Computing and storage resource plans

Computing resource plan

A computing resource plan offsets usage from pay-as-you-go billable items, including SQL, MaxFrame, MapReduce, Spark, Mars, and SQL for external tables in OSS and Tablestore. Different plan sizes offer varying discounts. If you purchase a computing resource plan, usage for the corresponding billable items is automatically deducted from the plan.

• Notes

  • Capacity from your computing resource plan is consumed only when your account incurs charges for pay-as-you-go billable items, such as SQL, MaxFrame, MapReduce, Spark, Mars, and SQL for OSS and Tablestore external tables.

  • Applicable types and regions: For details about the supported types and regions for the computing resource plan, see MaxCompute computing resource plan.

  • Validity period: A computing resource plan is valid for one year or three months from the date of purchase. Any remaining capacity automatically expires at the end of the validity period and is not refunded.

  • Stacking and sharing: You can purchase multiple computing resource plans and stack their capacities. A single plan can be shared across multiple projects to cover their corresponding billable items.

  • Billing for overages: If your usage exceeds the plan's capacity, the overage is charged on a pay-as-you-go basis.

  • Computing resource plans do not support renewal, upgrades, or downgrades. If your plan's capacity is insufficient or it is nearing expiration, you can purchase a new plan to stack with your existing one.

• Pricing

  Computing resource plans are measured in units. This unit, displayed as CU on your bill, is a measure of computing power. The deduction ratio for different billable items varies and depends on their unit price. In your usage details, the Original Instance Usage for Spark, Mars, and MapReduce billable items is measured in seconds/minutes/hours, where 1s corresponds to 1 CU·s in metered data. For standard SQL and external table SQL billable items, the Original Instance Usage is measured in Byte/KB/MB/GB..., where 1 Byte corresponds to 1 byte of scanned data * 1 complexity in metered data. The following table details the pricing for the public cloud.

  Important

  • In case of discrepancies due to promotions, the price on the purchase page is final.

  • The unit price for Finance Cloud is 1.9 times that of the public cloud.

  Item	Original unit price (CNY/CU/hour) or (CNY/GB*complexity)	Plan unit price (CNY/unit)	Deduction ratio (Actual usage : Plan capacity)	Plan consumption per unit (units)	Usage coverage per plan unit
  Pay-as-you-go Spark	0.3600	0.66	1:0.54545	0.54545	Approx. 1.8333 CUH
  Pay-as-you-go MaxFrame	0.3600		1:0.54545	0.54545	Approx. 1.8333 CUH
  Pay-as-you-go Mars	0.6600		1:1	1	Approx. 1 CUH
  Pay-as-you-go MapReduce	0.3600		1:0.54545	0.54545	Approx. 1.8333 CUH
  SQL-Standard	0.3000		1:0.45454	0.45454	Approx. 2.2 GB*complexity
  Pay-as-you-go SpotSpark	0.22		1:0.33333	0.33333	Approx. 3 CUH
  Pay-as-you-go SpotMars	0.22		1:0.33333	0.33333	Approx. 3 CUH
  Pay-as-you-go SpotMapReduce	0.154		1:0.23333	0.23333	Approx. 4.2867 CUH
  SpotSQL	0.1		1:0.15151	0.15151	Approx. 6.6 GB*complexity
  SQL - External tables (OSS, Tablestore)	0.0300		1:0.04545	0.04545	Approx. 22 GB*complexity

• Specifications and discounts

  Plan capacity (units)	Original price (CNY)	Discount	Discounted price (CNY)
  1,000	660	0%	660.00
  5,000	3,300	5%	3,135.00
  10,000	6,600	10%	5,940.00
  30,000	19,800	15%	16,830.00
  50,000	33,000	25%	24,750.00

• Example: Choosing a plan

  For example, an Alibaba Cloud account uses the pay-as-you-go service for MaxCompute in the China (Shanghai) region, primarily using SQL and Spark for data computation. Your original monthly computing costs are approximately 1,000 CNY, totaling 12,000 CNY per year. In this scenario, you can consider purchasing a computing resource plan.

  • Your monthly usage converts to approximately 1,000 (CNY) / 0.66 (CNY/unit) = 1,515 units of plan capacity. Since computing resource plans are available in fixed sizes, you could start by purchasing a 1,000-unit plan to cover a portion of your costs.

  • Your annual usage converts to approximately 12,000 (CNY) / 0.66 (CNY/unit) = 18,181 units. Considering the fixed plan sizes and the one-year validity period, a conservative choice would be to purchase a 10,000-unit plan to cover most of your usage. This plan would save you 6,600 - 5,940 = 660 CNY in computing costs.

• Viewing deduction amounts

  Go to the Resource Plan page of Billing Management in the Alibaba Cloud management console, select Resource Type: Resource Packages, and on the Instances tab, view the deduction amount of the resource plan.

• Plan cancellation

  Resource plans support self-service refunds. To cancel a resource plan, go to the Resource Cancellation page in Billing Management, and on the Unsubscribe Resource > Resource Plans tab, select the resource plan to cancel.

Storage resource plan

You can purchase a storage resource plan to offset usage for single-AZ standard storage and backup storage billable items. MaxCompute storage is pay-as-you-go, with no limits on the amount of storage you can use. You are billed based on your actual usage over time. Storage resource plans offer greater discounts for larger capacities and longer validity periods. If you purchase a storage resource plan, usage for the corresponding billable items is automatically deducted from the plan.

• Notes

  • The capacity of your storage resource plan is consumed only when your account incurs charges for single-AZ standard storage and backup storage from projects associated with pay-as-you-go and subscription instances.

  • For details about the supported types and regions for the storage resource plan, see MaxCompute storage resource plan.

  • During daily billing, your storage usage is first deducted from your storage resource plan. Usage exceeding the plan capacity is charged at the standard pay-as-you-go rate.

  • If your plan's capacity is insufficient, you can purchase and stack a new storage resource plan. Upgrades or downgrades of existing plans are not supported, but renewal is available upon expiration.

• Pricing

  Storage resource plans are measured in units. On your bill, this is converted to and displayed as GB. The deduction ratio for different billable items varies and is calculated based on their unit price. The following table details the pricing for the public cloud.

  Important

  • In case of discrepancies due to promotions, the price on the purchase page is final.

  • The unit price for Finance Cloud is 1.9 times that of the public cloud.

  Item	Original unit price (CNY/GB/day)	Plan unit price (CNY/unit (GB)/month)	Deduction ratio (Actual usage : Plan capacity)	Plan consumption per unit (units)	Usage coverage per plan unit
  Single-AZ standard storage (storage > 512 MB)	0.0040	1.5	1:0.08	0.08	12.5 GB
  Backup storage	0.0040		1:0.08	0.08	12.5 GB

• Specifications and discounts

  Plan capacity (units)	Covered storage (GB)	Original price (CNY/month)	Discount (Monthly)	Discounted price (CNY/month)	Discount (Annual)	Annual discounted price (CNY/month)
  100.00	1,250	150	0%	150	5%	142.5
  300.00	3,750	450		450		427.5
  500.00	6,250	750		750		712.5
  1,000.00	12,500	1,500	10%	1,350	15%	1,275
  3,000.00	37,500	4,500		4,050		3,825
  5,000.00	62,500	7,500		6,750		6,375
  10,000.00	125,000	15,000	20%	12,000	25%	11,250
  30,000.00	375,000	45,000		36,000		33,750
  50,000.00	625,000	75,000		60,000		56,250

• Example: Choosing a plan

  For example, an Alibaba Cloud account uses MaxCompute in the China (Shanghai) region. Over the past few months, the average daily usage for single-AZ standard storage and backup storage has been around 20 TB (20,480 GB), with no significant growth anticipated in the next six months. This usage is equivalent to 20,480 (GB) * 0.08 = 1,638.4 units of plan capacity. Since storage resource plans come in fixed sizes, you could purchase a 1,000-unit plan to cover a portion of this usage. A 1,000-unit storage resource plan covers 12,500 GB of actual storage per billing cycle. With a monthly subscription, you save 1,500 - 1,350 = 150 CNY per month. With an annual subscription, you save 1,500 - 1,275 = 225 CNY per month.

• Viewing deduction amounts

  Go to the Resource Plan page of Billing Management in the Alibaba Cloud management console, select Resource Type: Resource Packages, and on the Instances tab, view the deduction amount of the resource plan.

• Plan cancellation

  Resource plans support self-service refunds. To cancel a resource plan, go to the Resource Cancellation page in Billing Management, and on the Unsubscribe Resource > Resource Plans tab, select the resource plan to cancel.

Balance alert settings

When a plan's remaining capacity falls below a preset threshold, you will receive automatic notifications via SMS, email, and internal messages. These alerts help you promptly adjust your resources or purchase a new plan, preventing business interruptions and controlling costs.

For detailed instructions, see Set balance alerts for resource plans.