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Resource Subscription Change

If the current resource specifications do not meet your business needs, you can initiate resource change operations through the Volcano Engine Cloud product console. Currently, Volcano Engine supports four types of resource changes:

Change annual or monthly subscription resource specifications.

Switch from annual or monthly subscription to pay-as-you-go billing.

Switch from pay-as-you-go billing to annual or monthly subscription.

Change pay-as-you-go resource specifications.

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Prepaid instances purchased before financial custody, during the financial custody period, or prepaid instances purchased during financial custody after terminating the financial custody relationship, all resources allow reconfiguration. However, the original valid orders hold no remaining value (i.e., remaining value equals zero), and new configuration fees are charged based on the new prices and remaining duration.

Prepaid instances purchased before establishing reseller or sales agency relationships, during the reseller or sales agency period, or prepaid instances purchased during that period after terminating the relationships, all resources allow reconfiguration. However, the original valid orders hold no remaining value (i.e., remaining value equals zero), and new configuration fees are charged based on the new prices and remaining duration.

1. Changing Annual or Monthly Subscription Resource Specifications

Changing annual or monthly subscription resource specifications includes two scenarios: resource upgrade and resource downgrade.

Upgrade: When you change resource specifications and the new configuration list price (hourly list price) is greater than or equal to the old configuration list price (hourly list price), the system calculates the price difference you need to pay using the upgrade formula.

Downgrade: When you change resource specifications and the new configuration list price (hourly list price) is less than the old configuration list price (hourly list price), the system first calculates the price difference using the downgrade refund formula. If the result is a refund, the system returns the difference to you via the original payment method; if the result is a charge, the system recalculates using the upgrade formula, and you need to pay the price difference.

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Since discounts have validity periods, the price shown on the operation page when changing resource specifications may differ from the price after ordering. Please refer to the latter.

Fees generated by upgrade/expansion can be paid using your account balance (including credit quota) or third-party payment platforms such as WeChat and Alipay; fees from downgrades will automatically refund to your Volcano Engine account balance or original payment method. See Refund fund flow for details.

After initiating a specification change (upgrade/expansion) for a resource, a change order is generated but not paid on the same day:

If you pay within the order validity period, the final change fee remains the same as on the day you initiated the change.

Alternatively, you can cancel the order and initiate the change again.

Calculation examples in this document are for reference only; results are rounded to two decimal places. However, when calculating fees for upgrade/expansion or downgrade refunds, it is recommended to use up to 16 decimal places in calculations to avoid discrepancies with the displayed results.

Theoretically, a change involves canceling the old configuration and purchasing the new configuration as a combined operation, so one change corresponds to multiple change orders, that is:

Adjustment - payable amount for new purchase order: the theoretical cost of the new configuration calculated according to the upgrade or downgrade formula.

Adjustment - payable amount for canceled order: if there are any renewal orders not yet effective, there will be two adjustment-canceled orders. They calculate the theoretical remaining value of multiple orders during the effective period of the old configuration based on the upgrade or downgrade formula.

Total payable amount: the total payable amount of multiple adjustment orders under a single adjustment operation. The payable amount for each adjustment order is the theoretical amount calculated according to the upgrade or downgrade formula. It only serves as a calculation of the total payable amount and is not the actual payment amount. Your actual payment amount will be the total payable amount.

True value of the instance after adjustment: used to calculate the remaining value for further adjustments or refunds.

True value of the instance after adjustment = total payable amount for this adjustment + true remaining value of the old configuration.

True remaining value of the old configuration = min{theoretical remaining value of the old configuration, true remaining value of the original old order}.

True remaining value of the original old order = original order's true value * (remaining duration of original order / original order purchase duration), with duration accurate to seconds. True value of new purchase and renewal orders equals the actual payment amount of the orders.

Upgrade

Total payable amount for upgrade orders

= new configuration cost - remaining value of old configuration

= new configuration list price (per hour) * remaining duration (hours) * discount - old configuration list price (per hour) * remaining duration (hours) * discount

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New configuration hourly list price calculation rules:

If the billing method is daily, new configuration list price (per hour) = daily list price / 24.

If the billing method is monthly, new configuration list price (per hour) = monthly list price / 30 / 24.

If the billing method is yearly, new configuration list price (per hour) = yearly list price / 365 / 24.

Remaining duration = [instance expiration time (accurate to seconds) - order submission time on the add-on selection page (accurate to seconds) + 1] / 3600.

Discount: the new configuration discount will be rematched with the latest system discount based on the remaining duration; the old configuration discount is the one matched in the original order.

Configuration cost = the sum of all billing item costs included in this configuration/instance.

Type	calculation rules	Calculation example
The configuration, billing items, and billing item attribute values (usage) remain unchanged before and after the adjustment	This billing item uses the list price for calculation in both new and old configurations	Public IP monthly subscription instances are charged by bandwidth. The monthly list price uses progressive overage pricing (refer to Volcano Engine - Public IP Pricing): [0, 2M], 23 yuan/M; (2M, 5M], 25 yuan/M; (5M, +∞), 100 yuan/M. A 15% discount applies for one year. The attribute value (usage) before upgrade is 3M, and after upgrade remains 3M. Assuming the remaining duration is 367 days, then Total payable amount for upgrade orders = new configuration fee - remaining value of old configuration = 3M bandwidth list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 - 3M bandwidth list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 = 0 yuan
Configuration changes before and after upgrade or changes in billing items within the configuration	The billing item is calculated using the discounted price in both the new and old configurations	The monthly subscription price for the ECS G2i large instance is 246 yuan. For purchases of 1 year, there is a 17% discount; for 2 years, a 30% discount applies. When a customer buys an ecs.g2i.large instance for two years, the total payment is 246 yuan * 24 months * 0.7 = 4132.8 yuan. The upgraded billing item is ecs.g2i.xlarge with a monthly list price of 492 yuan. Assuming a remaining duration of 367 days, then Total Amount Payable for Upgrade Orders = New Configuration Cost - Remaining Value of Old Configuration = ecs.g2i.xlarge billing item list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 * 1 year discount - ecs.g2i.large billing item list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 * original order discount = 492/30/24 * 36724 0.83 - 246/30/24 * 36724 0.7 = 2889.02 yuan
The configuration and billing items before and after the change remain the same, but the billing item attribute value (usage) increases	Fixed unit price/excess progressive unit price: Original attribute value (usage) is calculated using the list price, incremental attribute value (usage) is calculated at the discounted price, incremental attribute value = attribute value after change - attribute value before change	For public IP monthly instances with bandwidth charges, the monthly list price follows progressive excess billing (refer to Volcengine - Public IP Pricing): [0, 2M] 23 CNY/M, (2M, 5M] 25 CNY/M, (5M, +∞) 100 CNY/M. With a purchase duration of 1 year at an 8.5 discount, the pre-downgrade attribute value (usage) is 3M, and the post-downgrade attribute value (usage) is 7M, assuming the remaining time is 367 days, then Total payable amount for upgrade orders = new configuration cost - remaining value of old configuration = original 3M bandwidth list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 + 4M bandwidth list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 * 1 year discount - original 3M bandwidth list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 = (2M23+1M25)/30/24 * 36724 + (2M25+2M100)/30/24 36724 0.85 - (2M23+1M25)/30/24 * 367*24 = 2599.58 yuan
		Full progressive unit price / full progressive total price: this billing item uses the discounted price for calculation in both new and old configurations	The monthly subscription price for elastic block storage high-speed SSD PL0 data disk is 0.5 yuan/GiB. When purchased for 1 year, there is a 17% discount; for 2 years, a 30% discount applies. The contract price type uses full progressive unit pricing: [0, 20GiB] at 0.5 yuan/GiB; (20GiB, 50GiB] at 0.4 yuan/GiB; (50GiB, +∞) at 0.3 yuan/GiB. When a customer buys 20GiB for two years, the total payment is 20GiB * 0.5 yuan/GiB * 24 months * 0.7 = 168 yuan. The previous data disk attribute value (usage) is 20GiB; the upgraded attribute value (usage) is 60GiB. Assuming a remaining duration of 367 days, then Total amount payable for the upgrade order = New configuration fee - Remaining value of old configuration = 60GiB list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 * 1 year discount - 20GiB list price / 30 / 24 * 367 * 24 * original order discount = 0.360/30/24 36724 0.83 - 0.520/30/24 36724 0.7 = 97.14 yuan

Downgrade

If the specifications of your annual or monthly subscription instance exceed your business needs, you can downgrade the instance specifications in real time (downgrade availability depends on the cloud product console). The system calculates the refund amount during downgrade according to the following rules.

Total payable amount for downgrade order summary

= New configuration fee - refundable remaining value of the old configuration

= New configuration list price (hourly) * remaining hours * discount - order real value / order purchase duration * remaining hours

= New configuration list price (hourly) * remaining hours * discount - (order real value - order real value * used hours / order purchase duration * downgrade refund coefficient)

= New configuration list price (hourly) * remaining hours * discount - (order real value - order real value * used hours / order purchase duration) * downgrade refund coefficient

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New configuration hourly list price calculation rules:

For daily billing, new configuration list price (hourly) = daily list price / 24.

For monthly billing, new configuration list price (hourly) = monthly list price / 30 / 24.

The billing method is annual. The new configuration list price (hourly) = annual list price / 365 / 24.

Remaining duration = [instance expiration time (accurate to seconds) - order submission time on the configuration page (accurate to seconds) + 1] / 3600.

Used duration = original order purchase duration - remaining duration, accurate to seconds.

Discount: the new configuration discount will be recalculated based on the remaining duration using the latest system discount.

Configuration cost = sum of all billing item costs included in the configuration/instance.

If the refundable remaining value of the old configuration is less than 0, it will be calculated as 0, meaning no remaining value.

If the cloud product billing rule states no refund for downgrade (subject to the cloud product billing documentation), the refund amount after downgrade will be 0 yuan.

Order actual value:

The actual value of new purchase or renewal orders is the amount actually paid for the order.

The actual value of the instance after reconfiguration: used for recalculating the real value of another reconfiguration and the refundable remaining value.

The real value of the upgraded instance = total amount payable for this upgrade + the real remaining value of the old configuration.

The real remaining value of the old configuration = min{theoretical remaining value of the old configuration, real remaining value of the old configuration's original order}.

The real remaining value of the old configuration's original order = original order real value * (remaining duration of original order / original order purchase duration), with duration accurate to seconds.

Downgrade example

The customer newly purchases a cloud server with a specification of 4C8G for 1 year, listed price is 100 per month, with a full one-year discount of 15% (no discount for less than one year), actual payment for 1 year is 1020; after using for half a year (assuming 180 days remaining), downgrade to 2C4G, listed price is 50 per month, then:

Summary payable amount for downgrade order

= new configuration cost - refundable remaining value of old configuration

= (new configuration listed price / 30 days / 24 hours) * remaining duration (hours) * discount - (order real value - order real value * used duration / order purchase duration * downgrade refund coefficient)

=50/30/24 * 180*24 * 1 - （1020-1020*185/365*1）

=300-503.01

=-203.01 yuan

Explanation of refund coefficients for cloud product downgrades

Product name	Downgrade refund amount calculation formula
Cloud server, elastic block storage, image service, Machine Learning Platform (Monthly Package), Cloud Database MySQL Edition, Cloud Database PostgreSQL Edition, Cache Database Redis Edition, Cloud Database RDS SQL Server Edition, Document Database MongoDB Edition, Cloud Search Service	Usage time < 30 days: Downgrade refund amount = new configuration list price / 30 days / 24 hours * remaining time (hours) * applicable discount for remaining time - [order actual value - order actual value * (used time / order purchase duration) * 1.5] Usage time ≥ 30 days: Downgrade refund amount = new configuration list price / 30 days / 24 hours * remaining time (hours) * applicable discount for remaining time - [order actual value - order actual value * (used time / order purchase duration) * 1]
Public IP, VPN connection, dedicated line connection, Cloud Enterprise Network	Downgrade refund amount = new configuration list price / 30 days / 24 hours * remaining time (hours) * applicable discount for remaining time - [order actual value - order actual value * (used time / order purchase duration) * 1.15]
site acceleration, cloud gaming	Downgrade refund amount = new configuration list price / 30 days / 24 hours * remaining duration (hours) * applicable discount on remaining duration - [actual order value - actual order value * (used duration / order purchase duration) * 1.5]
Cloud scheduling GTM, multi-cloud CDN, Feilian public cloud edition	Downgrade refund amount = new configuration list price / 30 days / 24 hours * remaining time (hours) * applicable discount for remaining time - [order actual value - order actual value * (used time / order purchase duration)]
Machine Learning Platform (Daily Package)	Downgrade refund amount = new configuration list price / 24 hours * remaining duration (hours) * applicable discount for remaining duration - [actual order value - actual order value * (used duration / order purchase duration)]

2. Transition from annual/monthly subscription to pay-as-you-go billing

Upgrade - new purchase: Pay-as-you-go resources are billed post-usage. When changing specifications, the order amount is 0 yuan, and charges depend on the billed amount.

Upgrade - cancellation: Calculate the remaining value based on the non-7-day unconditional cancellation refund policy. For details, refer to Volcano Engine - Cost Center - Cancellation Management. If the cloud product’s billing policy specifies no refund for downgrades (as per the product billing documentation), the refund after downgrade will be 0 yuan.

3. Transition from pay-as-you-go to annual/monthly subscription

Upgrade - new purchase: Fees are calculated based on new purchases.

Upgrade - cancellation: Pay-as-you-go resources are billed post-usage. When changing specifications, the order amount is 0 yuan, and charges depend on the billed amount.

4. Changing pay-as-you-go resource specifications

Pay-as-you-go resources are billed after use; fee changes for specification upgrades are based on the billed amount.

Last updated: 2025.09.26 15:55:22