Updated on 2024-04-08 GMT+08:00

Billing

EIP Billing Modes

EIPs can be billed on a yearly/monthly or pay-per-use basis. The billing options and billing items depend on the billing mode.

Figure 1 EIP billing
Table 1 EIP billing description

Billing Mode

Billed By

Billing Item

Billing Item Description

Impact of EIP Operations on Billing Items

Yearly/Monthly

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

If you buy a yearly/monthly EIP, you only need to pay for the bandwidth included in the subscription. You are billed based on your specified bandwidth size and usage duration. There is no limit on how much traffic you can use.

You can unsubscribe from a yearly/monthly subscription. Your actual usage fee and some preferential fees will be deducted from the refund amount.

Pay-per-use

Bandwidth

  • Bandwidth
  • EIP retention
If a pay-per-use EIP is billed by bandwidth:
  • Bandwidth: You are billed based on your specified bandwidth size and usage duration. There is no limit on how much traffic you can use.

    After the EIP is purchased, you can change your specified bandwidth size. The bandwidth you use will not exceed the bandwidth you specified.

  • EIP retention: If an EIP is not released, it will continue to be billed even if it is not bound to an instance.

After an EIP is purchased:

  • If the EIP is not bound to any instance, both the EIP and its bandwidth will be billed.
  • If the EIP is bound to an instance, only the bandwidth will be billed.

    The bandwidth will be billed regardless of if the instance bound to the EIP is running or not.

  • After the EIP is unbound from an instance, the bandwidth will continue to be billed. Unless it is released, the EIP will still be billed.
  • If the EIP is released, both the EIP and its bandwidth will not be billed.

Traffic

  • Traffic
  • EIP retention
If a pay-per-use EIP is billed by traffic:
  • Traffic: You are billed based on your EIP type and the total amount of traffic going out of the cloud.

    The bandwidth size you set is only used to limit the maximum data transfer rate. To prevent high fees caused by burst traffic, specify a proper bandwidth size when you buy an EIP.

    If an EIP billed by traffic uses a dedicated bandwidth, only the bandwidth used in the outbound direction will be billed.

  • EIP retention: If an EIP is not released, it will continue to be billed even if it is not bound to an instance.

After an EIP is purchased:

  • If the EIP is not bound to an instance, you will be billed for the EIP itself, but not for traffic.
  • If the EIP is bound to an instance, only the used traffic will be billed.

    If the instance bound to the EIP stops running and there is no traffic generated, there will be no traffic or EIP fees.

  • After the EIP is unbound from an instance, the traffic will not be billed but the EIP will still be billed.
  • If the EIP is released, the EIP will not be billed.

Shared bandwidth

  • Shared bandwidth
  • EIP retention
If a pay-per-use EIP is added to a shared bandwidth:
  • Share bandwidth: Only the shared bandwidth will be billed. There will be no additional bandwidth or traffic costs for EIPs added to the shared bandwidth.
  • EIP retention: If an EIP is not released, it will continue to be billed even if it is not bound to an instance.
After an EIP is purchased:
  • Shared bandwidth
    • No operations on the EIP will affect the billing of a shared bandwidth.

      For example, if you have released the EIP but have not deleted the shared bandwidth, the shared bandwidth will still be billed.

    • After a shared bandwidth is deleted, it will no longer be billed.
  • EIP retention
    • If the EIP is not bound to an instance, the EIP will still be billed.
    • If the EIP is unbound from an instance, the EIP will be billed to keep it allocated to your account unless it is released.
    • If the EIP is released or bound to an instance, the EIP will not be billed.
To save money, you can add multiple EIPs in the same region to a shared bandwidth. A shared bandwidth can be billed on a yearly/monthly or pay-per-use basis. For details, see Table 2. Currently, only pay-per-use EIPs can be added to a shared bandwidth.
  • You can add an EIP to a shared bandwidth when buying the EIP.
  • You can also add an existing EIP to a shared bandwidth. After the EIP is added to a shared bandwidth, there will be no additional bandwidth or traffic cost. You will only be billed for the shared bandwidth.
Table 2 Shared bandwidth billing details

Billing Mode

Billed By

Billing Item

Billing Item Description

Yearly/Monthly

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

If you buy a yearly/monthly shared bandwidth, you are billed based on your specified bandwidth size and usage duration. There is no limit on how much traffic you can use.

Pay-per-use

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

You are billed based on your specified bandwidth size and usage duration. There is no limit on how much traffic you can use.

After a shared bandwidth is purchased, you can change your specified bandwidth size. The bandwidth you use will not exceed the bandwidth you specified.

  • The price of bandwidth, traffic, and EIP depends on the region.
  • The EIP bandwidth is the outbound bandwidth consumed when data is transferred from Huawei Cloud to the Internet. For example, when ECSs provide services accessible from the Internet and external users download resources from the ECSs, that consumes outbound bandwidth. Only the outbound bandwidth will be billed.
    • If your purchased or modified bandwidth is no more than 10 Mbit/s, the inbound bandwidth will be 10 Mbit/s, and the outbound bandwidth will be the same as the purchased or modified bandwidth.
    • If your purchased or modified bandwidth is more than 10 Mbit/s, both the inbound and outbound bandwidth will be the same as the purchased or modified bandwidth.

Which Billing Option Is Right for Me?

EIPs can be billed by bandwidth or traffic. Table 3 shows the application scenarios of different billing options.

Cloud Eye monitors your network metrics, such as bandwidth and traffic. Based on the bandwidth usage, you can determine which billing option (by bandwidth or by traffic) is more cost-effective. Here are some suggestions for your reference:

  • If you need less than 5 Mbit/s of bandwidth for a short time and the traffic is light, set your EIP to be billed by traffic.
  • If you need less than 5 Mbit/s of bandwidth but the traffic is heavy set your EIP to be billed by bandwidth, and choose yearly/monthly or pay-per-use billing, depending on how long you will need the bandwidth for.
  • If you need more than 5 Mbit/s of bandwidth and the bandwidth usage is greater than 20%, set your EIP to be billed by bandwidth.

For details, see Viewing Metrics.

Table 3 Application scenarios of EIP billing options

Billing Mode

Billed By

Scenario

Yearly/Monthly

Bandwidth

Heavy or stable traffic

Pay-per-use

Bandwidth

Heavy or stable traffic

Traffic

Light or sharply fluctuating traffic

Shared bandwidth

Staggered traffic

How Will I Be Billed If I Change My Bandwidth Size?

If an EIP is not added to a shared bandwidth, the EIP uses the dedicated bandwidth regardless of it is billed by bandwidth or traffic. After an EIP is added to a shared bandwidth, only the shared bandwidth is billed.
When you change the bandwidth size, the bandwidth price and effective time depend on the billing mode, which applies to both dedicated and shared bandwidths. For details, see Table 4.

Decreasing bandwidths may cause packet loss.

Table 4 Impact on billing after bandwidth size change

Billing Mode

Billed By

Change

Impact

Yearly/Monthly

Bandwidth

Increase bandwidth

The change will take effect immediately.

The increased bandwidth will be billed accordingly.

Bandwidth

Decrease bandwidth upon renewal

The change will not take effect immediately.

You need to select a new bandwidth size and a renewal duration. The change will take effect in the first billing cycle after a successful renewal.
  • The order can be unsubscribed before the bandwidth takes effect.
  • The bandwidth cannot be modified in the first billing cycle.

Pay-per-use

Bandwidth

Increase or decrease the bandwidth

The change will take effect immediately.

Traffic

Increase or decrease the bandwidth

The change will take effect immediately.

The bandwidth size you set is only used to limit the maximum data transfer rate.

How Do I Change the EIP Billing Mode?

The EIP service has multiple billing modes you can choose from. You can change your EIP billing mode during the EIP usage period if necessary.

Changing the billing mode does not change EIPs or interrupt their use.

Figure 2 EIP billing mode change
Table 5 EIP billing mode change description

Change

Description

From yearly/monthly to pay-per-use

  • An EIP billed on a yearly/monthly basis can be directly changed to be billed by bandwidth on a pay-per-use basis upon expiration.
  • An EIP billed on a yearly/monthly basis cannot be directly changed to be billed by traffic on a pay-per-use basis. To change this:
    1. Change the EIP to be billed by bandwidth on a pay-per-use basis.
    2. Change the EIP to be billed by traffic on a pay-per-use basis.

The new billing mode takes effect only after the yearly/monthly subscription expires.

From pay-per-use to yearly/monthly

  • An EIP that is billed by bandwidth on a pay-per-use basis can be directly changed to be billed on a yearly/monthly basis.
  • An EIP that is billed by traffic on a pay-per-use basis cannot be directly changed to be billed on a yearly/monthly basis. To change this:
    1. Change the EIP to be billed by bandwidth on a pay-per-use basis.
    2. Change the EIP to be billed on a yearly/monthly basis.

The new billing mode takes effect immediately.

  • From billing by traffic (pay-per-use) to billing by bandwidth (pay-per-use)
  • From billing by bandwidth (pay-per-use) to billing by traffic (pay-per-use)
  • An EIP billed by traffic on a pay-per-use basis can be directly changed to be billed by bandwidth on a pay-per-use basis.
  • An EIP billed by bandwidth on a pay-per-use basis can be directly changed to be billed by traffic on a pay-per-use basis.

The new billing mode takes effect immediately.

How Do I Renew an EIP? What Will Happen If My Account Is in Arrears?

Figure 3 EIP/Bandwidth lifecycle

If your account is in arrears, pay the arrears within the specified time to prevent your resources from being frozen or released. For details, see Repaying Outstanding Amount.

If your account is in arrears, you will be impacted for using your resources.

  • If your yearly/monthly resource has expired and is not renewed, the resource enters the grace period. If you do not renew the monthly/yearly resource within the grace period, the resource enters a retention period. If you do not renew the monthly/yearly resource within the retention period, the resource will be deleted.

    You cannot perform any operations on yearly/monthly resources that are in the grace or retention period. For example, you cannot change your bandwidth if it is in the grace period or retention period.

    To ensure that your services are not affected, renew your EIP before it expires.

  • If your pay-per-use resource is in arrears, the resource enters the grace period. If you do not pay off the arrears of the pay-per-use resource within the grace period, the resource enters a retention period. If you do not pay off the arrears of the pay-per-use resource within the retention period, the resource will be deleted.

    You can still perform operations on pay-per-use resources in the grace period. However, you cannot perform any operations on them if they enter the retention period.

Unsubscription

If you have a yearly/monthly EIP that is unbound from an instance and is not expired, but you will no longer use it, you can unsubscribe from it.

  • Yearly/monthly EIPs can be unsubscribed. Your actual usage fee and some preferential fees will be deducted from the refund amount.
  • Pay-per-use EIPs cannot be unsubscribed. If you do not need the pay-per-use EIPs any more, release them. Releasing an EIP.