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Billing Mode

Last updated: 2024-06-25 15:43:50
    Tencent Cloud offers four types of cloud server purchasing options: monthly packages, pay-as-you-go, spot instances, and reserved instances, each meeting different users' needs in various scenarios.
    The table below delineates the differences among these four billing modes:
    Instance Billing Mode
    Monthly Subscription
    Pay-as-You-Go
    Spot Instance
    Reserved Instance
    Payment method
    Prepaid
    Amount freezing upon purchase, billed hourly
    Amount freezing upon purchase, billed hourly
    Prepaid
    Billing unit
    USD/month
    USD/second
    USD/second
    USD/year
    Unit price
    Relatively lower
    Relatively higher
    The price fluctuates. In most cases, the price is about 10-20% of the price of a pay-as-you-go instance with the same specifications.
    Relatively lower
    Minimal use time
    Used for at least one month
    Charged by the second and billed by the hour. Purchase and release at any time.
    Charged by the second and billed by the hour. Purchase and release at any time. May be repossessed by the system.
    One year
    Changing instance configurations
    Perform configuration adjustment. Each CVM instance can be upgraded with unlimited number of times and downgraded for up to 5 times
    No limit. Change at any time.
    Not supported.
    Not supported.
    Use case
    Suitable for businesses with stable and long-term device demands
    Suitable for scenarios where the demand for devices fluctuates significantly in an instant, such as flash sale campaigns on an ecommerce site.
    Suitable for scenarios such as big data computing and online website service using load balancing.
    Suitable for businesses with stable and long-term device demands as a discount of pay-as-you-go instances with both high flexibility and cost performance.
    Conversion of billing modes
    Not supported
    Possible to convert into monthly subscription. For details, please see conversion from pay-as-you-go to monthly subscription.
    Not supported
    Not supported

    Monthly Subscription

    Monthly subscription is a type of prepaid billing mode for CVM instances. You can pay the fees for one or multiple months or even years in advance. This mode is suitable for scenarios with predictable demand. The pricing for monthly subscription instances is more cost-effective than that for pay-as-you-go instances. For detailed pricing of the monthly subscription CVM, see pricing overview.
    In the case of a monthly subscription CVM instance, you must pay before usage. During the purchase, the system deducts the corresponding fees from your account according to the resources (CPU, memory, and data disks) and network fees. The sum deducted due to the purchase of CVMs = the number of CVM instances you apply for * the unit price of a CVM instance. Therefore, before the purchase, you can check the balance of your account. If your balance is less than the total sum to be deducted, please top up before the purchase.

    Pay-as-You-Go

    Pay as you go is a flexible billing plan for CVM instances. You can activate and terminate a CVM instance at any time. You only need to pay for what you use accurate down to second with no upfront payment required. Pay-as-you-go resources will be billed on the hour. This billing plan is suitable for use cases where the business demand fluctuates greatly, such as ecommerce flash sales.
    When you activate a pay-as-you-go CVM instance, an hour's charge (including charges for the CPU, the memory, and the data disks) will be frozen in your account balance as a deposit. You will then be billed by the hour (Beijing time) for your usage over the past hour. When you purchase a CVM instance, the price will be listed as an hourly fee. However, you will actually be billed by the second and the charge will be rounded to the nearest two decimal places. Billing starts from the second the instance is created and stops the second the instance is terminated.
    When a pay-as-you-go CVM instance is created, an hour's charge will be frozen in your account balance as a deposit. When you change the CVM configurations, the current deposit will be released and a new deposit will be frozen based on the unit price of the new configuration. Your deposit will be released back to your account when the CVM instance is terminated.
    Eligible pay-as-you-go instances (CPU and memory) will not be charged after shutdown. For more information about limitations, refer to No Charges When Shut Down for Pay-as-You-Go Instances. Ineligible instances will still be charged after shutdown.

    Spot Instance

    Spot instances A novel operational mode for CVM services, similar to the pay-as-you-go mode, falls under the post-payment category, where charges are calculated by the second and settlements are made on the hour. Spot instances utilize a market-based floating billing system, where prices fluctuate in response to shifts in supply and demand dynamics. Compared to the pay-as-you-go mode, significant discounts are offered, with the price typically ranging from 3% to 20% of the pay-as-you-go price. However, spot instances may be subject to system-initiated reclamation due to dwindling resource inventories or competitive bidding by other users. For more information on spot instance policies, use cases, and limitations, see Spot Instance.

    Reserved Instance

    The reserved instance (RI) billing mode is a more favorable prepaid billing mode. RI is a bill discount for a pay-as-you-go physical instance but not an actual physical instance, so it is also pay-as-you-go in essence. The pay-as-you-go instances must exactly match RI attributes to benefit from the billing discount during the RI term. If the attributes of a pay-as-you-go physical instance in use match RI attributes, you can enjoy a bill discount. You can directly purchase and activate RI for existing instances or as new instances. After prepaying a certain amount for RI, you can enjoy the corresponding discount within the purchase duration. Compared with the original monthly subscription and pay-as-you-go billing modes, the combination of RI and pay-as-you-go offers you the greatest discount possible to strike a balance between the flexibility and costs.
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