Storage plans

Notes

• Only primary Alibaba Cloud accounts can purchase storage plans.

• Storage plans cannot be upgraded or renewed.

• For pricing details, see the purchase page.

• Storage plans are available only in Chinese mainland regions.

  China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Nanjing - Local Region - Phasing Out), China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), and China (Chengdu).

• A storage plan can be used to offset the following costs:

  • Storage for pay-as-you-go instances.

  • Backup storage for subscription and pay-as-you-go instances (excluding SSD cloud disks and ESSD cloud disks) and SQL audit usage.

Applicable resources

Deduction rules

Storage plan deduction example

1. Calculate the total amount of instance storage that the plan can offset: 100 GB / 1.24 = 80.645 GB.

2. After offsetting the instance storage, calculate the remaining capacity of the storage plan: (80.645 GB - 60 GB) × 1.24 = 25.5998 GB.

3. Calculate the amount of long-term backup storage that the remaining plan capacity can offset: 25.5998 GB / 0.1 = 255.998 GB. Since this is not enough to cover the entire 500 GB long-term backup, the plan first offsets 255.998 GB of it.

4. The remaining 500 GB - 255.998 GB = 244.002 GB of long-term backup storage is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Purchase an RDS storage plan

1. Go to the ApsaraDB RDS purchase page.

2. For Billing Method, select Storage Plan.

3. Configure the following parameters.

   Parameter	Description
   Region	Currently, you can only select Chinese mainland. The Chinese mainland includes the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Nanjing - Local Region - Phasing Out), China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), and China (Chengdu).
   Storage Plan Size	The following storage plan sizes are available: 100 GB, 200 GB, 300 GB, 500 GB, 1,000 GB, 2,000 GB, 5,000 GB, and 10,000 GB.
   Effective Time	You can select Take effect immediately or Take effect at a specified time (to the hour). If you select Take effect at a specified time (to the hour), you must specify the time.

4. Set the Subscription Duration and then click Buy Now.

   You can select a subscription duration from 1 to 11 months, or from 1 to 5 years.

   Note

   Longer subscription durations provide greater discounts:

   • A 1-year subscription provides a 15% discount (85% of original price).

   • A 2-year subscription provides a 30% discount (70% of original price).

   • A 3- to 5-year subscription provides a 50% discount.

View storage plan usage

1. Log in to the Billing Management console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Account > > > Resource Plan.

3. On the Resource Plan page, set Resource Dimension to Resource Plan.

4. On the Instance Summary tab, you can view the total and remaining capacity of your resource plans. Look for RDS Storage Resource Plan in the Product Name column.

5. Click the Usage Details tab to view a detailed breakdown of how the plan is applied. Look for RDS Storage Resource Plan in the Product Name column.

   Note

   To verify the deductions made by the resource plan, go to the Bills > Bill Details page and check the cost details for your instances.

Deduction factors

FAQ

• Q: I have a pay-as-you-go RDS instance with 100 GB of storage. If I purchase a 100 GB storage plan, can it offset the cost of the instance storage?

  A: Yes. A storage plan can offset the storage costs of a pay-as-you-go instance. The storage plan is applied first to cover the cost. If the plan's capacity is insufficient, the remaining usage is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

• Q: For backup storage, if I purchase both an RDS savings plan and an RDS storage plan, in what order are they applied?

  A: If you have both an RDS savings plan and an RDS storage plan, the RDS storage plan is applied before the RDS savings plan.