WAF lets you upgrade your instance edition, purchase additional value-added services, or adjust service specifications up or down. This topic covers what you can change, how billing works, and how to complete each operation.
Key difference: Upgrades take effect immediately. Downgrades are limited to once per calendar month.
Upgrade an instance
What you can upgrade
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Edition | Move from a lower edition to a higher one. Editions from lowest to highest: Basic, Pro, Enterprise, Ultimate. |
| Value-added services | Purchase multi-cloud/hybrid cloud protection, Bot Management for Web, Bot Management for App, API security, extended QPS, burstable QPS, additional domains, exclusive IP addresses, intelligent load balancing, Simple Log Service, risk identification, and traffic spike throttling. |
| Service specifications | Scale up purchased value-added services, including additional nodes for multi-cloud/hybrid cloud protection, extended QPS, burstable QPS, additional domains, exclusive IP addresses, and log storage capacity. |
Billing
Pay the price difference between your current and new configuration. The upgrade takes effect immediately.
The final fee is the amount shown on the upgrade page in the console.
Upgrade your instance
Log on to the WAF 3.0 console. In the top menu bar, select the resource group and region (Chinese Mainland or Outside Chinese Mainland) for your WAF instance.
In the left navigation pane, click Overview.
On the Overview page, locate the instance information card in the upper-right corner and click Upgrade Now.
You can also click Upgrade next to Protected Domain Names, QPS, or Exclusive IP Addresses, or click Upgrade for Intelligent Load Balancing.
Select the configuration you want, read and accept the Terms of Service, and click Purchase Now.
Downgrade an instance
WAF 3.0 does not support downgrading the instance edition. You can only reduce specifications within your current edition. For example, you cannot move from Enterprise to Pro, but you can reduce the number of additional domains within your Enterprise subscription.
You can downgrade only once per calendar month.
Limitations
You cannot reduce Additional Domains, Exclusive IP Addresses, or Additional Protection Nodes that are already in use.
Example: Your Pro instance includes 5 free domains, and you purchased 10 Additional Domains. If you have added 7 domains in total, 2 extra domains are in use. The minimum you can downgrade to is 2 additional domains.
What you can downgrade
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Service specifications | Reduce extended QPS, burstable QPS, additional domains, exclusive IP addresses, log storage capacity, and multi-cloud/hybrid cloud WAF nodes. |
| Value-added services | Disable services you no longer need. See the table below for the method required per service. |
Method required to disable value-added services:
| Method | Services |
|---|---|
| Submit a ticket | Bot Management for Web, Bot Management for App, API security |
| Disable directly in the console | Intelligent load balancing, traffic spike throttling |
For Bot Management for Web, Bot Management for App, and API security, you cannot disable these services from the console. Submit a ticket before starting your downgrade.
Potential impacts
Review these impacts before downgrading, and take the recommended steps to avoid service disruption.
QPS reduction
Lowering additional QPS or burstable QPS (pay-as-you-go) increases the likelihood that your instance enters the sandbox. Before downgrading, evaluate your QPS requirements based on your actual traffic volume and confirm the new limit is sufficient. For details, see Sandbox feature.
Log storage reduction
If your current log usage exceeds the new capacity limit after the downgrade, new log data cannot be written, resulting in incomplete logs. The minimum purchasable capacity for Simple Log Service is 3 TB — you cannot downgrade below this limit. Before downgrading, check your current log storage usage and confirm the new limit is sufficient.
Refunds
When you downgrade, you receive a refund for the unused portion of your original order. The consumed amount is calculated by prorating the fee for the usage duration and then multiplying by 1.5.
For more details on how refunds are calculated, see Unsubscription rules for international sites.
Downgrade your instance
Log on to the WAF 3.0 console. In the top menu bar, select the resource group and region (Chinese Mainland or Outside Chinese Mainland) for your WAF instance.
In the left navigation pane, click Overview.
On the Overview page, in the instance basic information card in the upper-right corner, click More and then click Downgrade.
In the Downgrade panel, select the configuration you want, read and accept the Terms of Service, and click Purchase Now.