Pay-per-use

Application Scenarios

The pay-per-use billing mode applies to scenarios where computing resource requirements fluctuate. You can enable and delete computing resources at any time. For example, customers that require early operation tests, proof of concept, and short-term use.

Billed Items

The following billing items support pay-per-use billing:

During creation of a GaussDB(DWS) cluster, if you enable database encryption and select an EIP billed by bandwidth and an existing ELB. At the bottom of the Create GaussDB(DWS) Cluster page, you will see the reference price, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 1 Example price

The price includes:

• Node fee: The fee is calculated based on the selected node specifications and node quantity.
• Storage fee: disk storage fee of GaussDB(DWS).

• Public network bandwidth fee: The fee is calculated based on the selected bandwidth size and is billed by the ECS service.
• ELB: The fee is calculated based on the size of the selected ELB and is billed by the ELB service.
• DEW: The fee is calculated based on the selected keys and is billed by the DEW service.

Billing Period

Pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) usage is calculated by the second and billed every hour. The billing starts from the time when the GaussDB(DWS) cluster is successfully created and ends at the time when the cluster is deleted.

It takes a certain period of time from cluster creation to cluster startup. The billing starts from the time when the cluster is successfully created, not the time when the cluster starts to be created. You can view the two time points on the Cluster Details tab page. The time when the creation is successful is the Start Time on the page.

For example, if you create a pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) cluster at 08:45:30 and delete it at 08:55:00, the billing period will be from 08:00:00 to 9:00:00 and the fee will be generated from 08:45:30 to 08:55:00. The billing duration is 600 seconds.

Billing Example

If you create a pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) cluster (node flavor: dwsx2.xlarge; hot data storage on each node: 50 GB) at 9:59:30 on April 18, 2023, and then delete it at 10:45:46 on April 18, 2023, then:

• The first billing period is from 9:00:00 to 10:00:00. Fees are generated from 9:59:30 to 10:00:00. The billing duration is 30 seconds within the period.
• The second billing period is from 10:00:00 to 11:00:00. Fees are generated from 10:00:00 to 10:45:46. The billing duration is 2746 seconds within the period.

You will be billed for both usage periods. GaussDB(DWS) resources are billed individually as follows: The price of a resource listed in the product pricing details is per hour, so divide it by 3600 to obtain the price for each second.

The following figure shows how the fee is calculated.

The price in the figure is for reference only. The actual calculation is based on the price listed in the GaussDB(DWS) Pricing Details.

Figure 2 Example of calculating GaussDB(DWS) fees in pay-per-use billing mode

Billing After Specification Change

If you change the specifications after creating a pay-per-use cluster, a new order is generated and you are charged based on the price of the new configuration. The old order automatically becomes invalid.

If you change the node specifications within one hour, multiple billing records will be generated. The start time and end time of each billing record correspond to when different configurations took effect within the hour.

For example, if you create a pay-per-use cluster whose node flavor is dwsx2.8xlarge at 9:00:00 and upgrade the node flavor to dwsx2.16xlarge at 9:30:00, two pieces of billing information will be generated between 9:00:00 and 10:00:00.

• The first record corresponds to 9:00:00 to 9:30:00. The billing is based on the instance flavor dwsx2.8xlarge.
• The second record corresponds to 9:30:00-10:00:00. The billing is based on the instance flavor dwsx2.16xlarge.

Impact of Arrears

The following figure shows the status of pay-per-use GaussDB(DWS) resources in each phase. After a GaussDB(DWS) resource is purchased, it enters the valid period and works normally during this period. If your account goes into arrears, the DB instance enters a grace period and then a retention period.

Figure 3 Lifecycle of GaussDB(DWS) resources charged in pay-per-use mode

Arrears Alert

The system will deduct fees for pay-per-use resources upon the end of each billing period. If your account goes into arrears, we will notify you by email, SMS, or in-app message.

Arrears Impact

Your account is in arrears if your balance is less than the fee generated. In arrears, the pay-per-use resource continues rendering service but the resource enters the grace period. You are still responsible for expenditures generated during the grace period. You can view the charges on the Billing Center > Overview page and pay any past due balance as needed.

If you do not pay the arrears within the grace period, the resource enters the retention period and its status turns to Frozen. You cannot perform any operations on pay-per-use resources in the retention period.

After the retention period ends, the storage resources and EIPs will be released and cannot be restored.

• For details about recharge, see Topping Up an Account.

Billing for a Stopped Cluster

In pay-per-use billing mode, you can stop a cluster to save costs. The system settles the fees by hour for the pay-per-use mode. You can use the service as long as your account balance is sufficient. To reduce costs:

• Choose More > Stop in the Operation column to stop the cluster. After a cluster is stopped, only basic resources (vCPUs and memory) are not charged. The public IP address and bandwidth assigned to the cluster are still charged.
• Delete the purchased clusters if you will not be needing them, and create new ones when needed.
• Switch to the yearly/monthly mode that allows you to use the service within the specific period of time without additional fees.