You are charged for using flow logs. This topic describes the billing of flow logs.
Billable items
You are charged Log Service usage fees and log generation fees when you use flow logs.
Total flow log fee = Log generation fee + Log Service usage feeLog generation fee
- Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) flow logs are delivered to Log Service for log analytics. The fee incurred during this process is the log generation fee.
- You are not charged a log generation fee until September 1, 2022.
- Fees are calculated and bills are generated on an hourly basis. A bill is generated about 3 to 4 hours after the end of a billing cycle. The time when bills are issued is determined by the system.
- You are charged log generation fees based on a tiered pricing model for the volume of logs generated per month in each region. Each Alibaba Cloud account has a free quota of 5 GB per month in each region.
The following table lists the prices for different tiers.
The prices in the following table are only for reference. The actual prices on the buy page shall prevail.
| Tier (per month) | Price (USD/GB) |
|---|---|
| 0 TB to 10 TB (including 10 TB) | 0.37 |
| 10 TB to 30 TB (including 30 TB) | 0.185 |
| 30 TB to 50 TB (including 50 TB) | 0.074 |
| More than 50 TB | 0.037 |
Log Service usage fee
The traffic information captured by a flow log is stored in Log Service. You can view and analyze the information in Log Service. You are charged for data storage and retrieval when you use Log Service. For more information, see Billing of Log Service.
Billing examples
- Example 1
Assume that you enable the flow log feature at 00:00:00 on September 1, 2022 in the China (Hangzhou) region. From 00:00:00 on September 1, 2022 to 00:00:00 on October 1, 2022, a total of 3 GB logs are shipped to Log Service.
Each Alibaba Cloud account has a free quota of 5 GB per month in each region. Therefore, you are charged only the Log Service usage fee for the month.
- Example 2
Assume that you enable the flow log feature at 00:00:00 on September 1, 2022 in the China (Shanghai) region. From 00:00:00 on September 1, 2022 to 00:00:00 on October 1, 2022, a total of 100 GB logs are shipped to Log Service.
Log generation fee = (100 - 5) × 0.37 = USD 35.15. Total fee = USD 35.15 + Log Service usage fee.
- Example 3
Assume that you enable the flow log feature at 00:00:00 on September 1, 2022 in the China (Beijing) region. From 00:00:00 on September 1, 2022 to 00:00:00 on October 1, 2022, a total of 60 TB logs are shipped to Log Service.
The log generation fee is calculated based on the following tiered pricing model:- Log generation fee for 0 TB to 10 TB (including 10 TB) = (10 × 1,024 - 5) × 0.37 = USD 3,786.95
- Log generation fee for 10 TB to 30 TB (including 30 TB) = 20 × 1,024 × 0.185 = USD 3,788.8
- Log generation fee for 30 TB to 50 TB (including 50 TB) = 20 × 1,024 × 0.074 = USD 1,515.52
- Log generation fee for 50 TB to 60 TB (including 60 TB) = 10 × 1,024 × 0.037 = USD 378.88
Overdue payments and top-ups
Top-ups
- A VPC flow log continues to provide services within 15 days after the payment becomes overdue.
- If you do not complete the payment within 15 days after the payment becomes overdue, the VPC flow log is suspended. You cannot manage a suspended VPC flow log.
- If you top up your Alibaba Cloud account within 15 days after a payment becomes overdue, your service is not interrupted.
- If you top up your account balance within 30 days after a payment becomes overdue, the system automatically pays the amount due. After the overdue payment is completed, the flow logs automatically resume services.