ECS snapshot billing rules, billing examples, and impacts of overdue payments - Elastic Compute Service

Snapshots are agentless data backups. You can create a snapshot to capture the point-in-time state of a disk or disk group to back up data. You can use snapshots to restore data, build development or test environments, or create custom images for batch deployment. This topic describes the billing rules of snapshots and the impacts of overdue payments on snapshots in Elastic Compute Service (ECS). This topic also provides examples on how to calculate snapshot fees.

Scenarios

Scenarios in which snapshots are created

Item

Description

Price and billing formula

Snapshots are not stored on disks and do not consume disk space. You are charged region-specific snapshot storage fees based on the size of the snapshots that are stored in each region.

存储费

Billing example: If you have 100 GB of snapshots in the China (Hangzhou) region and the unit price for snapshot storage is USD 0.0173 per GB-month, you are charged USD 0.002403 per hour and USD 0.057667 per day for snapshot storage.

Formula: (USD 0.0173 per GB-month × 100 GB × 1 month)/30 days/24 hours ≈ USD 0.002403 per hour.

Note

Unit storage price for snapshots: the unit price for snapshot storage in each region. For more information, see the Pricing tab on the Elastic Compute Service product page.
Snapshot size: the total size of snapshots. Unit: GB. The size of snapshots may be greater than or less than the actual amount of data. For information about how to view the snapshot size, see the How do I view snapshot sizes? section of the "Snapshot FAQ" topic.
Billing duration: The billing duration of a snapshot starts when the snapshot is created and ends when the snapshot is deleted. For information about how to delete snapshots, see Delete a snapshot. The billing duration of a snapshot is measured in hours with a minimum of 1 hour.

Billing method

The default billing method is pay-as-you-go. This billing method allows you to use resources and pay for them afterwards. Fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account.
- Bills are generated on an hourly basis.
- Snapshot storage fees are automatically deducted every hour or every 24 hours.Fees are automatically deducted from your account balance.
You can purchase resource plans, such as storage capacity units (SCUs). For information about how to purchase SCUs, see Storage capacity units.
After you purchase resource plans, the plans are automatically applied to offset your snapshot storage fees on an hourly basis. You are charged for the excess snapshot storage fees based on the pay-as-you-go billing method every hour.

For information about how to create a snapshot, see Create a snapshot for a disk.

Scenarios in which snapshots are copied

Item	Description
Price and billing formula	When you copy snapshots, you are charged snapshot storage fees and data transfer fees for snapshot replication. Data transfer unit price for snapshot replication: the unit price of snapshot replication traffic between regions. For more information, see the Pricing tab on the Elastic Compute Service product page. Snapshot size: the total size of snapshots. Unit: GB. For information about how to view the snapshot size, see the How do I view snapshot sizes? section of the "Snapshot FAQ" topic. Important After you copy a snapshot from one region to another region, you are charged storage fees for the snapshot copy in the destination region. The first time a snapshot of a disk is copied, the snapshot copy is a full copy that contains all data stored on the disk. All subsequent snapshot copies of the disk in the same region are incremental copies, and each incremental copy contains only the data that has changed since the previous copy. You are charged for snapshots based on the snapshot size. Incremental copies can significantly reduce the size of data to be copied.
Billing cycle	Bills are generated on an hourly basis.
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go. This billing method allows you to use resources and pay for them afterwards. Fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account.
Billing example	Assume that you copied a 100-GB snapshot from the China (Hangzhou) region to the China (Qingdao) region and retained the snapshot copy in the China (Qingdao) region for one month. During this period, you did not enable instant access for the snapshot. After the snapshot is copied, a 100-GB snapshot copy is also generated in the China (Qingdao) region. The data transfer unit price for snapshot replication from the China (Hangzhou) region to the China (Qingdao) region is USD 0.118 per GB. The unit price for snapshot storage in the China (Hangzhou) region or China (Qingdao) region is USD 0.0173 per GB-month. Fees in the China (Hangzhou) region: Data transfer fee for snapshot replication: Data transfer unit price × Snapshot size = USD 0.118 per GB × 100 GB = USD 11.8 Storage fee for the snapshot copy: Unit price for snapshot storage × Snapshot size × Billing duration = USD 0.0173 per GB-month × 100 GB × 1 month = USD 1.73 Total: Data transfer fee for snapshot replication + Storage fee for the snapshot copy = USD 11.8 + USD 1.73 = USD 13.53 Fees in the China (Qingdao) region: Storage fee for the snapshot copy: Unit price for snapshot storage × Snapshot size × Billing duration = USD 0.0173 per GB-month × 100 GB × 1 month = USD 1.73 Note The preceding prices are for reference only. The actual prices are displayed on the Pricing tab of the Elastic Compute Service product page.

For information about how to copy a snapshot, see Copy a snapshot.

Snapshot cost optimization

You can retain an appropriate number of snapshots, delete snapshots that are no longer needed, and disable unnecessary automatic snapshot policies to reduce snapshot costs. For more information, see Reduce snapshot fees.
We recommend that you purchase SCUs to offset snapshot storage fees. For information about how to purchase SCUs, see Storage capacity units.

Stop snapshot billing

If you no longer need snapshots, you can delete them to prevent further charges.

Delete all snapshots, including automatic snapshots, manual snapshots, and snapshot copies. For more information, see Delete a snapshot.
After existing snapshots are deleted, check whether automatic snapshot policies are being applied. If automatic snapshot policies are being applied, delete the policies to ensure that no snapshots are automatically created. For more information, see Delete an automatic snapshot policy.

Impacts of overdue payments

If your Alibaba Cloud account has overdue payments, your snapshot service is affected. For more information, see Overdue payments.

FAQ about snapshot billing

For more information, see Snapshot FAQ.