Help Center/ TaurusDB/ Billing/ Billing Modes/ Serverless Billing
Updated on 2025-08-26 GMT+08:00

Serverless Billing

The capacities of serverless DB instances automatically change based on application requirements. You can start using the DB instance first and then pay as you go.

Billing Items

Table 1 Billing items

Billing Item

Description

Billing Factor

Billing Formula

DB instance

You are billed for the selected instance specifications. The billing starts immediately after the instance is purchased.

TCUs and number of nodes

1 TCU is approximately equal to 1 vCPU and 2 GB of memory. Compute and storage capabilities vary by the number of TCUs.

TCU unit price x Required duration x Number of nodes

For details about the unit price, see the row whose DB Instance Type is Compute in "Serverless Price" in TaurusDB Pricing Details.

Storage

You do not need to select storage when purchasing a DB instance. Storage will be scaled up dynamically based on how much data needs to be stored. It is billed hourly on a pay-per-use basis.

Storage space, which is billed based on the unified standard

Storage space unit price x Storage space x Required duration

For details about the unit price, see the row whose DB Instance Type is Storage in "Serverless Price" in TaurusDB Pricing Details.

Backup space

TaurusDB provides free backup space equal to the amount of your used storage space. If the backup space usage exceeds 100% of your provisioned database storage, the additional part will be billed based on the backup pricing.

Backup space, which is billed based on the unified standard

Backup space unit price x Billed backup space x Billed duration

For details about the unit price, see "Backup Storage Price" in TaurusDB Pricing Details.

NOTE:

The billed duration refers to the length of time the billed backup space was used for.

(Optional) Public network traffic

TaurusDB instances are accessible from both private and public networks, but only the traffic from public networks is billed.

Bandwidth, traffic, and EIP reservation (An EIP is required if a DB instance needs to access the Internet.)

Pay-per-use EIP: billed by bandwidth, traffic, or shared bandwidth. You are also billed for IP reservation if you do not bind the EIP to any instance.

Billed by fixed bandwidth

For details about the unit price, see "By Bandwidth" in EIP Pricing Details.

(Optional) HTAP instance

If you create a standard HTAP instance for a TaurusDB instance, you will be billed for the HTAP instance.

Yearly/Monthly, pay-per-use, and serverless

For details, see HTAP Instance Billing Items.

Billed Usage Period

Serverless DB instance usage is calculated by the second and billed every hour (UTC+08:00). The billing starts when the DB instance is launched and ends when the instance is deleted.

It takes a certain time to create a DB instance. The billing starts from the Completed time on the Instant Tasks page in the task center.

For example, if you purchased a serverless DB instance at 8:45:30 and deleted it at 8:55:30, you were billed for the 600 seconds from 8:45:30 to 8:55:30.

Price Change After Specification Change

If you change the compute range of a serverless DB instance, you will still be billed based on the current compute. When certain trigger conditions are met, instance compute is automatically changed, and the original order becomes invalid. For details about the conditions for triggering compute changes, see Changing the Compute Range of a Serverless Instance.

Billing Examples

Suppose you purchased a serverless DB instance (2 to 4 TCUs and 2 nodes) at 10:00:30 on April 18, 2023 and deleted the DB instance at 10:45:46 on the same day. The DB instance used 20 GB storage space and 50 GB backup space.

Usage of 2,716 seconds from 10:00:30 to 10:45:46 (between 10:00:30 and 11:00:00)

From 10:00:30 to 10:35:00, the backup space was free. From 10:35:00 to 10:45:46, the backup space was billed for 646 seconds.

You will be billed for all usage periods. TaurusDB resources are billed individually as described in Table 2. The prices displayed in the pricing details are per hour, so you need to divide it by 3,600 to obtain the price for each second and then multiple the per-second price by the total number of seconds.

Table 2 Billing formulas

Billing Item

Billing Formula

Unit Price

Instance specifications (TCUs)

Specifications unit price x Required duration x Number of nodes

See the row whose DB Instance Type is Compute in "Serverless Price" in TaurusDB Pricing Details.

Storage space

Storage space unit price x Required duration x Storage (GB)

See the row whose DB Instance Type is Storage in "Serverless Price" in TaurusDB Pricing Details.

Backup space

Backup space unit price x Billed duration x (Backup space – Storage space) (GB)

The billed duration refers to the length of time the billed backup space was used for.

See "Backup Storage Price" in TaurusDB Pricing Details.

Figure 1 shows the billing calculation.

When you delete a DB instance, its automated backups are also deleted, but its manual backups are still retained and will incur additional costs.

The prices in the figure are for reference only. The actual prices are subject to TaurusDB Pricing Details.

Prices are calculated to two decimal places, with the third and later decimal places truncated rather than rounded off.

Figure 1 Billing calculation example of a serverless DB instance (in AP-Singapore)

Impact of Arrears

Figure 2 shows the statuses a serverless DB instance can have throughout its lifecycle. After a DB instance is purchased, it enters the valid period and runs normally during this period. If your account goes into arrears, the DB instance enters a grace period and then a retention period.

Figure 2 Lifecycle of a serverless DB instance

Arrears Reminder

The system will bill you for serverless DB instances after each billing cycle ends. If your account goes into arrears, we will notify you by email, SMS, or in-app message.

Impact of Arrears

If your account is insufficient to pay your amount due, your account goes into arrears, and the serverless DB instance enters the grace period. You are still responsible for expenditures generated during the grace period. You can view the charges on the Billing > Overview page and pay any past due balance as needed.

If you do not bring your account balance current before the grace period expires, the DB instance turns to Frozen and enters a retention period. You cannot perform any operations on a pay-per-use DB instance in the Frozen state.

If you do not bring your account balance current before the retention period ends, your instance will be released, and data cannot be restored.

  • During the retention period, you cannot access and use your DB instance but data in the DB instance will be retained. The retention period for Huawei Cloud International website is 15 days.
  • During the grace period, you can access and use only some resources of your DB instance. The grace period for Huawei Cloud International website is 15 days.
  • For details about top-up, see Topping Up an Account.