You may be charged when you use Elastic Compute Service (ECS) images. Before you use the images, familiarize yourself with image fees to help you budget and plan based on your business requirements. This topic provides answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQ) about image fees.
FAQ about software license fees
FAQ about fees charged for operations on custom images
What am I charged for the licenses of software that is contained in an image when I use the image to create an ECS instance or to replace the operating system of an instance?
When you use an image to create an instance or replace the operating system of an instance, you may be charged for the licenses of software that is contained in the image. Image prices, inclusive of software license fees, vary based on the image type.
Public images:
Windows Server public images: Prices vary based on the instance type. The prices are displayed when you create instances in the ECS console.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server public images: These images are paid images. Their prices vary based on the instance type.
Other public images: These images are provided free of charge.
Custom images: If you use a custom image that is derived from a paid image, you are charged an image fee.
Shared images: If you use a shared image that is derived from a paid image, you are charged an image fee.
Alibaba Cloud Marketplace images: These images are provided by independent software vendors (ISVs). The prices are displayed on the product pages of Alibaba Cloud Marketplace images.
Community images: These images are provided free of charge. If a community image is derived from a paid image, you are charged a license fee when you use the community image to create ECS instances.
For more information, see Images.
Am I charged for the licenses of software that is contained in an imported image when I use the image to create ECS instances?
If you set the license type of the imported image to bring your own license (BYOL) to use software licenses that come with the operating system, you are not charged for the software licenses when you use the image to create ECS instances.
If you set the license type of the imported image to Alibaba Cloud License to use software licenses provided by Alibaba Cloud, you are charged for the software licenses when you use the image to create ECS instances.
What am I charged when I create a custom image?
When you create a custom image, a snapshot is automatically generated for each disk involved. You are charged for the snapshot. If you have not purchased storage capacity units, you are charged for the snapshot on a pay-as-you-go basis. For more information, see Snapshots.
What am I charged when I copy a custom image?
When you copy a custom image, you are charged the following fees:
Snapshot fees: When you copy an image to a region, a corresponding snapshot is automatically created in that region and consumes snapshot storage capacity. You are charged for the amount of snapshot storage capacity that you actually use. For more information, see Snapshots.
NoteSnapshots created for image copies are retained indefinitely regardless of how long the snapshots of source images are retained.
Fees for cross-region data transfer: Alibaba Cloud does not charge you for cross-region traffic. For information about the latest billing details, see the official Alibaba Cloud website for announcements.
What am I charged when I share a custom image?
Images that are shared with an account do not count against the image quota of the account. The account is not charged for the shared images.
If a shared image is a paid image and the sharees use the shared image to create ECS instances, the sharees are charged for the image. For example, if you use a paid image that is shared by another Alibaba Cloud account to create an instance, you are charged for the shared image and the created instance.
What am I charged when I import a custom image?
When you import a custom image, a snapshot is automatically generated for each disk involved. You are charged for the snapshot. If you have not purchased storage capacity units, you are charged for the snapshot on a pay-as-you-go basis. For more information, see Snapshots.
What am I charged when I export a custom image?
Exported image files are stored in Object Storage Service (OSS) buckets. You are charged for data storage in OSS and data transfers for downloading the image files from OSS. For information about OSS billing, see Billing overview.