> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.automq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> Billing items, billing models, and payment methods for AutoMQ BYOC.

This article describes the billing components and payment methods for AutoMQ BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud).

<Info>
  In this article, the terms AutoMQ product service provider, AutoMQ service provider, and AutoMQ specifically refer to AutoMQ HK Limited.
</Info>

## Billing Items

Using AutoMQ BYOC incurs the following two types of fees:

| **Fee Type**            | **Coverage**                                                                                                                                                              | **Payment Relationship**                  |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| **Subscription Fees**   | AutoMQ provides AutoMQ BYOC product and technical services                                                                                                                | Users pay AutoMQ                          |
| **Cloud Resource Fees** | Fundamental cloud resources consumed by the environment, including but not limited to:<ul><li>Virtual Hosts</li><li>Block Storage</li><li>Network Traffic, etc.</li></ul> | Users pay public cloud providers directly |

## Billing Models

AutoMQ BYOC supports two billing models for subscription fees: **Usage-Based Billing** and **Prepaid Billing**. Choose the model that meets your workload and cost management requirements.

### Usage-Based Billing

Usage-based billing charges you based on your actual resource consumption, with no upfront commitment required. This model applies automatic tiered pricing — the more you use, the lower the per-unit cost.

<Info>
  As of August 2026, usage-based billing is available only for AWS environments. Support for Google Cloud, Azure, and additional cloud environments is planned.
</Info>

Under this model, the following billing items apply:

| **Billing Item** | **Unit** | **Description**                                                                                                 |
| ---------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Data Ingress     | Per GiB  | The volume of data written to the cluster, measured after compression.                                          |
| Data Egress      | Per GiB  | The volume of data read from the cluster, measured after compression.                                           |
| Data Retention   | Per GiB  | The volume of data retained in the cluster.                                                                     |
| Cluster Uptime   | Per hour | The running duration of the cluster, billed by cluster tier. As of August 2026, only the Pro tier is available. |

For detailed information, refer to [Usage-Based Billing▸](/automq-cloud/subscriptions-and-billings/byoc-env-billings/usage-based-billing).

### Prepaid Billing (AKU-Based)

The prepaid billing model requires you to purchase a subscription plan in advance on a **monthly or yearly** basis. Subscription fees are based on the AKU (AutoMQ Kafka Unit) specification, which measures the computing resources allocated for message processing within a Kafka cluster. No additional subscription fees are incurred during the subscription period.

This model is available for all supported cloud environments.

For detailed information about AKU specifications and calculation rules, refer to [Prepaid Billing▸](/automq-cloud/subscriptions-and-billings/byoc-env-billings/billing-instructions-for-byoc).

## Payment Methods

### Usage-Based Billing

Usage-based billing is settled through AWS Marketplace on a monthly basis. After subscribing to the AutoMQ product on AWS Marketplace, usage is metered automatically and invoices are generated monthly. For configuration instructions, refer to [Usage-Based Billing▸](/automq-cloud/subscriptions-and-billings/byoc-env-billings/usage-based-billing).

### Prepaid Billing

Depending on your requirements, prepaid subscription plans can be purchased through the following channels:

* Purchase subscription plans via the cloud marketplace.

* Purchase subscription plans through offline business contracts.

In prepaid mode, purchase a subscription and use the corresponding ProductSecret to activate the AutoMQ BYOC environment.