# Alibaba Cloud ECS International

Official pricing: https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing  
Category: hyperscaler · Isolation: vm

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **economy** (sizes): ecs.e-c1m2.large 2 vCPU/4 GiB $0.0281/h; ecs.e-c1m2.xlarge 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.0838/h; ecs.e-c1m4.xlarge 4 vCPU/16 GiB $0.1251/h; ecs.e-c1m2.2xlarge 8 vCPU/16 GiB $0.1676/h; ecs.e-c1m4.2xlarge 8 vCPU/32 GiB $0.2501/h; ecs.e-c1m1.large 2 vCPU/2 GiB $0.0141/h
- **compute-c9i** (sizes): ecs.c9i.large 2 vCPU/4 GiB $0.0731/h; ecs.c9i.xlarge 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.1463/h; ecs.c9i.2xlarge 8 vCPU/16 GiB $0.2926/h; ecs.c9i.3xlarge 12 vCPU/24 GiB $0.4389/h; ecs.c9i.4xlarge 16 vCPU/32 GiB $0.5852/h; ecs.c9i.6xlarge 24 vCPU/48 GiB $0.8778/h
- **burstable-t6** (sizes): ecs.t6-c1m4.xlarge 4 vCPU/16 GiB $0.143/h; ecs.t6-c1m4.2xlarge 8 vCPU/32 GiB $0.287/h [burstable]
- **Monthly subscription** (sizes): ecs.e-c1m2.large 2 vCPU/4 GiB $12.96/h; ecs.c9i.large 2 vCPU/4 GiB $38.33/h; ecs.e-c1m2.xlarge 4 vCPU/8 GiB $38.54/h; ecs.c9i.xlarge 4 vCPU/8 GiB $76.67/h
- **One-year subscription, observed trade discount** (sizes): ecs.e-c1m2.xlarge 4 vCPU/8 GiB $32.76/h; ecs.c9i.xlarge 4 vCPU/8 GiB $63.63166666666667/h [sales]
- **Spot instances** (sizes):  [spot]
- **Reserved instances / savings plans** (sizes):  [sales]
- **Enterprise AMD (c9a / u2a)** (sizes): ecs.u2a-c1m2.large 2 vCPU/4 GiB $0.059/h; ecs.u2a-c1m2.xlarge 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.1181/h; ecs.u2a-c1m2.2xlarge 8 vCPU/16 GiB $0.2361/h; ecs.c9a.xlarge 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.131/h; ecs.c9a.2xlarge 8 vCPU/16 GiB $0.262/h

## Features

Yes: snapshots, fork/clone, pause/resume, persistent disk, volumes, ≥24 h sessions, custom image (Docker or snapshot), start from your own snapshot, full VM (own kernel), Docker inside, nested virtualization, root, systemd, SSH, public IPv4, custom domains, raw TCP inbound, egress allowlist, static egress IP, private networking, SOC 2, HIPAA, SSO, GPU, arm64, Windows, live fork (no pause), EU data residency, MCP server, snapshots on demand, gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), inbound access rules, firewall inside (nftables), extra volumes, shared volumes

No: memory snapshots, idle auto-stop, your own Docker/OCI image, browser, desktop GUI, computer-use API, code interpreter, browser + desktop control, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, preinstalled agents, HTTPS preview URLs, self-hosting, BYOC, open source, macOS, Python, Node.js, GPU desktop, HTTP method/path egress rules, wake on request, live resize, memory fork, automatic snapshots, agent harness API, hosted agent API (their own agent), secret proxy, secret proxy for any API

Unknown: everything else. Evidence (source + quote) per feature: https://battleships.dev/data/providers/alibaba-ecs.json → feature_evidence

## Caveats

- DIY infrastructure rather than an agent-managed sandbox: guest installation, HTTPS/domain setup, abuse controls and operations are customer responsibilities. Linux guest administrative capabilities are not preinstalled agent features. 30% guest CPU utilization does not reduce allocated-compute charges. Unknowns remain null; a partial subtotal is not a complete invoice.
- ECS economy 4/8 $0.0838/h; C9i 4/8 $0.1463/h. Monthly subscription $38.54/$76.67 respectively; not automatic caps.
- International USD catalog, Virginia region, Linux, disk/network excluded. Trade arrays include promotions; original-price arrays are the default source.
- ECS economical stop mode may stop vCPU/RAM/public-bandwidth charge, releases capacity/IP and restart may fail if stock exhausted. Ordinary stop can continue billing; disks/snapshots still cost.
- Public bandwidth can be bought per Mbps or transferred GB; no double addition. $0.076/GB Virginia source is ECS bandwidth catalog; CDT tiers may differ; 200GB free requires eligible CDT billing.
- EIP ownership/idle charges and backup prices remain unknown, not zero.
- The 2-minute minimum is per hourly billing cycle, so crossing an hour boundary can require more than one minimum; engine only implements per-start floor.
- Boot time not measured/published: a fresh ECS instance takes tens of seconds to boot (not billed as boot_overhead_s). DIY VM: no sandbox API.
- Snapshot storage price not re-verified (Alibaba snapshot billing pages 404 on 2026-09-28); snapshot_gib_month stays null.
- Savings plans: 1- or 3-year hourly spend commitment, up to 83% off PAYG (excludes spot); unused commitment is still billed each hour. Reserved instances up to 79% off.
- Region spread (Alibaba price feed, Linux PAYG): e-c1m2.xlarge 4/8 us-east-1 $0.0838, Frankfurt/London $0.0961, Silicon Valley $0.101, Singapore $0.106; c9i.xlarge us-east-1 $0.1463, Frankfurt $0.1653, London $0.173, Singapore $0.1676. Card modes are Virginia-only.

## How this provider charges


DIY infrastructure rather than an agent-managed sandbox: guest installation, HTTPS/domain setup, abuse controls and operations are customer responsibilities. Linux guest administrative capabilities are not preinstalled agent features. 30% guest CPU utilization does not reduce allocated-compute charges. Unknowns remain null; a partial subtotal is not a complete invoice.

Prices below are public list prices unless a row explicitly says promotion/commitment. USD; taxes excluded unless noted.

| Regime | When / billing | Captured prices | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| economy | On demand; US East Virginia Linux original list rate, not discounted trade price. No monthly cap. 4+vCPU minimum 2 minutes per billing cycle; smaller sizes have longer minima. CPU credits/burst are separate for t 6. | ecs.e-c 1m 2.xlarge: $0.0838/h; cap None | https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing |
| compute-c 9i | On demand; US East Virginia Linux original list rate, not discounted trade price. No monthly cap. 4+vCPU minimum 2 minutes per billing cycle; smaller sizes have longer minima. CPU credits/burst are separate for t 6. | ecs.c 9i.xlarge: $0.1463/h; cap None | https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing |
| burstable-t 6 | On demand; US East Virginia Linux original list rate, not discounted trade price. No monthly cap. 4+vCPU minimum 2 minutes per billing cycle; smaller sizes have longer minima. CPU credits/burst are separate for t 6. | ecs.t 6-c 1m 4.xlarge: $0.143/h; cap None | https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing |
| Monthly subscription | 1 month prepaid; Estimator-only encoding: sizes.hour and month_cap both equal full monthly rent, with a one-hour synthetic minimum. This is NOT a vendor hourly tariff. For valid workloads with sessions >= peak concurrency it charges one monthly rental per concurrent machine, including off-hours. Setup/term cash outlays are caveated separately. | ecs.e-c 1m 2.xlarge: $38.54/month rental | https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing |
| One-year subscription, observed trade discount | 12 months prepaid; promotional trade price, not guaranteed renewal rate; Estimator-only encoding: sizes.hour and month_cap both equal full monthly rent, with a one-hour synthetic minimum. This is NOT a vendor hourly tariff. For valid workloads with sessions >= peak concurrency it charges one monthly rental per concurrent machine, including off-hours. Setup/term cash outlays are caveated separately. | ecs.e-c 1m 2.xlarge: $32.76/month rental | https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing |
| Spot instances | On demand; Market-dependent price and interruption policy; no static discount invented. | Rate unavailable; null (not free) | https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing |
| Reserved instances / savings plans | On demand; Discount instruments applied to eligible PAYG compute; do not conflate with nonrefundable instance subscriptions. | Rate unavailable; null (not free) | https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing |

## Billing details
- **granularity_seconds**: 1
- **minimum_billed_seconds**: 120
- **setup_fee_usd**: 0
- **api**: True
- **cli**: True
- **ipv 6**: Unknown; not assumed zero.
- **ingress_usd**: 0
- **cpu**: Economy shared vs enterprise c 9i; t 6 CPU credits, not equivalent sustained dedicated performance.
- **minimum_term**: PAYG second-metered hourly settlement; minimum 10/5/2 minutes for 1/2/4+ vCPU each hour cycle. Snapshot minimum 1h.
- **backup**: ESSD PL0 Virginia 100 GB $0.01055/hour or $6.33/month subscription. Snapshot regional rate unresolved.
- **provisioning**: Unknown; not assumed zero.
- **free**: Eligible CDT BGP pay-by-traffic: 200 GB/month outside mainland plus separate 20 GB mainland; activation/switch timing applies.

## Gotchas
- DIY infrastructure rather than an agent-managed sandbox: guest installation, HTTPS/domain setup, abuse controls and operations are customer responsibilities. Linux guest administrative capabilities are not preinstalled agent features. 30% guest CPU utilization does not reduce allocated-compute charges. Unknowns remain null; a partial subtotal is not a complete invoice.
- ECS economy 4/8 $0.0838/h; C9i 4/8 $0.1463/h. Monthly subscription $38.54/$76.67 respectively; not automatic caps.
- International USD catalog, Virginia region, Linux, disk/network excluded. Trade arrays include promotions; original-price arrays are the default source.
- ECS economical stop mode may stop vCPU/RAM/public-bandwidth charge, releases capacity/IP and restart may fail if stock exhausted. Ordinary stop can continue billing; disks/snapshots still cost.
- Public bandwidth can be bought per Mbps or transferred GB; no double addition. $0.076/GB Virginia source is ECS bandwidth catalog; CDT tiers may differ; 200 GB free requires eligible CDT billing.
- EIP ownership/idle charges and backup prices remain unknown, not zero.
- The 2-minute minimum is per hourly billing cycle, so crossing an hour boundary can require more than one minimum; engine only implements per-start floor.

## Worked example
4 vCPU / 8 GiB; 50 concurrent × 8 h/day × 22 days = **8,800 guest-hours**; 30% CPU busy; **50 GiB-month total snapshots**, **100 GiB total egress**. 50 GiB retained state is total, not 50 GiB per VM. Compute-only subtotals below exclude unknown components and tax.

| Mode | Delete/recreate / active-window compute | 50 retained hosts, 730-hour month |
|---|---:|---:|
| economy | $737.44 | $3,058.70 |
| compute-c 9i | $1,287.44 | $5,339.95 |
| burstable-t 6 | $1,258.40 | $5,219.50 |
| Monthly subscription | $1,927.00 | $1,927.00 |
| One-year subscription, observed trade discount | $1,638.00 | $1,638.00 |
| Spot instances | Unknown / unavailable | Unknown / unavailable |
| Reserved instances / savings plans | Unknown / unavailable | Unknown / unavailable |

Snapshot subtotal: unknown; rate $None/GiB-month. Egress: see allowances, pooling/accrual and rate $0.076/GiB; not every mode has the same allowance.
Powered-off compute billed: None. A retained-host column is the always-running upper scenario when this is false; powered-off storage/IP still accrue.
Monthly caps attach to instance identities, not to a pool of replacement instances. The active-window column requires deleting/releasing billable compute between shifts for products that bill while off. Restoring from disk is not memory resume. The engine cannot perfectly model these lifecycles; see validation/estimator-gaps.md.

## Sources
- https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/product/ecs/pricing
- https://g.alicdn.com/aliyun/ecs-price-info-intl/2.0.421/price/js_price/filter_price/instanceTypePrice_2.js
- https://g.alicdn.com/aliyun/ecs-price-info-intl/2.0.421/price/js_price/disk_price/diskPrice.js
- https://g.alicdn.com/aliyun/ecs-price-info-intl/2.0.421/price/js_price/bandwidth_price/bandWidthPrice.js
- https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/ecs/pay-as-you-go-1
- https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/ecs/user-guide/economical-mode
- https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/cdt/internet-data-transfers/