This topic describes the billing rules, billable items, and billing examples for serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances.
To ensure product stability and improve the user experience, Alibaba Cloud will discontinue the sale of serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances starting November 3, 2025. On June 1, 2026, technical support for these instances will end. This support includes, but is not limited to, new feature iterations and fixes for technical issues. To ensure your service continuity, transform your serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances into pay-as-you-go instances as soon as possible.
Billing rules
The fees for a serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance consist of charges for RDS Capacity Units (RCUs) and storage space. The number of billable RCUs ranges from 2 to 16. You are billed hourly for your instance's RCU usage and storage space.
You are billed for the maximum storage capacity that you select at the time of purchase, even if your actual usage is lower.
If your storage space is insufficient, you can manually scale it out. You cannot scale in the storage space after it has been scaled out. You are billed based on the storage capacity after the scale-out.
Unit prices
Billable item | Unit price |
RCU (RDS Capacity Unit) |
|
Storage costs | ESSD PL1 disk: USD 0.0008 per GB-hour |
Fee components
Total fees for a serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance = RCU fees + Storage costs + (Optional) Other fees
Other fees are optional. For example, you are billed for basic backup storage costs for the serverless instance based on actual usage. For more information, see Billing.
Billing example
For example, you purchase a serverless ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance in the Singapore region. The instance has a compute specification of 2 to 8 RCUs and 200 GB of storage space. Over one day, the instance runs at 8 RCUs for 1 peak hour and at 2 RCUs for the remaining 23 hours. If the unit price is USD 0.288 per RCU-hour and the storage price is USD 0.0008 per GB-hour, the fees for that day are calculated as follows:
RCU fees: (0.288 × 1 × 8) + (0.288 × 23 × 2) = USD 15.552
Storage costs: 0.0008 × 24 × 200 = USD 3.84
Total fees = USD 15.552 + USD 3.84 = USD 19.392.
The preceding example is for reference only. Your actual fees are specified on your bill.
Billing based on instance status
Instance status | RCU fees | Storage costs |
Pausing | Billed | Billed |
Paused | Not billed | Billed |
Starting | Not billed | Billed |
Running | Billed | Billed |