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    Elastic Desktop Service:Pay-as-you-go

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    Elastic Desktop Service:Pay-as-you-go

    Last Updated:Jul 19, 2024

    Cloud computers can be purchased in subscriptions or in pay-as-you-go mode. You pay for pay-as-you-go cloud computers after you use them. In this mode, cloud computers can be purchased and released at any time on demand. This mode is suitable for short-term usage scenarios, such as interns and training institutions. This topic describes the details about the pay-as-you-go purchase mode, including the billing rules and impact of overdue payments.

    Billing rules

    Billing cycle

    The billing cycle is the duration of your resource usage and accurate to seconds.

    The billing cycle of a cloud computer starts when the cloud computer is created and enters the Running state and ends when the cloud computer is released.

    Settlement cycle

    Bills are generated and settled every hour on the hour (UTC+8) for pay-as-you-go cloud computers.

    For example, you purchased and started a cloud computer at 08:45:30 and released the cloud computer at 10:20:30. During this period, the cloud computer is not shut down. Three settlement cycles are involved for this cloud computer:

    • The first settlement cycle starts at 08:00:00 (UTC+8) and ends at 09:00:00 (UTC+8). Fees are generated for a usage duration of 870 seconds from 08:45:30 (UTC+8) to 09:00:00 (UTC+8).

    • The second settlement cycle starts at 09:00:00 (UTC+8) and ends at 10:00:00 (UTC+8). Fees are generated for a usage duration of 3,600 seconds from 09:00:00 (UTC+8) to 10:00:00 (UTC+8).

    • The third settlement cycle starts at 10:00:00 (UTC+8) and ends at 11:00:00 (UTC+8). Fees are generated for a usage duration of 1,230 seconds from 10:00:00 (UTC+8) to 10:20:30 (UTC+8).

    Settlement rules

    The system generates a bill for each settlement cycle and deducts fees from your account based on your resource usage. Then, the system starts the next billing cycle.

    Important

    If the available amount of your Alibaba Cloud account (including the balance and coupons) is not enough to pay the fees, you receive an email notification about the payment failure. We recommend that you complete your payment at the earliest opportunity to prevent impacts on your business due to stopped or released cloud computers.

    Billing examples

    Billing formulas:

    • Computing resources (pay-as-you-go)

      Fee = Hourly price × Number of hours

    • Storage resources (pay-as-you-go)

      Fee = Hourly price per GiB × Capacity in GiB × Number of hours

    Purchase details:

    • Computing specification: 4 vCPUs/8 GiB

    • System disk: 80 GiB

    • Data disk: 100 GiB

    Usage:

    • The cloud computer runs for 10 hours.

    • The cloud computer is kept for 12 hours (from when the cloud computer is created to when it is released).

    Fee calculation:

    Computing resource fee
= Hourly price × Number of hours
= 0.148 × 10
= USD 1.48

Storage resource fee
= Hourly price per GiB × Capacity in GiB × Number of hours
= 0.00007 × (80 + 100) × 12
= USD 0.1512

Total fees
= Computing resource fee + Storage resource fee
= USD 1.6312

    Impacts of overdue payments

    If the available amount of your Alibaba Cloud account (including the balance and coupons) is less than the amount to be paid, the system determines that your account has an overdue payment.

    Note

    You can go to User Center to view overdue payments.

    After a payment becomes overdue, the cloud computer enters the Expired state. Data on the cloud computer is retained. However, you cannot perform operations on the cloud computer, such as starting, stopping, restarting, or connecting to the cloud computer. If you want to continue using the cloud computer, you must top up your account within 30 days after the expiration date. If you fail to do so, the cloud computer is automatically released on the 31st day after expiration.

    Warning

    After a cloud computer is released, the data on and snapshots of the cloud computer are also deleted beyond recovery.

    Convert a pay-as-you-go cloud computer to a subscription one

    You can convert the billing method of a cloud computer from pay-as-you-go to subscription without inflicting any impact on the data or use of the cloud computer.

    Procedure

    1. Log on to the Elastic Desktop Service (EDS) console.

    2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Resources & Terminals > Cloud Computers.

    3. In the upper-left corner of the top navigation bar, select a region.

    4. On the Cloud Computers page, find the cloud computer whose computing plan you want to change, click the ⋮ icon in the Actions column, and then click Switch Billing Method.

      Note

      You can select up to 20 cloud computers and choose More > Switch Billing Method in the lower part of the page to batch switch the billing methods of the cloud computers.

    5. In the Switch Billing Method panel, select Monthly Subscription for the New Billing Method parameter, select a computing plan if you need one, and then click Switch Billing Method.

      Note

      • The Unlimited option for the Computing Plan parameter is supported for all cloud computers, regardless of their computing specifications. However, the 120 Hours/Month and 250 Hours/Month options are available only for 4 vCPU/8 GiB and 8 vCPU/16 GiB specifications.

      • If a computing plan, such as 120 Hours/Month or 250 Hours/Month, is used up before a subscription cycle ends, the cloud computer keeps running by default. If you do not want the cloud computer to continue running in this case, you can select When the monthly running hours of a cloud computer are exhausted in advance, the system automatically stops or hibernates the cloud computer.

    6. Complete the payment as prompted.