Adjustment to Windows Image Billing Policy

To further optimize cost control and standardize the activation and billing process of Windows images, the platform plans to adjust the licensing fee policy for Windows images used on O2 series instances and GPU cost-effective graphics card models.

Details of the adjustment are as follows:

• Affected instance types: O2 series and GPU cost-effective 7 series

• Effective scope and time: Some regions starting from April 3, 2026

• Scope of changes:

  • For O2 series instances and GPU cost-effective 7 series, when using Windows images with platform-provided licenses in certain regions, additional license fees will be charged.

  • Windows images with platform licenses include:

    • All Windows images provided in the base image list
    • Custom images created from instances based on these base images
    • Imported custom images that are selected to use platform licenses (Note: Imported custom Windows images with licenses will not be automatically activated after instance creation.)

  • Impact on existing instances: For existing instances within the affected scope, Windows image license fees will only be applied when billing-related operations occur (including but not limited to reinstalling the OS, resizing instances, or renewing subscriptions). Instances without such operations will continue to run under the original billing rules without additional charges.

  • Billing changes:

    • License fees are charged based on the number of vCPUs
    • Actual pricing is subject to the console display; billing duration aligns with instance billing duration. Fees may increase or decrease when scaling up or down
    • Image license fees will be charged together with instance fees and shown as a single bill entry

New Instance Types Released – O Series Split Upgrade

This update is part of a regular product iteration and includes the following changes:

• Instance type: O series
• Availability: All regions

Details of the changes:

• Some regions in the O series have been upgraded to a new generation of instance types, powered by Intel 5th Gen Xeon processors (Emerald Rapids), offering stronger computing performance and faster memory.

• The O series is now split into multiple specification families. The mapping between instance types and CPU platforms is as follows:

• Feature changes:

  • Support for network enhancement 2.0 varies across instance families.

  • The following base images are supported in the O1 series but not supported in the O2 series:

    Ubuntu:

    • 18.04 64-bit (High Kernal, Outstanding)
    • 16.04 64-bit (High Kernal, Outstanding)
    • 14.04 64-bit (High Kernal, Outstanding)

    CentOS:

    • 6.x 64-bit (High Kernal, Outstanding)

    Debian:

    • 10.0 64-bit

• Within the same region, pricing may vary across different instance families. Please refer to the console for actual prices.

Effective time and scope: Starting from March 13, 2026, applicable to all regions.