Two factors determine what happens to your data after a subscription expires: storage duration and subscription period.
Your data is not lost when the subscription ends. Data remains accessible until it exceeds the configured storage duration. After the subscription expires, the billing method automatically switches to pay-as-you-go and the instance continues to receive new data samples.
Storage duration
Data that exceeds the configured storage duration is automatically cleared, regardless of billing method. To retain historical data longer, increase the storage duration before it elapses. For details, see Subscription Prometheus instances.
Subscription period
When a subscription expires, the billing method automatically switches to pay-as-you-go. The instance continues to receive data samples.
- The original storage duration remains in effect after the billing method switches to pay-as-you-go.
- If your Alibaba Cloud account has insufficient funds under pay-as-you-go billing, Managed Service for Prometheus stops receiving data seven days after the payment becomes overdue. For details, see Overdue payments.
- To switch back from pay-as-you-go to subscription, settle all outstanding pay-as-you-go bills first. For details, see Change the billing method from pay-as-you-go to subscription.
For renewal instructions, see Renew a subscription instance. For pay-as-you-go pricing details, see Pay-as-you-go.
Examples
The following examples show how storage duration and subscription period interact.
One-month subscription with one-month storage duration
You purchase a one-month subscription with a one-month storage duration and do not enable Auto-renewal.
| Timeline | What happens |
|---|---|
| Month 1 | Subscription is active. Data samples are collected and stored. |
| End of month 1 | Subscription expires. Billing switches to pay-as-you-go, and the instance continues to receive data. At the same time, data from the start of month 1 reaches its one-month storage duration limit and is automatically cleared. |
One-month subscription with three-month storage duration
You purchase a one-month subscription with a three-month storage duration and do not enable Auto-renewal.
| Timeline | What happens |
|---|---|
| Month 1 | Subscription is active. Data samples are collected and stored. |
| End of month 1 | Subscription expires. Billing switches to pay-as-you-go, and the instance continues to receive data. All historical data remains accessible because the three-month storage duration has not elapsed. |
| End of month 3 | Data from the start of month 1 reaches its three-month storage duration limit and is automatically cleared. |