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    Container Service for Kubernetes:FAQ about billing

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    Container Service for Kubernetes:FAQ about billing

    Last Updated:Jan 21, 2025

    This topic provides answers to some frequently asked questions about resource billing of Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) clusters.

    Table of contents

    Category

    FAQ

    Billable items

    Billing method switching

    Cluster status

    Others

    Billable items

    What are the billable items of ACK managed cluster?

    The billable items of ACK managed clusters include cluster management and cloud resources.

    • Cluster management

      The cluster management fee is charged only for ACK Pro clusters. By default, this fee is charged based on the number of clusters and usage duration.

    • Cloud resources

      An ACK cluster may use the resources of other cloud services. For example, Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances can be used to deploy nodes in ACK clusters and elastic IP addresses (EIPs) can be used to enable communication over the Internet. The used cloud resources are billed based on the billing rules of the corresponding cloud services.

    After you configure the settings of the cluster, nodes, and components in the ACK console, you can view the billing configurations of the cluster. The following figure is an example.

    Note

    The prices in the following figures are for reference only. The actual prices displayed in the console shall prevail.

    image

    Billing method switching

    How do I change the billing methods of cloud resources in an ACK cluster to subscription?

    By default, you are charged a cluster management fee for ACK Pro clusters on a pay-as-you-go basis. You cannot change the billing method of the cluster management fee to subscription.

    The following table describes how to change the billing methods of different cloud resources to subscription.

    Cloud resource

    Description

    ECS instances

    Individual nodes

    • For a single node: On the Nodes page, click the ECS instance ID of the node to go to the instance details page in the ECS console. On the instance details page, click Switch to Subscription below Billing Method.

    • For multiple nodes: On the Instance page in the ECS console, select the instances that you want to manage and choose More > Switch to Subscription in the lower part of the page.

    For more information, see Change the billing method of an instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription.

    Important

    When you change the billing method of an ECS instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription, do not select Switch to Subscription. Otherwise, workloads on the instance cannot be restarted. As a result, workloads on the instance may be affected. For more information, see Why do applications fail to restart after I change the billing method of a data disk mounted to an ECS instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription when I change the billing method of the ECS instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription?

    Node pools

    When the system scales out a node pool, newly added ECS instances use the billing method of the node pool. If you want to change the billing method of a node pool, see Modify a node pool.

    CLB instances

    You cannot change the billing method of a Classic Load Balancer (CLB) instance to subscription.

    Others cloud resources

    Refer to the documentation of the corresponding cloud services.

    Why do applications fail to restart after I change the billing method of a data disk mounted to an ECS instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription when I change the billing method of the ECS instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription?

    Subscription resources cannot be released or restarted on demand. Resources used in ACK clusters are restarted or released based on business requirements. If a subscription disk is attached to an ECS instance in your ACK cluster, applications on the instance cannot be restarted or updated.

    To prevent this issue, you must attach pay-as-you-go disks to your ACK clusters. To reduce disk costs, you can purchase storage capacity units (SCUs). For more information, see SCUs.

    Cluster status

    Am I charged for a cluster in the Deleting or Deletion Failed state?

    • You are charged only a cloud resource fee for an ACK Basic cluster or ACK dedicated cluster. When you delete a cluster or a cluster fails to be deleted, we recommend that you check the status of the cloud resources used by the cluster. If the cloud resources are not released, the billing of the resources continues.

    • You are charged a cluster management fee and a cloud resource fee for an ACK Pro cluster. When a cluster is being deleted or fails to be deleted, the billing of cluster management stops but the billing of the cloud resources used by the cluster continues.

    For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Billing rules.

    How is an ACK cluster in the Inactive or Unavailable state billed?

    • You are charged only a cloud resource fee for an ACK Basic cluster or ACK dedicated cluster. If an ACK Basic cluster or ACK dedicated cluster is in an abnormal state, the billing of the cloud resources used by the cluster continues.

    • You are charged a cluster management fee and a cloud resource fee for an ACK Pro cluster. When an ACK Pro cluster is in an abnormal state, ACK scales in the control plane of the cluster. After the control plane is scaled in, the billing of cluster management stops but the billing of the cloud resources used by the cluster continues.

    For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Billing rules.

    When am I not charged a cluster management fee for an ACK cluster?

    Cluster management: A cluster management fee is charged only for ACK Pro clusters. No cluster management fee is charged for ACK Basic clusters or ACK dedicated clusters.

    When an ACK Pro cluster enters the following states, the billing of cluster management stops:

    • Initializing

    • Failed

    • Inactive

    • Unavailable

    • Deleting

    • Deletion Failed

    • Deleted. Clusters in this state are invisible in the console.

    For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Billing rules.

    Am I still charged for an ACK cluster that runs an outdated Kubernetes version?

    The Kubernetes version of a cluster does not affect cluster billing. You can check whether your cluster is being billed based on the cluster status and the usage of cloud resources. For more information, see Cluster lifecycle and Billing rules.

    Others

    Am I charged for ACK cluster updates?

    Cluster updates are free of charge. By default, no cloud resources are created during the update process. If you manually create cloud resources during the update process, you may be charged for the created cloud resources.

    Can I suspend the billing of an ACK cluster that is not in use?

    No, you cannot suspend the billing of an ACK cluster when the cluster is not in use.

    If your cluster is not in use, you can use the following methods to reduce the costs of cloud resources:

    • Remove and release idle ECS nodes. For more information, see Remove nodes and Release an instance.

    • Enable the economical mode for idle ECS nodes. For more information, see Enable the economical mode.

    • Release the cloud resources that are no longer in use and deactivate the cloud services that are not required.

      Important

      Do not release the CLB instance associated with the API server of your cluster. If you release the CLB instance, the cluster becomes unavailable and cannot be restored to a normal state.