Database Backup product. For more information, see Data disaster recovery: cross-region backup, backup storage for deleted instances, and backup download.

Full restoration and regular database and table restoration

Restore full data (clone instance)

When you restore data to a new instance using the data and log backups of the original instance, you are charged for the new instance's RDS instance type and storage capacity.

For more information, see Restore SQL Server data.

SQL Audit (DAS Enterprise Edition V0)

Category	Description
Definition	Storage fees for SQL audit logs. After you enable SQL Audit, you are billed based on the storage space occupied by the SQL audit logs and the storage duration. The billable item is named SQL Audit (sql_collected). For more information, see , SQL Explorer and Audit for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server, or .
Billable product	Relational database.
Billing formula	SQL Audit fee = Unit price × Storage space × Duration Note For the unit price of SQL Audit, see , , or Billing.
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go.

Note

For the SQL Explorer and Audit feature provided by DAS Enterprise Edition V3, V2, or V1, the billable product is Database Autonomy Service. For more information, see DAS: SQL Explorer and Audit.

Public endpoint traffic

If you apply for and use a public endpoint to connect to your RDS instance, outbound traffic over the Internet is generated. Currently, both inbound and outbound traffic over the Internet for connecting to an RDS instance using a public endpoint is free of charge.

For more information, see , Enable or disable the public endpoint for an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance, , or .

Services and billing from other Alibaba Cloud products

RDS integrates services from other Alibaba Cloud products. When you use the following features, billable items from other Alibaba Cloud products are generated.

Data disaster recovery: cross-region backup, backup storage for deleted instances, and backup download

Cross-region backup

Category	Description
Definition	Cross-region backups incur backup storage fees and network fees. The billable items are as follows: Geo-redundant storage (DdrOssStorageSize) and cross-region backup network traffic (NetworkOutDuplicationSize). For more information, see Cross-region backup for PostgreSQL.
Billable product	Geo-redundancy (DdrOssStorageSize): ApsaraDB. Cross-region backup network traffic (NetworkOutDuplicationSize): Database Backup.
Billing formula	Geo-redundancy fee = Unit price of geo-redundancy × Geo-redundancy storage size × Duration Cross-region backup network fee = Unit price of network traffic × Traffic usage Note For the unit price of geo-redundancy, see , , or Cross-region backup for ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server. For the unit price of network traffic, see or Network fees.
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go.
Offset by savings plans or resource plans	DBS network plans can offset fees for Cross-region backup network traffic (NetworkOutDuplicationSize) on subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances.

Download backup

Category	Description
Definition	Fees generated when you download RDS instance backups. This includes outbound traffic over Internet (NetworkOutSize) fees. For more information, see , Download ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server backups, or .
Billable product	Database Backup.
Billing formula	Backup calculation data volume fee = Unit price × Backup calculation data volume Outbound traffic over Internet fee = Unit price × (Traffic usage - Free quota) Note For the unit price of backup calculation data volume (also called the backup conversion fee unit price) and the unit price for outbound traffic over the Internet generated by downloading backups, see Download backups.
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go.
Can be offset by savings plans or resource plans	DBS network plans can offset the outbound traffic over Internet (NetworkOutSize) fees for subscription or pay-as-you-go RDS instances.

DAS: SQL Explorer and Audit

The billable items for DAS Enterprise Edition V3, V2, and V1 are billed under the Database Autonomy Service product.

Billing details

DAS Agent

Chinese mainland regions

Edition	Max managed instances	Max agents	Character usage	Concurrency limit	List price
Basic Edition	10	1	Billed monthly with overage charges.	1	USD 15/month. Includes a 100,000-character usage quota. Usage that exceeds the quota is billed at USD 0.00021 per character.
Enterprise Edition-SAAS	20	Unlimited	Unlimited usage	3	USD 1,500/month
	40			3	USD 3,000/month
	60			3	USD 4,500/month
	80			3	USD 6,000/month
	100			3	USD 7,500/month
	200			3	USD 15,000/month
	300			3	USD 22,500/month
	400			3	USD 30,000/month
	500			5	USD 37,500/month
	600			5	USD 45,000/month
	700			5	USD 52,500/month
	800			5	USD 60,000/month
	900			5	USD 67,500/month
	1000			5	USD 75,000/month

Other regions

Edition	Max managed instances	Max agents	Character usage	Concurrency limit	List price
Basic Edition	10	1	Billed monthly with overage charges.	1	USD 30/month. Includes a 100,000-character usage quota. Usage that exceeds the quota is billed at USD 0.00021 per character.
Enterprise Edition-SAAS	20	Unlimited	Unlimited usage	3	USD 2,250/month
	40			3	USD 4,500/month
	60			3	USD 6,750/month
	80			3	USD 9,000/month
	100			3	USD 11,250/month
	200			3	USD 22,500/month
	300			3	USD 33,750/month
	400			3	USD 45,000/month
	500			5	USD 56,250/month
	600			5	USD 67,500/month
	700			5	USD 78,750/month
	800			5	USD 90,000/month
	900			5	USD 101,250/month
	1000			5	USD 112,500/month

Monthly fee for the Basic Edition
- The monthly fee includes a usage quota of 100,000 characters. Unused characters are cleared at the end of the month and cannot be rolled over to the next month or refunded.
- If you unsubscribe early, the monthly fee is refunded on a pro-rata basis, deducting the cost for the days the service was used. For example, in regions other than China (Shanghai), if the monthly fee is USD 30, the month has 30 days, and you have used the service for 10 days, you will receive a refund of USD 20 upon unsubscription.
- The character count in DAS Agent includes all characters in questions, answers, and O&M reports, such as letters, numbers, punctuation, spaces, and line feeds.
- To provide a "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) experience, DAS Agent uses character-based billing instead of token-based metering. For example, when you ask if an instance is abnormal, DAS Agent may check multiple metrics, such as CPU utilization, I/O, queries per second (QPS), transactions per second (TPS), and memory. It may also review slow SQL lists, lock analysis results, and even security risk detection results. The agent's inference determines the specific checks performed, which typically cover these common issue types. This process can consume a large number of tokens. If an issue is found, the response can be thousands of characters long. If no issues are found, the response might be as short as "This instance has no exceptions in its current state." To provide a more intuitive understanding of usage, we bill by the number of characters in the Q&A. A typical Q&A session for SQL optimization or CPU utilization anomaly diagnosis consumes about 1,000 to 5,000 characters. An O&M report consumes about 5,000 characters. The Basic Edition monthly fee covers approximately 15 to 50 diagnoses or reports, depending on Q&A complexity. You can view the character usage of each historical conversation or O&M report on the DAS Agent details page.

O&M service (formerly Economy Edition)

Pricing: USD 45/month/instance

Note

Promotional price: USD 15/month/instance

Security services

Billable item	Billing object	Specification	Pricing	Description
Security management (SecurityManagement_Amount)	Number of instances	Unlimited	USD 20/instance/month	The security management feature provides a comprehensive database security solution. It unifies management of SSL certificates and allow lists and uses automated security baseline checks to continuously detect configuration risks, such as weak passwords and insecure backup or audit settings. This improves the security posture of your databases. Each instance consumes one security management quota.
Sensitive data detection (DCG_Amount)	Number of database tables (X)	0 to 50,000	USD 80 per 10,000 tables/month	Each table scanned by a detection task consumes one quota. The quota is consumed upon use and does not roll over to the next month. The unit price decreases as your usage increases. Note You receive a complimentary quota for 100 table scans to help you get started.
		60,000 to 100,000	USD 60 per 10,000 tables/month
		110,000 to 500,000	USD 40 per 10,000 tables/month
		510,000 or more	USD 20 per 10,000 tables/month
Column encryption (CLE_Amount)	Number of database columns (Y)	5	USD 498/month	You can encrypt columns identified as containing sensitive data. Encrypting a column consumes one quota. Decrypting a column restores the quota. The unit price decreases as your usage increases.
		10	USD 598/month
		15	USD 699/month
		20	USD 798/month
		25	USD 898/month
		30	USD 996/month
		35	USD 1,092/month
		40	USD 1,198/month
		45	USD 1,287/month
		50	USD 1,398/month
		51 to 100	USD 25/column/month
		101 to 200	USD 20/column/month
		201 to 300	USD 15/column/month
		301 to 400	USD 12/column/month
		401 to 500	USD 11/column/month
		501 to 600	USD 10/column/month
		601 to 700	USD 9/column/month
		701 to 800	USD 8/column/month
		801 to 900	USD 7/column/month
		901 to 1,000	USD 6/column/month
		More than 1,000	USD 5/column/month

Audit log (NoSQL compatible)

Billable item	Billing method	Daily unit price	Description
log traffic	pay-as-you-go	USD 0.04/GB	Default fee. This pay-as-you-go fee applies when logs are ingested into storage and covers basic processes like collection, transmission, and writing.
cold storage		USD 0.001042/GB/hour	Default fee. Cold storage fees are based on log volume and storage duration. If hot storage is disabled, all logs incur cold storage fees. If you enable hot storage: New logs are first stored in hot storage, incurring the hot storage fee for that period. After the hot storage period expires, the system automatically moves the data to cold storage at no extra cost.
log indexing		USD 0.04/GB	This fee applies when you enable the log indexing feature. The system stores indexed log data in hot storage. The system automatically adapts and creates optimized indexes to improve data read speed.
hot storage		USD 0.00133/GB/hour	Hot storage fees are based on log volume and storage duration. After the hot storage period expires, the system automatically moves the data to cold storage at no extra cost. Hot storage retains logs for a maximum of 7 days.

Billing example

Audit Log (NoSQL Compatible) provides features such as log queries, online analysis, and data exports. It helps security auditors quickly detect unusual data operations and identify who made changes and when. It also helps business systems meet security and compliance requirements and assists developers and O&M engineers in troubleshooting performance issues.

Suppose your instance ingests 10 GB of log data daily. You set the Select the storage duration of SQL logs. to 180 days, enable log indexing, and configure a hot storage period of 7 days for performance troubleshooting.

Note

The SQL Log Storage Duration is the total retention period for your SQL logs, which are stored in cold storage by default.
To meet compliance regulations in the Chinese mainland, the cold storage period must be at least 180 days.

Feature	Billable item	Daily unit price	Daily usage	Daily fee
SQL logs	log traffic	USD 0.04/GB	10 GB	USD 0.4
SQL logs	cold storage	USD 0.001042/GB/hour	Day 1: 10 GB Day 2: 20 GB ... Day 173: 1,730 GB	10 * (180 - 7) * 0.001042 * 24 = USD 43.25
log indexing	log indexing	USD 0.04/GB	10 GB	USD 0.4
log indexing	hot storage	USD 0.00133/GB/hour	After enabling the feature: Day 1: 10 GB Day 2: 20 GB ... Day 7: 70 GB (After 7 days, data in hot storage expires and is moved to cold storage.)	Daily fee from Day 7 onward: 10 * 7 * 0.00133 * 24 = USD 2.23

Note

The type of audit log records affects the volume of stored logs and their associated fees. You can customize the configuration after you enable this feature.

Enterprise Edition V3

Important

To meet the backup and recovery requirements for database audit logs required by regulations such as GDPR and China's Multi-Level Protection Scheme (MLPS), Enterprise Edition V3 enhances long-term storage (180 days or more) with multi-AZ backup, accidental deletion recovery, and long-term retention features.

Billing

Billable item	Billing method	Pricing in the Chinese mainland	Pricing in Hong Kong (China) and other regions	Description
Log traffic (DataIngestion)	pay-as-you-go	USD 0.04/GB	USD 0.06/GB	Default fee. This fee is for the volume of data ingested, covering collection, transmission, and writing to storage.
Log indexing (RealTimeSearchAnalytics)		USD 0.04/GB	USD 0.06/GB	This fee applies when you enable log indexing. Data for log indexing is stored in hot storage, where the system automatically creates optimized indexes to accelerate data reads. After logs are ingested into hot storage, no storage fee is charged for the first day.
SQL Explorer (InsightAnalysis)		USD 0.0134/GB	USD 0.02/GB	This fee is charged based on the amount of log data processed by SQL Explorer for automatic aggregation and analysis.
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)		USD 0.00167/GB/day	USD 0.0025/GB/day	The fee for hot storage is charged based on log volume and storage duration. Logs can be stored in hot storage for a maximum of 7 days. After logs are ingested into hot storage, no storage fee is charged for the first day. If you enable cold storage, logs are automatically moved from hot storage to cold storage for free when the hot storage period expires.
Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)		USD 0.0005/GB/day	USD 0.00075/GB/day	Default fee. The fee for cold storage is charged based on log volume and storage duration. If hot storage is not enabled, logs are stored only in cold storage. No storage fee is charged for the first 30 days. If you enable hot storage: Newly ingested logs are first stored in hot storage (free for the first day). You are charged for hot storage for the duration of (`Hot storage duration - 1 day`). After the hot storage period expires, logs are automatically moved to cold storage free of charge. No fee is charged during the subsequent cold storage period of (`30 days - Hot storage duration`).
Cold query (SqlScanDataSize)		USD 0.0025/GB	USD 0.00375/GB	This fee is based on the volume of data scanned during offline queries on logs in cold storage.
Download		USD 0.067/GB	USD 0.1/GB	The fee for exporting or dumping data is waived while this feature is in public preview.
Security audit (SecurityAudit)		USD 0.08/GB	USD 0.12/GB	When you use the new version of security audit, you are billed based on either a minimum charge (USD 0.1042/hour/instance) or the volume of logs processed, whichever is higher. Note If the fee calculated based on your actual log volume exceeds the minimum charge, you are billed for the log volume. Otherwise, the minimum charge applies. To view security audit bills, select AI-Native Database Service for Product Name and select Database Security Agent for Commodity Name.
Redacted log delivery (PSQLDelivery)		USD 0.1333/GB	USD 0.2/GB	When you use redacted log delivery, you are billed based on either a minimum charge (USD 2.5/day) or the volume of logs processed, whichever is higher. Note If the fee calculated based on your actual log volume exceeds the minimum charge, you are billed for the log volume. Otherwise, the minimum charge applies.
Insights delivery (InsightDelivery)		USD 0.06/hour	USD 0.09/hour	This fee is charged per hour when you use insights delivery.

Enterprise Edition V2

Billable item	Billing method	Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta) pricing	Hong Kong (China) and Singapore pricing	Description
Hot storage (SqlInsightHotDataSize)	Pay-as-you-go	USD 0.00145/GB/hour	USD 0.002175/GB/hour	Data is stored on high-performance devices for query acceleration and SQL aggregation. `SQL Explorer` and `audit data` from the last 7 days use the `hot storage` tier.
Cold storage (SqlInsightColdDataSize)		USD 0.00018/GB/hour	USD 0.00027/GB/hour	Data is stored on low-cost devices to reduce usage costs. The system automatically moves `SQL Explorer` and `audit data` older than 7 days from `hot storage` to `cold storage`. Queries on `cold storage` data are slower than queries on `hot storage` data.
Data query fee (SqlScanDataSize)		USD 0.029/GB	USD 0.0435/GB	A pay-as-you-go `data query fee` is charged for querying data in `cold storage`.
Security audit (SecurityAudit)		USD 0.08/GB	USD 0.12/GB	Optional. You can enable or disable this feature at any time. For the new version of `security audit`, you are billed for the greater of the `log volume` cost or a `minimum consumption` fee of USD 0.1042/hour/instance. Note The `minimum consumption` fee applies unless the usage-based fee for your `log volume` is higher. To view security audit bills, select AI-Native Database Service for Product Name and select Database Security Agent for Commodity Name.

Enterprise Edition V1 and V0

Important

Only Enterprise Edition V1 is billed on a subscription basis.

Billable item	Billing method	Pricing	Description
Subscription fee	subscription	USD 6.2/instance/month	The number of billable instances is your Enterprise Edition V1 quota, which is the total number of database instances eligible for DAS Professional Edition V1. For example, if your Enterprise Edition V1 quota is 3 and you have enabled DAS Professional Edition for 1 database instance, your subscription fee for DAS Professional Edition is `USD 6.2/month × 3 = USD 18.6/month`. Important Only Enterprise Edition V1 is billed on a subscription basis.
Storage fee for SQL Explorer (sql_storage_used)	pay-as-you-go	Free quota: 5 GB of storage. Important The free storage quota is available only for Enterprise Edition V1. Overage fee: USD 0.0013/GB/hour.	Pricing for the Chinese mainland, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Indonesia (Jakarta).
Storage fee for SQL Explorer (sql_storage_used)		Free quota: 3 GB of storage. Important The free storage quota is available only for Enterprise Edition V1. Overage fee: USD 0.0019/GB/hour.	Pricing for Hong Kong (China) and Singapore.
Security audit (SecurityAudit)		Chinese mainland: USD 0.08/GB. Hong Kong (China) and other regions: USD 0.12/GB.	Optional. You can enable or disable this feature separately. When you use the new security audit feature, you are billed based on either a minimum charge (USD 0.1042/hour/instance) or the volume of logs processed, whichever is higher. Note If the fee calculated based on your actual log volume exceeds the minimum charge, you are billed for the log volume. Otherwise, the minimum charge applies. To view security audit bills, select AI-Native Database Service for Product Name and select Database Security Agent for Commodity Name.