Cloud Firewall provides pay-as-you-go savings plans. You can use the savings plans to offset the fees for the billable items of Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method. This helps reduce the costs of cloud assets. This topic describes pay-as-you-go savings plans and how to purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan.
You can get started with pay-as-you-go savings plans of Cloud Firewall based on this video tutorial.
Prerequisites
Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method is activated or the burstable protected traffic feature is enabled. A pay-as-you-go savings plan must be used together with Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method or the burstable protected traffic feature. For more information, see Pay-as-you-go and Burstable protected traffic.
Introduction to pay-as-you-go savings plans
A pay-as-you-go savings plan is similar to a stored-value card. After you purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan, you can obtain a discount to offset the fees generated by Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method or the burstable protected traffic feature. This helps reduce costs. For more information, see Pay-as-you-go and Burstable protected traffic.
After you purchase pay-as-you-go savings plans, you can use Cloud Firewall in a more cost-effective and flexible manner.
Compared with the subscription billing method
You can use Cloud Firewall at lower costs. You can also purchase, upgrade, or release Cloud Firewall at any time.
Compared with the pay-as-you-go billing method
The fees for the billable items of Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method are discounted, which reduces costs.
Billing rules
Billable items
Discount and billable item | Description |
Savings Plan Type | You can select one of the following types of savings plans based on your committed consumption amount. The discount for the fees of billable items of Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method varies based on the amount range to which your committed consumption amount belongs.
|
Committed Consumption Amount (USD) | The committed consumption amount of the savings plan.
You can estimate a committed consumption amount based on the number of public IP addresses that you want to protect and the volume of your traffic. The committed consumption amount is calculated by using the following formula: Committed consumption amount = Daily fee × Subscription duration (days) × Discount. |
Subscription Duration | The subscription duration. Valid values: 3 Months, 6 Months, and 1 Year. |
Offset rules
Applicable Cloud Firewall edition | Billable item that can be offset | Reference |
Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method | Internet firewall: configuration fee of public IP addresses and Internet traffic processing fee (inbound and outbound) NAT firewalls: instance fee of NAT firewalls and processing fee for private network traffic of NAT firewalls Virtual private cloud (VPC) firewalls: instance fee of VPC firewalls and traffic processing fee of VPC firewalls | |
Cloud Firewall that uses the subscription billing method (Premium Edition, Enterprise Edition, or Ultimate Edition) | Processing fee of burstable protected traffic |
When fees for the billable items of Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method are settled, the system automatically uses pay-as-you-go savings plans to offset the fees. A savings plan is used to offset the fees for pay-as-you-go billable items based on when resources are first used.
If you purchase multiple pay-as-you-go savings plans, Cloud Firewall preferentially uses the savings plan that first expires.
After you purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan, the savings plan immediately takes effect. The bill for Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method for the previous day is settled at 18:00 every day. Therefore, a savings plan is used to offset the fees that are generated on Day T+1.
For example, if you purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan at 15:00 on July 20, you can use the pay-as-you-go savings plan to offset the fees generated for Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method after 15:00 on July 20, and the bill for the fees generated on July 20 is settled on July 21.
Billing examples
Your enterprise uses Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method. The following fees are generated on July 1: a configuration fee for public IP addresses of USD12 and a traffic processing fee of USD 2.247.
If you do not purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan, the fee that you must pay is calculated by using the following formula: 12 + 2.247 = USD 14.247.
If you purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan of the subscription (10-99) type and the pay-as-you-go savings plan is valid, the fee that you must pay is calculated by using the following formula: 12 × 0.95 + 2.247 × 0.95 = USD 13.535.
Purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan
Go to the Savings plan buy page.
Set Product Type to Pay-as-you-go Savings Plan.
Configure the other parameters based on your business requirements.
Read and select Terms of Service, click Buy Now, and then complete the payment.
View the usage of pay-as-you-go savings plans
Log on to the Expenses and Costs console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose .
On the Discount Details page, view the billable items and discounts.
Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method
On the Discount Details page, select Cloud Firewall (Pay-as-you-go) for the Applicable Products parameter and configure other parameters such as Savings Plan Type, Duration, and Billing Item. Click View to view the billable items and discounts of Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method.
Cloud Firewall that uses the subscription billing method
On the Discount Details page, select Cloud Firewall for the Applicable Products parameter and configure other parameters such as Savings Plan Type, Duration, and Billing Item. Click View to view the discounts of Cloud Firewall that uses the subscription billing method.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose . View the usage overview, usage details, and usage rate of pay-as-you-go savings plans.
Refund description
After you purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan, you cannot claim a refund. You must consume the entire amount specified in the savings plan within the subscription duration. After the savings plan expires but the amount is not used up, you cannot unsubscribe from the savings plan or claim a refund for the remaining amount.
We recommend that you use Cloud Firewall based on the pay-as-you-go billing method for one to seven days and then calculate the required committed consumption amount based on the generated fees. For more information about the billable items of Cloud Firewall that uses the pay-as-you-go billing method, see Pay-as-you-go. If the protection bandwidth of Cloud Firewall that uses the subscription billing method is exceeded, you can enable the burstable protected traffic feature and use it together with pay-as-you-go savings plans to reduce costs. For more information, see Burstable protected traffic.
FAQ
How are fees for Cloud Firewall settled after my usage exceeds the savings plans?
If your savings plans are exhausted, you are charged for the excess usage based on the pay-as-you-go billing method. For more information, see Pay-as-you-go.
After a savings plan expires, my actual cost is less than the committed consumption amount of the savings plan. How are fees settled?
If you purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan, your fees are settled based on the committed consumption amount that is specified in the savings plan.
After you purchase a pay-as-you-go savings plan, you cannot claim a refund. You must consume the entire amount specified in the savings plan within the subscription duration. After the savings plan expires but the amount is not used up, you cannot unsubscribe from the savings plan or claim a refund for the remaining amount.
What is the offset order when I purchase multiple pay-as-you-go savings plans?
If you purchase multiple pay-as-you-go savings plans, Cloud Firewall preferentially uses the savings plan that expires first.
For example, if you purchase a savings plan that is of the Upfront (10-99) type and is valid for three months, and a savings plan that is of the Upfront (100-999) type and is valid for six months, the savings plan of the Upfront (10-99) type is first used to offset the fees that are generated.