Help Center/ Web Application Firewall/ Billing/ Billing Modes/ WAF Billing Modes
Updated on 2026-01-29 GMT+08:00
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WAF Billing Modes

WAF supports yearly/monthly (prepaid) and pay-per-use (postpaid) billing. For cloud WAF, both billing modes are supported. For dedicated WAF instances, only pay-per-use billing is supported. For details about different billing modes, see WAF Pricing Details.

  • Yearly/monthly billing: You need to pay the bill for the required duration.
  • Pay-per-use billing: You are billed for the number of protected domain names, number of customized rules, and number of forwarded requests.
Table 1 Differences between billing modes

Billing Mode

Yearly/Monthly

Pay-per-use

Payment Method

Prepaid

Postpaid

Metering Period

Billed by the purchase period specified in the order
  • Cloud mode: The bills for protected domain names are settled on an hourly basis. The bills for custom protection rules are settled every 24 hours. The bills for requests are settled monthly.
  • Dedicated mode: Instances are billed by the second, and bills are settled on an hourly basis.

Billing Item

Cloud mode: the service edition, domain expansion packages, QPS expansion packages, and rule expansion packages

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  • Cloud mode: the number of domain names, number of custom rules, and number of requests. For details, see Billing Items in Cloud Mode.
  • Dedicated mode: the number of instances

Application Scenario

This billing mode is cost-effective and suitable when the duration of resource usage is predictable. The yearly/monthly mode is recommended for long-term users.

This mode is ideal when you want more flexibility and control on WAF usage.
Parent topic: Billing Modes