Billing Guide
Billing Items
Currently, UCloud Global UHosts are billed based on the configuration you choose and the duration of usage.
Billing Item | Billing Details |
---|---|
UHosts | UHosts are billed based on the model, specification (CPU, memory), purchase duration, and the usage amount of purchased instances. |
Cloud Disks | The default system disk is 20GB (requires purchase), and the minimum increment is 10GB. For specific billing details, please refer to the cloud disk billing rules. The payment cycle for cloud disks purchased when selecting a UHost is consistent with that of the host. In other scenarios, it is recommended that the payment cycle for purchased cloud disks also be consistent with that of the host to which they will be mounted. |
Image | Currently, the public images provided by UCloud Global are free. If you upload self-made images through the US3 service, please refer to US3 Product Pricing. As for the self-made image storage costs, refer to Image Billing |
Network | The network supports billing methods such as duration, usage, etc. Please refer to Network Product Pricing for the billing standards. |
Other Service Features | Snapshots, DataArk, and network enhancement. |
Billing Modes
Prepaid
For hosts participating in various promotional activities, the specific billing rules shall be subject to the official event rules.
Annual Pricing
Annual billing means paying for orders on an annual billing cycle. The default purchase duration is one year. If you need to purchase for a longer period, select 2 years or 3 years from the drop-down menu. Currently, the maximum single-order duration for UHosts is 3 years. This billing method is suitable for long-term and stable businesses.
If you do not delete resources after the resource payment expires and have enabled the auto-renewal function, the system will deduct the fee for the next period by default and extend the resource validity period when the account balance is sufficient. For details, see Resource Renewal.
If your balance is insufficient, resources will expire after the purchase period. For recovery rules, see Resource Recovery. If you still need to keep this UHost, please recharge in time, and the detailed operation method of manual renewal can be found in Resource Renewal.
The current annual payment preferential policies for hosts are as follows:
Duration | Host | Disk | Public Elastic IP |
---|---|---|---|
1 Year | 17% Off | 17% Off | 17% Off |
2 Years | 30% Off | 30% Off | 17% Off |
3 Years | 50% Off | 50% Off | 17% Off |
- When the order purchase duration is one year, it will be processed at a 17% discount (i.e., paying for 10 months to get 2 months free). If you need to purchase an order with a duration of more than 10 months, it is recommended to choose the annual payment method first.
- Annual payment discounts apply to all UHost models and disk types.
- Annual payment orders require payment for the entire purchase period before the order starts. If you stop using the host and delete the resource during the purchase period, the system will deduct the fee for the used duration and refund the remaining amount. In this case, the annual payment discount will not apply, and the deducted fee will be calculated as monthly price * usage duration. For details, see Refund Rules.
Monthly Pricing
Monthly billing means paying for orders on a monthly cycle, suitable for start-up or growth-stage businesses.
If you expect to use the service for 1–9 months, you can choose monthly payment. If you plan to purchase a duration of 10 months or more, it is recommended to select annual billing to enjoy discount benefits.
- To meet users’ needs for billing alignment, the default optional duration for monthly payment is “purchase until the end of the month”, followed by 1–9 months.
- Monthly payment orders require payment for the entire purchase cycle before the order starts. If you stop using the host and delete the resource during the purchase period, the system will deduct the fee for the used duration and process a refund. The refund amount = prepaid amount – (actual order amount × (used duration ÷ total days in the month) × 1.5), which means that for less than a full month of usage, the deducted fee will be calculated based on hourly rates. For details, see Refund Rules.
- You can also enable the auto-renewal function. When your account balance is sufficient, the system will automatically deduct the fee for the next period when the resource expires to ensure stable operation of your resources. If the account balance is insufficient and you fail to renew in time, the resource will expire.
!> If the current resource is overdue for 10 days or more, the resource will be recovered. For details, see Resource Recovery.
Example: A user newly purchases a monthly UHost at 8:00 on March 1, 2021, and selects a 1-month billing cycle. They must pay the monthly fee in advance to use the service. After expiration at 8:00 on April 1, 2021, if they wish to continue using the host, they need to renew the subscription before the expiration time.
Hourly Billing
Hourly billing means paying for orders on an hourly cycle, suitable for temporary bulk service activation to handle promotional activities or sudden business surges.
If you choose the hourly billing method, you need to prepay for 1 hour of fees to use the host resource when purchasing the host. During subsequent usage, the system will deduct the fees for the next period before the usage.
Hourly billing orders are generated hourly, that is, one order record is generated for each hour.
- The unit price of hourly pricing is about 1.5 times the monthly price if using the same resource for the same duration.
- Users who pay hourly can change the billing mode to monthly or annual payment by themselves.
- Currently, we only support upward changes in billing methods, that is, hourly payment can be changed to monthly payment or annual payment, and monthly payment can be changed to annual payment.
- If you delete the resource during the usage period, the system will deduct the fees for the used duration (if less than one hour, it will be charged as one hour), and refund the remaining fees to your account. For the specific process, see Refund Rules.
Example: You paid for 1 hour of fees at 12:00 on March 1, 2021, and successfully purchased the cloud host. The billing cycle is 12:00-13:00. The system will pre-deduct the fees for the 13:00-14:00 period at 13:00, and so on. Users who choose hourly billing (prepaid) should ensure that there is sufficient balance in their account to pay for subsequent fees.
Postpaid
Postpaid billing is charged by the hour. There is no upfront fee when purchasing a host; instead, postpaid bills are generated at each full hour of usage. Auto-renewal is enabled by default, and the system will automatically pay the order fees if the account balance is sufficient.
If you change the host configuration, the original configuration will stop immediately, and the new configuration will take effect immediately. During this period, the system will bill separately for the usage time of the old and new configuration resources.
For example:
At 9:20 on March 1, 2021, you purchase a postpaid host. By 10:00 on March 2, 2021, the system will generate a payable order for you. The payment amount = (usage duration in minutes / 60) × hourly unit price.
If your original host configuration is 1 core and 1GB, and you upgrade it to 2 cores and 2GB at 9:40, the system will generate a payable order for the 1-core-1GB configuration (usage duration: 9:20–9:40) at 9:40, and another payable order for the 2-core-2GB configuration (usage duration: 9:40–10:00) at 10:00.
If you have accumulated three overdue orders, your resources may be recovered. Please renew in a timely manner. For specific rules, see Resource Recovery .
!> Currently, postpaid billing only supports hosts with system disks and data disks as cloud disks (local disk hosts are not yet supported), and the feature is gradually being rolled out in a phased manner. You may not be able to apply for it immediately.
Preemptive Billing
Preemptible billing is a pricing model that allows purchasing UHosts at a lower discount. Under this model, after running stably for 1 hour, the UHosts are at risk of automatic system recycling, and data will not be retained. You need to ensure proper data backup. After purchasing a preemptible UHost, its usage, console operations, and service deployment are no different from those of UHosts under ordinary billing methods.
Pre-emptive billing is sold with on-time billing discount, but the discount effective range is limited to CPU and memory. Please refer to the following case:
Take the specification of 4-core 4G Outstanding O-type cloud hosting and 50% preemptive real-time discount as an example. The following billing unit is: $/hour, and the proposed preemptive real-time discount is 50%.
North China 2A | Pay-As-You-Go ($/hour) | Preemptive Billing ($/hour) |
---|---|---|
CPU (4 Cores) RAM (4GB) | $0.083 | $0.041 |
System Disk (50GB) | $0.0016 | $0.0016 |
Bandwidth (1Mbps) | $0.0079 | $0.0079 |
- Range of discount effectiveness: only for CPU and memory;
- Discount range: 10% to original price;
- Price fluctuation: discounts will fluctuate according to system inventory, subject to real-time discounts.
Current Phase Special Policies
- During the current phase, discount UHosts under this model will only be automatically recovered based on system inventory conditions. When inventory is tight, some preemptible UHosts will be randomly recovered.
- Currently, only the North China 2A availability zone supports the preemptible billing model for UHosts. Other regions and availability zones will gradually open support for this model in the future.
- Only the Outstanding O-type instances support the preemptible billing model at this stage. Support for other instance types will be rolled out sequentially later.
- Only specifications with 4 to 16 cores are supported under the preemptible billing model for now. Announcements will be made regarding future expansions of supported specifications.
Operational Restrictions for Preemptible Billing UHosts
- Do not support the switch of billing methods.
- Do not support configuration upgrade or downgrade.
- Billing continues even when powered off.
- Do not support reinstalling the system.
- Do not support expansion of system and data disks.