---
last_verified: 2026-04-08
source: Migrated from former kb/pricing/<domain>.yaml files (removed 2026-04-08).
  Stable, non-numeric pricing knowledge that does not need API refresh.
  All actual price numbers live in kb/pricing/oci-sku-catalog.yaml (auto-refreshed).
description: Pricing context, billing models, free tiers, BYOL rules, and
  cross-service estimation knowledge for the OCI Deal Accelerator.
---

# =============================================================================
# OCI Pricing Knowledge
# =============================================================================
#
# This file is the human-readable companion to kb/pricing/oci-sku-catalog.yaml.
# The catalog has live SKU prices (auto-refreshed). This file has the *context*
# a Solutions Architect needs to estimate accurately:
#   - Pricing models and when to use each
#   - BYOL rules and savings
#   - Free-tier rules per service
#   - Service-specific billing nuances
#   - Cost comparison framing vs hyperscalers
#
# This file is intentionally non-numeric where possible. Specific prices that
# change should NOT be added here — add them to the SKU catalog instead.
# Where a percentage or range is unavoidable (e.g. "BYOL ~50% off"), prefer
# stable rules of thumb over exact figures.
# =============================================================================

# ── PRICING MODELS ────────────────────────────────────────────────

pricing_models:
  payg:
    name: Pay As You Go
    commitment: none
    billing: Per second (compute), per hour (database), per month (storage)
    when_to_use:
      - Variable / unpredictable workloads
      - Short-term projects
      - Dev / test environments
      - Initial cloud adoption (before committing)

  monthly_flex:
    name: Monthly Flex (Universal Credits)
    commitment: Minimum $1,000/month or custom commitment
    billing: Committed credits consumed by usage
    discount_tiers:
      - spend_band: $1K-$10K/month
        approx_discount: 5-10%
      - spend_band: $10K-$50K/month
        approx_discount: 10-20%
      - spend_band: $50K+/month
        approx_discount: 20-30% (negotiated)
    when_to_use:
      - Steady-state production workloads
      - Known baseline consumption
      - Multiple services across OCI

  annual_flex:
    name: Annual Flex (Committed)
    commitment: 1-year or 3-year
    discount: Deeper than Monthly Flex
    when_to_use:
      - Established production workloads with predictable spend
      - Organizations committed to OCI long-term

  byol:
    name: Bring Your Own License
    approx_savings: ~50% on database ECPU/OCPU costs
    eligible:
      - Oracle Database Enterprise Edition
      - Oracle Database Standard Edition 2
      - Oracle WebLogic
      - Oracle Java SE
    conversion: 1 processor license = 2 OCPUs (or 8 ECPUs)
    when_to_use:
      - Existing Oracle on-prem licenses with active support
      - Licenses not being used elsewhere
    when_not_to_use:
      - No existing licenses
      - Licenses still needed for on-prem during migration
      - Standard Edition workloads on ADB (ADB requires EE)

  reserved_capacity:
    name: Reserved Capacity
    commitment: 1-year or 3-year for specific shapes
    approx_discount:
      one_year: ~35% off on-demand
      three_year: ~55% off on-demand
    when_to_use:
      - Known compute shapes running 24/7
      - Predictable database capacity
    notes: Shape-specific, less flexible than Universal Credits

# ── ESTIMATION APPROACH ──────────────────────────────────────────

estimation_approach:
  steps:
    - Calculate PAYG cost first (baseline)
    - Apply BYOL if customer has eligible licenses
    - Show savings with Monthly Flex / Annual Flex for steady-state
    - Compare total annual cost vs current on-prem spending
    - Include migration costs in year 1
  assumptions_to_state:
    - Hours per month (730 for 24/7)
    - Auto-scaling hours per day (estimate)
    - Data transfer volumes (egress in particular)
    - Backup retention policy
    - Support tier (Premier vs Standard)

# ── DATABASE KNOWLEDGE ──────────────────────────────────────────

database:
  billing_unit_change:
    fact: ADB and most modern Oracle Database services bill in ECPUs, not OCPUs.
    rule_of_thumb: 1 OCPU ≈ 4 ECPUs for sizing conversion.
    note: When reading old datasheets or RFP documents, normalize to ECPU before quoting.

  autonomous_database_serverless:
    auto_scaling: Billed per ECPU-second for additional ECPUs above base. Same hourly rate as base ECPUs.
    adg_standby: Standby ECPU cost at the same rate as primary. Storage shared (no extra storage charge).
    backup: Automated backups included in storage cost. Manual backups use Object Storage rates.
    sweet_spot: 4-32 ECPUs with auto-scaling. Below 4, consider Always Free. Above 128, consider ADB-D or ExaCS.

  autonomous_database_dedicated:
    x11m_elastic_model:
      description: |
        X11M is the current-generation Exadata infrastructure for ADB-D and
        ExaCS (announced 2025). It uses elastic scaling instead of fixed
        quarter / half / full racks.
      configuration:
        min_db_servers: 2
        min_storage_servers: 3
        max_db_servers: 32
        max_storage_servers: 64
      key_changes_vs_x9m:
        - No fixed rack shapes — elastic scale in / out by server
        - Hard minimum: 2 DB + 3 storage servers (cannot provision less)
        - Per-second ECPU billing (was per-hour in older generations)
        - Improved compute, storage density, RDMA throughput
      pricing_caveat: |
        Per-server line items exist in the OCI price list ('Database Server -
        X11M', 'Storage Server - X11M') but the dollar amounts are not visible
        in the public API. For estimation, use X9M quarter rack as a proxy
        and confirm final pricing with the Oracle PDM / sales team.
    legacy_x9m_model:
      shapes:
        - quarter_rack
        - half_rack
        - full_rack
      note: Still available in some regions; new deployments default to X11M.

  dbcs_editions:
    SE: Standard Edition 2
    EE: Enterprise Edition (base)
    EE_HP: Enterprise Edition - High Performance (partitioning, advanced compression, etc.)
    EE_EP: Enterprise Edition - Extreme Performance (RAC, Active Data Guard, In-Memory)
    note: Backup storage is charged separately at Object Storage rates.

  exacs_gotchas:
    - Infrastructure cost is fixed regardless of ECPU utilization on X9M (rack-based).
    - X11M elastic model bills by server, not by rack — scale in / out as needed.
    - Provisioning takes 4-8 hours.
    - Billing starts only at AVAILABLE state.
    - For X11M, the public API does not expose infrastructure-rate dollar amounts — confirm with PDM.

  exadata_cloud_at_customer:
    note: Exadata infrastructure deployed in the customer datacenter, managed by Oracle.
    same_ecpu_pricing_as: ExaCS Dedicated

  database_migration_service:
    free_period: First 183 days of an active migration are free.

  backup_recovery:
    autonomous_recovery_service: Per-GB protected per month, virtualized.
    zdlra: Zero Data Loss variant — same model, slightly higher rate.

  cost_comparison_vs_hyperscalers:
    when_pitching_vs_aws_rds_or_azure_sqlmi:
      include_in_comparison:
        - OCI inbound data transfer is free
        - OCI egress to internet is dramatically cheaper (~80% less than AWS after 10TB free)
        - OCI BYOL discount is deeper than AWS BYOL
        - ADB-S includes patching, tuning, indexing — RDS does not
        - ADB now bills in ECPU (not OCPU) — 1 ECPU is a fraction of an OCPU
        - Network LB is free per-hour on OCI

# ── NETWORKING KNOWLEDGE ────────────────────────────────────────

networking:
  data_transfer:
    ingress: Free (all sources)
    egress_internet:
      free_tier: First 10 TB / month is free
      billing_after: Per-GB charge applies beyond free tier
    inter_region: Per-GB charge (low)
    fastconnect: Free in both directions (ingress AND egress)
    competitive_advantage: |
      OCI is dramatically cheaper than hyperscalers for data transfer:
      - AWS: $0.09 / GB egress (OCI is ~10x cheaper after 10 TB free)
      - Azure: $0.087 / GB egress
      - GCP: $0.12 / GB egress
      - OCI FastConnect egress is FREE (AWS DirectConnect charges per GB)
      This is one of the strongest cost arguments when migrating data-intensive
      workloads from AWS / Azure / GCP.

  fastconnect:
    note: Private dedicated connectivity. No data transfer charges.
    port_speeds_available_in_api: [1, 2, 5, 10, 40, 100, 400]   # Gbps
    note_400gbps: 400 Gbps option is available; check oci-sku-catalog.yaml for current SKUs.

  network_load_balancer:
    cost_model: No per-hour charge (Layer 4). Data processing fees apply.

  flexible_load_balancer:
    cost_model: Base instance hourly + bandwidth per Mbps-hour. See oci-sku-catalog.yaml.

  vpn_connect:
    cost_model: No additional charge for IPSec VPN tunnels. Included with DRG.

  dns:
    free_tier: 1 million queries / month at no cost.

  waf:
    cost_model: Pricing based on requests processed. See oci-sku-catalog.yaml.

# ── STORAGE KNOWLEDGE ───────────────────────────────────────────

storage:
  block_volume:
    tier_model: |
      OCI block volume tiers are configured via Volume Performance Units (VPU):
      - Lower Cost: 0 VPU
      - Balanced: 10 VPU (default)
      - Higher Performance: 20 VPU
      - Ultra High Performance (UHP): 30-120 VPU
      The base storage SKU is the same across tiers; the difference is the
      VPU multiplier on top. See oci-sku-catalog.yaml for the base storage
      SKU and the VPU SKU.
    boot_volume_free_tier: First 200 GB included with each compute instance.
    backup_billing: Block volume backups have their own per-GB-month rate (lower than primary).

  object_storage:
    tiers:
      standard: General-purpose, immediate access.
      infrequent_access: Lower per-GB cost; retrieval fee applies.
      archive: Lowest per-GB cost; standard retrieval is ~1 hour.
    free_tier: 10 GB storage + 50,000 requests / month always free.
    request_pricing: Separate per-10k-PUT and per-10k-GET charges.

  file_storage:
    note: Per-GB-month, higher rate than block volume.
    high_performance_mount_target: Available for high-throughput workloads.

# ── OBSERVABILITY & MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE ────────────────────────

observability:
  free_services:
    - Cloud Guard (tenancy threat detection)
    - Security Zones (compartment policy enforcement)
    - Vulnerability Scanning (host + container image)
    - Certificates (TLS certificate management)
    - Bastion (managed SSH / RDP bastion)
    - Vault (software keys; HSM is paid)
    - OS Management Hub
    - Java Management Service
    - Autonomous Linux
    - Resource Analytics
    - Events service
    - DevOps pipeline execution (compute / storage billed separately)
    - Cluster management for OKE basic clusters

  free_tiers:
    monitoring:
      ingestion: 500 million datapoints / month
      retrieval: 1 billion datapoints / month
    logging:
      free_per_month: 10 GB
    queue:
      free_per_month: 1 million requests
    functions:
      invocations: 2 million / month
      memory: 400,000 GB-seconds / month
    notifications:
      deliveries: 1 million / month
      emails: 1,000 / month

  ops_insights:
    note: Basic and Autonomous tiers are free. Cloud-external (e.g. on-prem databases) is paid per OCPU-hour.

  log_analytics:
    unit: 1 storage unit = 300 GB.

  full_stack_dr:
    note: Orchestrates DR failover across compute, database, and networking. Billed per ECPU / OCPU hour.

# ── COMPUTE / CONTAINERS / SERVERLESS KNOWLEDGE ────────────────

compute_containers_serverless:
  oke:
    basic_cluster: Cluster management is free (control plane).
    enhanced_cluster: Per-cluster hourly charge — adds virtual nodes, workload identity, etc.
    worker_nodes: Billed at standard compute shape rates (see kb/pricing/compute.yaml).
    virtual_nodes: Additional per-pod pricing on enhanced clusters.

  container_instances:
    billing: Billed at compute rates (OCPU / hour + GB memory / hour). No additional service charge.
    shapes_available: [A1 (Arm), E3 (AMD), E4 (AMD), E5 (AMD), E6 (AMD)]

  functions:
    free_tier_strength: Very generous — most event-driven workloads stay in the free tier.

  batch:
    billing: Pay-as-you-go compute pricing, no additional service charge.

# ── INTEGRATION & MIDDLEWARE KNOWLEDGE ─────────────────────────

integration:
  integration_cloud:
    editions: [Standard, Enterprise]
    billing_unit: Per 5,000 messages / hour band

  api_management:
    note: Per-API-call pricing is very low; most use cases trivially below $1 / million calls.

  streaming:
    note: Kafka-compatible. Billed per GB stored per hour + per GB transferred.

  queue:
    free_tier_strength: 1 million requests / month free, very cost-effective for decoupling.

  goldengate:
    billing: OCPU-hour. BYOL available.
    use_case: Real-time data integration and replication.

  soa_suite:
    note: For legacy SOA workload migration. OCPU-hour billing.

# ── DEVELOPER SERVICES KNOWLEDGE ───────────────────────────────

developer:
  apex:
    free_tier: Yes — APEX free tier available for low-code development.
  visual_builder:
    note: Low-code app builder with included storage.
  devops:
    free: Pipeline execution itself is free; compute / memory billed separately.
  blockchain:
    note: OCPU-hour billing; storage charged separately.
  iot:
    billing_unit: ECPU-hour.
  media_flow:
    billing: Per-minute, varies by codec, resolution, and fps.
  media_streams:
    billing: Per-GB packaged.

# ── AI / ML KNOWLEDGE ──────────────────────────────────────────

ai_ml:
  generative_ai_vendors_available:
    - Cohere (Command, Embed)
    - Meta Llama
    - xAI Grok
    - Google Gemini
  generative_ai_billing_unit: Per 10K transactions or per 1M tokens (varies by vendor).
  generative_ai_agents:
    extra_costs: Plus storage and ingestion fees for agent knowledge bases.

  data_science:
    notebook_sessions: Billed at compute shape rates (OCPU / hour + GB memory / hour + GPU options).
    jobs: Same compute pricing as notebook sessions.
    model_deployment: Compute + networking + storage combined pricing.
    model_catalog_storage: Object Storage rates.

  anomaly_detection:
    free_tier: Up to 100M data points / month per region.

  document_understanding:
    note: OCR billed per 1K transactions; custom training billed per training hour.

  language_services:
    note: Pretrained per-transaction billing; custom training available at additional cost.

  vision:
    note: Per-1K image analysis billing; custom training per hour.

  speech:
    note: Per-transcription-hour billing.

  digital_assistant:
    note: Per-request billing with a minimum throughput floor.

# ── SECURITY KNOWLEDGE ─────────────────────────────────────────

security:
  free_services:
    - Cloud Guard
    - Security Zones
    - Vulnerability Scanning
    - Certificates
    - Bastion
    - Vault (software keys only — HSM keys are paid)
  paid_services:
    - Access Governance (per workforce / consumer user / month)
    - Network Firewall (instance hours + data processed)
    - Data Safe (per target / month + audit records)
    - Vault (HSM-backed keys)

# ── HYBRID / EDGE KNOWLEDGE ────────────────────────────────────

hybrid:
  vmware_solution:
    note: Bare-metal nodes (BM.Standard2.12, BM.Standard3.16, BM.Standard.E4.32, BM.Standard.E5.48). Hourly to 3-year commitment ranges.
    hcx_enterprise: Available for cross-cloud migration from on-prem vSphere; 1-month minimum commitment.
  compute_cloud_at_customer:
    note: OCI compute, storage, and load balancer in customer datacenter. E6 shapes available.
  managed_mac:
    note: Apple Mac instances (M2 Pro, M4 Pro) for iOS / macOS build pipelines.
  roving_edge:
    note: Portable compute / GPU / storage devices for edge and disconnected scenarios. Per-device-day billing.
