You are charged for using flow logs. This topic describes the billing of flow logs.
Billable items
When you use flow logs, you are charged Simple Log Service usage fees and log generation fees.
Log generation fees
Virtual private cloud (VPC) flow logs are delivered to Simple Log Service for log analytics. The fee incurred during this process is the log generation fee.
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.
Flow log tiers (each month) | Pricing (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 |
10 TB=10240 GB
Log usage fee
The traffic information collected by a flow log is stored in Simple Log Service. You can view and analyze the information in Simple Log Service. You are charged for data storage and retrieval when you use SLS. For more information, see Billing of SLS.
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 SLS.
Each Alibaba Cloud account has a free quota of 5 GB per month in each region. Therefore, you are charged only the SLS 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 SLS.
Log generation fee = (100 - 5) × 0.37 = USD 35.15. Total fee = USD 35.15 + SLS 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 SLS.
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
10 Log generation fee for 10 TB to 30 TB (including 30 TB) = 20 × 1,024 × 0.185 = USD 3,788.8
30 Log generation fee for 30 TB to 50 TB (including 50 TB) = 20 × 1,024 × 0.074 = USD 1,515.52
50 Log generation fee for 50 TB to 60 TB (including 60 TB) = 10 × 1,024 × 0.037 = USD 378.88
Total log generation fee = 3,786.95 + 3,788.8 + 1,515.52 + 378.88 = USD 9,470.15. Total fee = USD 9470.15 + SLS usage fee.
Complete overdue payments and top up your account balance
Overdue payments
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.
Renewal
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.
If the outstanding amount is not paid 15 days after the VPC flow log is suspended, the VPC flow log is automatically deleted. An email notification is sent to you one day before the VPC flow log is deleted. After the VPC flow log is deleted, the configurations and data of the VPC flow log are deleted and cannot be recovered.