Billing

This section describes the billing details of FlexusX instances.

Billing Modes

FlexusX instances support the yearly/monthly and pay-per-use billing. You can change the billing mode from yearly/monthly to pay-per-use, and vice versa.

Yearly/Monthly is a prepaid billing mode. You pay in advance for a subscription term, and in exchange, you get a discounted rate. The longer the subscription term, the higher the discount. Yearly/Monthly billing is a good option for long-term, stable services.
Pay-per-use is a postpaid billing mode. You pay as you go and just pay for what you use. FlexusX instances are calculated by the second but billed every hour. This mode allows you to adjust resource usage easily. You do not need to prepare resources in advance, and will not have excessive or insufficient preset resources. Pay-per-use billing is a good option for scenarios where there are sudden traffic bursts, such as e-commerce promotions.

Table 1 lists the differences between these billing modes.

**Table 1** Differences between billing modes
Billing Mode	Yearly/Monthly	Pay-per-use
Payment	Prepaid Settled based on the subscription term you purchase	Postpaid Billed by the usage duration
Billing Method	Billed by the subscription term you purchase	Calculated by the second but billed every hour
Billing for Stopped Instances	Billing stops after the subscription expires.	Basic resources (vCPUs, memory, and image) are not billed after the instance is stopped. Other resources (such as EVS disks, EIPs, and bandwidth) associated with the instance will continue to be billed.
Changing the Specifications	Supported	Supported
ICP Filing	Supported The subscription term must be at least three months, including all time covered by subscription renewals.	Not supported
Application Scenarios	Recommended for resources expected to be in use over the long term. Recommended for resources expected to be in use in the long term	Recommended when the resource demands are likely to fluctuate and you want more flexibility

FlexusX Instance Billing Items

**Table 2** FlexusX instance billing items
Billing Item	Description	Billing Mode	Formula
*Instance	Computing and storage capabilities vary by the number of vCPUs and memory size. Billed by vCPU and memory	Yearly/monthly and pay-per-use	Unit price x Required duration The unit price of an instance is that displayed on the console.
*Image	The billing modes of images are the same as those of instances. Public images: provided by Huawei Cloud and free of charge Private images: System disk images and data disk images can be used for free. If a full-server image is created using Cloud Server Backup Service (CSBS) or Cloud Backup and Recovery (CBR), you will be billed for the storage and cross-region replication traffic on a pay-per-use basis. For details, see CBR Billing Items. If a private image is created using a cloud server created from a KooGallery image, the image will be billed based on the KooGallery image pricing details. Shared images: System disk images, data disk images, and full-server images shared by others are private images. They are billed based on the private image pricing details. Shared images are only shared within a given region, so they do not generate cross-region replication traffic costs.	Yearly/Monthly and pay-per-use	Unit price x Required duration The unit price of an image is that displayed on the purchase page and KooGallery.
*EVS disk (system disk)	When you purchase a FlexusX instance, a 40 GiB system disk is selected by default. You can select a higher capacity as required. Regardless of whether you use the disk, you will be billed right away after purchasing it. Billed by EVS disk type and capacity	Yearly/monthly and pay-per-use	Unit price x Required duration The unit price of an EVS disk is that displayed on the console.
EVS disk (data disk)	If you have additional storage requirements, you need to purchase more data disks. Billed by EVS disk type and capacity	Yearly/monthly and pay-per-use	Unit price x Required duration The unit price of an EVS disk is that displayed on the console.
Bandwidth	An EIP is required if the FlexusX instance needs to access the Internet. Billed by bandwidth, traffic, and the EIP reservation price EIP for a yearly/monthly FlexusX instance: billed by bandwidth EIP for a pay-per-use FlexusX instance: billed by bandwidth, traffic, or shared bandwidth. You are also billed for EIP reservation if you do not bind the EIP to any instance. NOTE: If the EIP has been bound to a FlexusX instance, the EIP reservation price is 0.	Yearly/monthly and pay-per-use	Tiered pricing based on fixed bandwidth 0 Mbit/s to 5 Mbit/s (included): billed at a fixed unit price per Mbit/s Greater than 5 Mbit/s: billed at a different price per Mbit/s The unit price of the EIP bandwidth is that displayed on the console.
Host Security Service (HSS)	You can enable HSS to protect your FlexusL instances. You can use the HSS basic edition for free for one month or the HSS enterprise edition at additional costs. For details, see HSS Pricing Details.	Yearly/monthly and pay-per-use	HSS unit price x Required duration The unit price of HSS is that displayed on the console.
CBR	You can purchase a backup vault to store backups of your FlexusX instance. You are billed based on the vault capacity. For details, see CBR Pricing Details.	Yearly/monthly and pay-per-use	Unit price x Required duration The unit price of CBR is that displayed on the console.

Expiration and Arrears

Pay-per-use FlexusX instances are settled periodically. If you do not have a valid payment method configured or your account balance is insufficient, your account will fall into arrears.
Yearly/Monthly FlexusX instances will expire after their validity periods end.

The following describes the impacts if your FlexusX instances expire or if your account is in arrears.

Phase	Impact
Grace period	After a FlexusX instance expires or your account is in arrears, the instance enters a grace period. During the grace period, you can still access and use the FlexusX instance.
Retention period	If you do not renew your FlexusX instance or pay off the arrears before the grace period expires, the instance enters a retention period. During the retention period, you cannot access or use the FlexusX instance, but it is still retained.

After a FlexusX instance enters a grace period or retention period, Huawei Cloud will notify you of this by email or text message. If you do not complete the renewal or payment before the retention period ends, your instance will be released. To avoid impact on your services, renew your subscription or top up your account in a timely manner.

Renewal and Top-up

FlexusX instances cannot be used after they expire or if your account is in arrears. If you want to continue using them, renew them before the retention period ends. Otherwise, your resources will be released and cannot be recovered.

Pay-per-use is a postpaid billing mode. Pay-per-use FlexusX instances are automatically settled by the hour. You will need to make sure you have a top-up account with a sufficient balance or have a valid payment method configured first. Yearly/Monthly is a prepaid billing mode. To use yearly/monthly FlexusX instances, you also need to renew your subscription before they expire.

Unsubscription and Deletion

If you no longer need FlexusX instances, unsubscribe from or delete them to avoid unnecessary costs.

For details, see Unsubscription Rules.

For yearly/monthly FlexusX instances that are no longer used, unsubscribe from them. For pay-per-use FlexusX instances that are no longer used, delete them.

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