This topic describes the billing methods and billable components of ApsaraDB RDS.
Billing methods
Subscription
Definition: This billing method lets you use resources of your choosing for a specified period of time on an upfront payment. Longer subscription periods offer more savings.
Scenarios: You have long-running, predictable workloads.
Billing method change: You can change the billing method of an RDS instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go. For more information, see Change the billing method of an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go.
Specification changes: The price for a subscription RDS instance before and after a specification change may be different. You may need to pay the price difference or receive a refund. For more information, see Change instance specifications.
Renewal: You need to renew an expired subscription RDS instance within a specific period of time if you want to continue using it. After this period of time, instance resources such as CPU cores, memory, and disks are released, and the data stored in the RDS instance is deleted. For more information, see Renewal policy.
Pay-as-you-go
Definition: This billing method allows you to use resources before you pay for them. After you create a pay-as-you-go RDS instance, fees for the instance are calculated based on the resources that you use and are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account every hour.
Scenarios: You have short-term workloads. If you no longer require a pay-as-you-go RDS instance, you can release the instance to reduce costs.
Billing method change:
You can change the billing method of an RDS instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription. For more information, see Change the billing method of an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription.
You cannot change the billing method from pay-as-you-go to serverless. If you want to create a serverless RDS instance, you can follow the instructions provided in Create a serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance.
Specification changes: Pay-as-you-go RDS instances are billed on an hourly basis. If you change the specifications of a pay-as-you-go RDS instance, you are billed based on the price of the new specifications. For more information, see Change instance specifications.
If your Alibaba Cloud account has overdue payments, RDS instances that do not use the subscription billing method and belong to your Alibaba Cloud account become overdue. For more information, see Overdue payments.
Serverless
Definition: A serverless RDS instance is not billed based on instance types, but based on the actual amount of resources used each hour. Resources are measured in RDS Capacity Units (RCUs). For more information, see Overview of serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances.
Scenarios: You have intermittent or unpredictable workloads.
Billing method change: You cannot change the billing method from serverless to pay-as-you-go or subscription.
Specification changes: The specifications of a serverless RDS instance cannot be manually changed. During the use of the instance, the system automatically scales the RCUs to suit your workloads.
If your Alibaba Cloud account has overdue payments, RDS instances that do not use the subscription billing method and belong to your Alibaba Cloud account become overdue. For more information, see Overdue payments.
Billable items
The basic fee of an RDS instance is:
Total fee = computing resources fee + storage resources fee
Computing resources
Billable item | Description | Billing method |
Instance type | Determines the number of CPU cores and the amount of memory provisioned | Subscription, Pay-as-you-go |
RCU | The computing resource unit for serverless instances. One RCU delivers performance equivalent to RDS Basic Edition with 2 GB of memory. | Serverless |
Storage resources
Billable item | Description | Billing method |
Storage capacity | Charged for the storage provisioned across primary, secondary, read-only, and disaster recovery instances. Price varies by storage type. See the ApsaraDB RDS buy page for pricing. | Subscription, Pay-as-you-go |
In addition to the items above, ApsaraDB RDS provides value-added options. See Billable items for the full list.
Estimate your cost: On the ApsaraDB RDS buy page, configure the parameters — Billing Method, Region, Database Engine, Edition, Architecture, Storage Type, Zone, Deployment Method, Instance Type, and Storage Capacity — and the estimated price and applicable discounts appear in the lower-right corner.
If you set the Billing Method parameter to Subscription, you must configure the Subscription Duration parameter. Longer subscription durations provide more savings.
View billing details
To view costs broken down by billable item — such as instance type, performance monitoring, and SQL Audit — see View your bills.