This document describes the billing policies of CVM images.
Billing overview
The table below shows the billing details of different types of images.
Image type
Description
Public image
Include open-source images and commercial images:
Open-source images do not incur license fees.
Using commercial images incurs license fees. Please check the license fee in your bill. Tencent Cloud now provides two series of commercial images, Windows Server images and Red Hat Enterprise Linux images.
Custom image
Billable items:
Snapshot fee: The image uses the CBS snapshot service. As a result, retaining custom images incurs a snapshot fee. For regions in China, CBS Snapshot offers a free tier of 80 GB and usage beyond the free tier will be billed over pay-as-you-go. For more details, see Billing Overview.
Image fee: If the custom image is sourced from a paid image, using it incurs fees.
Shared image
A shared image is a custom image shared from another Tencent Cloud account. If the shared image is sourced from a paid image, using it incurs fees.
Windows server images
In overseas regions (outside of Chinese mainland): For Windows Server images deployed in overseas regions, the License fee is already included in the billing items of the instance. This means that this fee will be calculated and charged together with the instance fee from the moment you create the instance until it is terminated throughout its entire lifecycle. To get a clearer understanding of your specific charges, you can review the cost details of the relevant instance at any time.
You may refer to the example below to learn how to view the specific charges.
Note：
The prices in the example are for reference only. Refer to the purchase page for the actual prices.
Billing example
A user wants to purchase Standard S5.MEDIUM2 instances in Singapore Zone 1 over pay-as-you-go. The instance configurations are the same except the image.
CentOS instance: 0.04 USD/hour.
Windows instance: 0.05 USD/hour. The license fee is included in the instance fee. The image does not incur additional fees.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux images
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a commercial OS. Tencent Cloud is licensed to provide related images. The image fee of Red Hat Enterprise Linux images includes the license fee, and is the same for all Tencent Cloud regions.
Note:
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux images provided by Tencent Cloud are licensed through official authorization from Red Hat. When you purchase a license on Tencent Cloud, no other forms of discounts (including discounts for spot instances) are supported, nor can vouchers be used for deduction. Once a license has been purchased and activated, it is not eligible for a refund.
To use Red Hat Enterprise Linux images, select an instance type that is verified by Red Hat Enterprise Linux when you purchase the CVM. For more details, see FAQs about Red Hat Enterprise Linux Image.
Licensed Red Hat Enterprise Linux image pricing
Instance Specifications
Monthly Subscription
Pay-As-You-Go on an Hourly Basis (Minimum Billable Unit: 1 Hour)
If you choose a licensed Red Hat Enterprise Linux image when creating a spot instance, the image is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis and it cannot enjoy the discounts available for the spot instance.
OS reinstallation and image billing
Switching between Red Hat Enterprise Linux and other operating systems is supported, and fees are calculated based on the target image reinstalled. If you have previously purchased Red Hat Enterprise Linux image licenses on Tencent Cloud, switching between different versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux images will not incur additional fees.
If you switch from Red Hat Enterprise Linux to another operating system, the fees paid are non-refundable. However, your purchased usage duration is retained. When switching back to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you will not be charged again for the already purchased duration. Note : If you adjust configurations or change the billing mode while running a different operating system, your purchased Red Hat Enterprise Linux image licenses will be invalidated, requiring a repurchase.
Example :
Instance A was purchased on January 1, 2023, with a duration of one month until February 1, 2023. Red Hat Enterprise Linux images were used and licenses were purchased on Tencent Cloud. The operating system was switched to CentOS after 5 days of purchase, and the already paid image fees are non-refundable. Red Hat Enterprise Linux was reinstalled on January 15, 2023, and no additional image fees were needed from January 15, 2023 to February 1, 2023.
Description of image billing with different billing modes for system reinstallation:
Pay-As-You-Go
Monthly Subscription
For instances billed over pay-as-you-go, reinstalling the system with Tencent Cloud authorized Red Hat Enterprise Linux incurs charges at the pay-as-you-go rate. If Tencent Cloud authorized Red Hat Enterprise Linux images have been used within a billing cycle, image license fees will be incurred for that cycle.
Example :
At 8:00 AM on January 1, 2023, a CentOS instance was purchased. No image license fees were incurred from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM. At 9:30 AM, the system was reinstalled with a commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux image. From 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, image license fees must be paid. At 10:30 AM, the CentOS was reinstalled for the instance, and image license fees were required from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. After 11:00 AM, no image license fees are needed.
For instances with a monthly subscription billing mode, if you have not purchased Red Hat Enterprise Linux image licenses on Tencent Cloud before reinstalling the system, reinstalling with Tencent Cloud authorized Red Hat Enterprise Linux will incur image license fees as follows: Image license fees = Pay-as-you-go rate × Remaining instance duration. The remaining duration is calculated in whole days, with any part of a day counted as a full day. Please carefully check whether the fees meet your expectations when choosing a commercial image.
Example :
At 8:00 AM on January 1, 2023, a standard instance S5.MEDIUM2 (vCPU = 2) was purchased, using the free CentOS operating system, and with a duration of one year until 8:00 AM on January 1, 2024. Two hours later, at 10:00 AM on January 1, 2023, the system was reinstalled with a commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux image, resulting in image license fees as follows: Image license fees = 0.06 USD/hour × 24 hours/day × 365 days.
Note:
For instances with a monthly subscription billing mode, the image license fees incurred during system reinstallation are calculated by multiplying the pay-as-you-go rate by the converted time . The actual cost will be higher than that of the monthly subscription billing mode. Please carefully check whether the fees meet your expectations when choosing commercial images for reinstallation. If your instance has more than one month left in its duration, please consider purchasing a new instance with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux image.
Adjusting configurations
Instances using Tencent Cloud authorized Red Hat Enterprise Linux commercial operating systems do not support configuration adjustments or billing mode changes.
Instance refund description
For instances with a pay-as-you-go billing mode, those using Tencent Cloud authorized Red Hat Enterprise Linux images can be terminated or returned.
For instances with a monthly subscription billing mode, those using Tencent Cloud authorized Red Hat Enterprise Linux images are not eligible for termination or refund. If you wish to receive a refund of the instance fee, you can reinstall the system with another open-source Linux operating system, such as CentOS, and then proceed with the regular refund process for the instance.
Note:
After the system is reinstalled, the fee of the image will not be refunded.
For Linux RIs, the instance fee does not include the license fee for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux image. The license fee is billed separately.
For PAYG instances using licensed Red Hat Enterprise Linux images, RI discounts can apply to the instance fee, but not the image license fee. The license fee is billed separately.
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