Overview
You can use Short Message Service (SMS) to send verification codes, notifications, and promotional messages. This topic describes the billing rules, billing methods, and other billing details for SMS.
Rules for calculating message length
Message length (in characters) = Number of characters in the SMS signature + Number of characters in the SMS template. The message content cannot exceed 500 characters.
The character count of an SMS signature includes the
【】or[]symbols that the system automatically adds when sending a message.The character count of the SMS template is based on the actual content of the received message.
Message type | Length calculation rules | |
Domestic SMS | Simplified Chinese characters, letters, numbers, and punctuation marks are all counted as one character, regardless of whether they are full-width or half-width. If a message is 70 characters or less, it is billed as one message. If it is longer than 70 characters, it is a long message and is split and billed as multiple messages based on 67 characters per message. Example: A message with 160 characters is split into three messages of 67, 67, and 26 characters, and is billed as three messages. After the message is split for billing, the recipient still receives one complete message rather than multiple message fragments, and the excess length does not affect normal delivery. | |
International / Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan SMS | Pure English messages (GSM-7 encoding) | Standard characters such as letters and numbers are counted as one character. Extended characters are counted as two characters. Extended characters include the following: If a message contains other unlisted extended characters, the entire message is calculated based on the rules for other languages (UCS-2 encoding), regardless of its length or whether it is split. If a message is 160 characters or less, it is billed as one message. If it is longer than 160 characters, it is a long message and is split and billed as multiple messages based on 153 characters per message. The signature for pure English messages uses Example: A message with 350 characters is split into three messages of 153, 153, and 44 characters, and is billed as three messages. |
Messages in other languages (UCS-2 encoding) | Chinese characters, letters, numbers, symbols, and spaces are all counted as one character. If a message is 70 characters or less, it is billed as one message. If it is longer than 70 characters, it is a long message and is split and billed as multiple messages based on 67 characters per message. Example: A message with 150 characters is split into three messages of 67, 67, and 16 characters, and is billed as three messages. | |
Billing rules
Based on the rules for calculating message length, SMS messages are billed in real time based on the number of messages sent. Bills are generated and payments are deducted on the first day of the following month (T+1). You can request an invoice immediately after the payment is deducted.
Message type | Billing rule |
Domestic SMS | Billed based on the delivery receipt status from the carrier. If a message is submitted successfully but the carrier receipt indicates failure, you are not charged. Note The unit price varies for different message types. Charges are accumulated and billed every 5 minutes. |
International SMS | Billed based on the submission status. You are charged for messages that are submitted successfully, even if the carrier receipt indicates a delivery failure. This is based on the "charge on submission" rule set by international carriers. |
On your bill, the fee item for International SMS is named International SMS-Other, which corresponds to the commodity code dysms_global_public_cn. International SMS is the commodity name in the billing system, and -Other corresponds to OTH (Other) in the country/region classification, which refers to messages sent to countries or regions that are not individually listed. Domestic SMS (for example, dysms_system) uses a different commodity code than international SMS and is displayed as a separate line item on your bill.
Domestic SMS FAQ
Message sending attempts: The number of times you submit a request to send messages. For more information, see Delivery receipts.
Total messages submitted: The total number of messages submitted to the carrier after long messages are split. For long messages over 70 characters, the count is calculated by rounding up ⌈Message length / 67⌉.
Number of billed messages: After messages are split and submitted, they are billed based on carrier receipts. You are charged for messages that have successful delivery receipts. You are not charged for messages that have failed delivery receipts. You are initially charged for messages for which a delivery receipt has not yet been received. If a success receipt is received within 72 hours, the charge is final. If a failure receipt is received within 72 hours, the message fee or message count is refunded.
Why is the number of messages in usage statistics different from the number of billed messages?
Why is the number of messages in usage statistics different from the actual number of messages sent?
Are failed messages refunded as message credits or as a monetary refund?
Billing methods
SMS provides two billing methods: pay-as-you-go and SMS plans. You can choose the method that best suits your needs.
Billing method | Description | Pricing details | |
Pay-as-you-go | Uses tiered pricing based on the number of messages sent and the message template type. | ||
SMS plan | If you have an SMS plan, messages are deducted from the plan first. Usage that exceeds the plan's quota is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis and deducted from your account balance until the service is suspended due to overdue payments. | ||
Payment by bank transfer
SMS plans support payment by bank transfer (corporate transfer). After you transfer funds to Alibaba Cloud's corporate bank account to top up your account balance, you can pay for the plan by using your account balance (credit quota) at checkout. The checkout page does not provide a direct bank transfer option.
Procedure:
Log on to the console and go to Expenses > Recharge > Bank Transfer to obtain your dedicated transfer account.
Transfer the payment to the dedicated account through your bank.
After the payment is received, your account balance is updated. For information about the time required for the payment to be received, see the bank transfer instructions.
When you purchase a plan, select the credit quota at checkout to deduct the payment.
After the purchase, you can request an invoice. For more information, see Billing FAQ. There is no limit on how many times you can purchase a plan. Make sure your account balance is greater than zero after the purchase so that you can use the plan.
How to top up
SMS provides two ways to obtain message sending quota: free trial packages and SMS plans.
Claim a free trial package: Go to Alibaba Cloud Free Trial, select a suitable trial package (100 or 200 messages), and click Free Trial.
Purchase an SMS plan: Go to the Plans page in the SMS console, click Purchase Plan, select a plan type (Domestic SMS plan, card message plan, digital message plan, or International SMS plan), choose a specification, and complete the purchase.
View balance and bills
View account balance: Go to Expenses and Costs. On the Homepage, you can view your account balance in the Overview section.
View plan balance: In the console, go to Plans to view the remaining quota and details of the plans in your account. The sent message count in Usage Statistics covers only the selected time range (for example, the current month), while the remaining plan balance is the cumulative remainder since purchase. The two metrics use different statistical bases, so data inconsistencies between them are expected and do not indicate a billing error. To view historical usage, adjust the time range in Usage Statistics.
View bills: In the console, go to Cost Analytics to view your SMS bills, or go to Billing Details in Expenses and Costs to view all your bills. For more information, see Quickly understand your Alibaba Cloud bills.
View historical purchase records: If you do not remember when you purchased an SMS plan, go to the Order Management page in Expenses and Costs (choose Expenses and Costs > Orders > My Orders). Clear the date range filter and select Short Message Service from the Product Name drop-down list to filter historical orders. The Product Name drop-down list shows only the products for which you already have orders. The Package Fees page in the SMS console shows only active SMS plans. To view expired plans, check Order Management in Expenses and Costs.
Renewal policy
When your SMS plan quota is used up, the billing method defaults to pay-as-you-go.
You can enable auto-renewal to automatically purchase a new plan. Enabling auto-renewal may provide certain discounts. For details, see Plans.
Auto-renewal is only supported for domestic SMS plans. For instructions, see Renewal policy.
Overdue payments
If your account balance is insufficient, Alibaba Cloud reminds you by SMS or email to add funds promptly.
Bills generated under the pay-as-you-go billing method may be delayed. Charges that appear after your account becomes overdue may come from messages that were sent successfully before your account became overdue but had not yet been billed.
Some messages are still waiting for a delivery receipt when your account becomes overdue. If the delivery receipt later indicates success, the message is billed normally.
If your Alibaba Cloud account has an overdue payment, message sending will fail. SMS plans cannot be used or purchased when your account has an overdue payment. Top up your account promptly to avoid service disruptions.
Refund policy
Plans that have been used or have expired are not refundable. You can request a refund for unused and unexpired plans.
If an order contains multiple plans that are all unused and within their validity period, you can request a full refund for the entire order or a refund for a specific plan. If any plan in the order has been used, you cannot request a refund for individual plans. You can only submit a refund request for all plans in the entire order.
If your refund request meets these rules, you can go to the Plans page in the SMS console to request a self-service refund. For more information, see Refund policy.
References
To learn about domestic SMS sending limits and related rules, see Message delivery rules.
SMS provides monitoring capabilities to prevent verification code abuse. For more information, see Abuse prevention for verification codes.
For other frequently asked questions about billing, see Billing FAQ.