Purchase a Data Transfer Plan
A Data Transfer Plan covers the cost of data transfer between Alibaba Cloud and the internet. The plan takes effect immediately after purchase and automatically offsets the data transfer fees generated by multiple pay-by-data-transfer Alibaba Cloud services until it is used up or expires.
Before you begin
Review the following before you purchase:
Each Alibaba Cloud account supports up to 200 valid Data Transfer Plans. This quota cannot be increased, so choose plan sizes that fit your business requirements.
Covered regions vary by the selected area.
A Data Transfer Plan offsets data transfer fees for multiple pay-by-data-transfer services.
A Data Transfer Plan cannot be shared across accounts. It can only offset data transfer fees for pay-by-data-transfer services under the current account. To offset data transfer fees for another account, log on to that account and purchase Data Transfer Plans separately.
You can set up auto-renewal for a purchased Data Transfer Plan on the Resource Plans page in the Expenses and Costs console. Once auto-renewal is enabled, the system automatically purchases a new Data Transfer Plan identical to the original one when it expires or is used up. If auto-renewal is not enabled, you need to manually purchase a new Data Transfer Plan.
Purchase a Data Transfer Plan
Go to the Data Transfer Plan purchase page.
Configure the Data Transfer Plan with the following parameters, and click Buy Now.
Parameter
Description
Validity Period
The validity period of the plan.
1 Month
6 Months
1 Year
ImportantExpired Data Transfer Plans are not refundable. Unused capacity is cleared upon expiration and cannot be transferred.
If your business requirements change, you can unsubscribe and request a refund. For more information, see Unsubscription rules.
Traffic Package Size
The plan size.
Available sizes vary by validity period. Check the purchase page for options.
Plan
The area and period of time to which the plan applies.
Asia-Pacific General (full time) : Covers regions in Asia-Pacific. Available 24/7.
European and American general (Full time) : Covers regions in Europe and Americas. Available 24/7.
Asia-Pacific General (leisure) : Covers regions in Asia-Pacific during off-peak hours only (00:00:00 to 08:00:00 UTC+8).
NoteIf you have both an off-peak and a full-time plan, the off-peak plan is consumed first during off-peak hours. The full-time plan's capacity is consumed at all other times.
Quantity
The number of plans to purchase.
Set auto-renewal for a Data Transfer Plan
If you want a new, identical plan to be automatically purchased when your current plan is about to expire or is used up—so that the offset benefit remains continuously in effect—you can use the Set Auto-Renewal feature. By default, the new plan purchased through auto-renewal inherits the original plan's auto-renewal configuration, offset rules, bill split tags, offset tags, and association relationships. Once the auto-renewal rule is configured, the system continues to automatically purchase a new plan whenever the trigger condition is met, until you manually cancel the rule. This helps you avoid the hassle of frequently monitoring your current plan's remaining capacity or repeatedly making manual purchases, and also helps prevent situations where no plan is available, which could result in higher data transfer charges.
Log on to the Expenses and Costs console - Resource Plans page.
On the Instances tab, find the target plan and click Set Auto-Renewal in the Actions column.
In the Set Auto-renewal Rule dialog box, verify the Instance ID, Specification, Expire At and Remaining Amount information, select one or more auto-renewal trigger conditions, and set the corresponding thresholds:
Before Expiration: With this option selected, a new plan is automatically purchased n days before the current one expires (
). Set Effective At to one of the following: Effective Immediately: The new plan takes effect the day it is purchased. Refer to the console for the exact effective and expiration dates and time.
Effective on Expiration: The new plan takes effect the day the current one expires. Refer to the console for the exact effective and expiration dates and time.
Remaining Amount ≤: With this option selected, a new plan is automatically purchased when the remaining capacity of the current one is equal to or less than n% (
). After each pay-as-you-go billing cycle, the system checks in real time whether the remaining capacity of the plan after offsetting has reached the threshold; once the condition is met, auto-renewal is triggered. For businesses with strict cost management requirements, it is recommended to set a higher remaining-capacity threshold (e.g., remaining capacity ≤ 50%).
If you select multiple trigger conditions, auto-renewal is triggered as soon as any one of the conditions is met. Each plan only triggers auto-renewal once. After the rule is configured, once a trigger condition is met, the auto-renewal purchase is completed automatically within 1–2 minutes.
Once the trigger condition is met, the system automatically applies the best available coupon(s) and complete payment for the renewal order. Ensure that your account has sufficient available balance. If the renewal fails due to insufficient balance or other reasons, no new plan will be available, and subsequent usage will be billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Topping up your account afterward does not re-trigger the auto-renewal; you need to manually purchase a new plan from the plan purchase page.
Update auto-renewal
To update the auto-renewal rule, go to the Expenses and Costs console - Resource Plans page. On the Instances tab, find the target Data Transfer Plan, and click Updated Auto-Renewal in the Actions column. In the dialog box that appears, update your settings and click Save Rule.
Cancel auto-renewal
To cancel the auto-renewal rule, go to the Expenses and Costs console - Resource Plans page. On the Instances tab, find the target Data Transfer Plan, and click Cancel Auto-Renewal in the Actions column. In the dialog box that appears, verify the plan ID and click OK.
FAQ
How can I check my Data Transfer Plan purchase history and current status?
You can view the Data Transfer Plan list on the Expenses and Costs console - Resource Plans page to check the plan ID, remaining capacity, purchase date, and expiration time of each plan. This information confirms your purchase history and the current status of your resources.
References
To view plan usage and billing details, see Bills and usage.
To set usage alerts for your Data Transfer Plans, see Set a quota alert for a data transfer plan.