Simple Application Server uses a subscription billing model. This page covers what you're charged for, how expiration and overdue payments affect your service, and where to manage renewals, refunds, and bills.
Billable items
Plan fees
Every Simple Application Server instance requires a plan. Plans are billed by subscription only — pay upfront when you create the instance. For current plan prices, see the product purchase page.
Data disk fees
Attaching a data disk to your instance incurs an additional subscription charge based on disk size (GiB) and duration.
The data disk expires on the same date as the instance it is attached to. It cannot be detached from the instance.
Excess data transfer fees
If your plan includes a data transfer quota and you exceed it, the excess is billed at a pay-as-you-go rate.
Plans labeled Unlimited Data Transfer have no data transfer quota and never incur excess data transfer fees.
Related service fees
If you use other Alibaba Cloud services alongside your server, those services are billed separately. Common examples:
Certificate Management Service — Issue SSL/TLS certificates to enable HTTPS. Free trial Domain Validated (DV) certificates are available, along with paid DV, Organization Validated (OV), and Extended Validation (EV) certificates. For pricing details, see Billable items of Certificate Management Service.
Alibaba Cloud DNS — Bind and resolve domain names. Available in a Free Edition and paid Personal, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Ultimate editions. For pricing details, see Pricing.
Alibaba Cloud DNS is available in a Free Edition, and paid Personal, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Ultimate editions. For more information, see Pricing.
For a full list of billable items, see Billable items.
Expiration and overdue payments
When your instance expires or has an overdue payment, the service is suspended in stages. Alibaba Cloud sends a notification at each stage — renew promptly to avoid business disruptions.
| Stage | Trigger | Service status |
|---|---|---|
| Grace period | Instance expires or payment becomes overdue | Instance is stopped; you cannot access it |
| Release | Grace period ends without renewal | Instance and all associated resources — including snapshots and custom images — are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered |
To resume access at any stage before release, renew the instance. For the full timeline and instructions, see Expiration and overdue payments.
Renewal policy
After an instance expires, it is automatically stopped. If you don't renew within the grace period, the instance is automatically released along with all associated resources — including snapshots and custom images — and cannot be recovered.
Enable auto-renewal to avoid manual renewal and prevent accidental service interruptions. For instructions, see Renewal policy.
Refund policy
For a subscription Simple Application Server, you pay in advance based on the subscription duration. If you no longer need a resource that has not expired, you cannot release it on your own. You must submit a ticket to request the release.
Subscriptions are paid in advance. To stop using an unexpired instance, submit a ticket to request the release — you cannot release it directly from the console.
Query bills and usage
After purchasing an instance, view your spending details and resource usage in the billing console. For instructions, see Query bills and usage.