This topic describes the billing methods, billable items, and billing-related operations of ApsaraDB for SelectDB. This helps you quickly understand the billing information about SelectDB.
Billing methods
ApsaraDB for SelectDB supports the subscription and pay-as-you-go billing methods. The following table describes the billing methods.
Billing method | Description | Scenario |
Subscription | You must complete the payment when you create an instance or a cluster. A subscription instance can be changed to a pay-as-you-go instance. For more information, see Change the billing method of an instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go. | For long-term usage, this billing method is more cost-effective than the pay-as-you-go billing method. You are charged lower prices for longer subscription durations. |
Pay-as-you-go | After you create an instance or a cluster, you are charged on an hourly basis. Alibaba Cloud deducts the fee for the actual usage of the pay-as-you-go instance from your account balance. A pay-as-you-go instance can be changed to a subscription instance. For more information, see Change the billing method of an instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription. | This billing method is suitable for scenarios in which you want to temporarily use the instance or use the instance for a short period of time. If you no longer require the cluster or instance, you can immediately delete or release the cluster or instance to prevent additional costs. For example, you can use this billing method in the test phase. |
Billable items
The billable items of ApsaraDB for SelectDB include the computing resources, cache size, and storage resources. Computing resources support only the pay-as-you-go billing method. The cache size and storage resources support the subscription and pay-as-you-go billing methods. The following figure shows the billable items of ApsaraDB for SelectDB.
For more information, see Billable items and unit prices.