Pay-per-Use Billing

Application Scenarios

Pay-per-use billing is good for short-term, bursty, or unpredictable workloads that cannot tolerate any interruptions.

Billed Items

You are billed for the following resources on a pay-per-use basis.

**Table 1** Items billed on a pay-per-use basis
Billing Item		Description
Storage space	Standard storage	Space occupied by data in the Standard storage class. Storage duration is the number of days during which data is stored in OBS. Minimum storage size: 64 KB. If an object is smaller than 64 KB, it will be billed as if it were 64 KB. Objects larger than 64 KB are billed for their actual size.
	Infrequent Access storage	Space occupied by data in the Infrequent Access storage class. Minimum storage duration: 30 days. Objects stored for less than 30 days are billed for a full 30 days, while those stored for over 30 days are billed based on their actual storage duration. If objects are deleted or transitioned to another storage class before they have been stored for this minimum storage duration, you still need to pay for the remaining days. The cost for the remaining days is calculated as follows: Unit price of Infrequent Access storage x Used space x Remaining days/30. Minimum storage size: 64 KB. If an object is smaller than 64 KB, it will be billed as if it were 64 KB. Objects larger than 64 KB are billed for their actual size.
	Archive storage	Space occupied by data in the Archive storage class. Minimum storage duration: 90 days. Objects stored for less than 90 days are billed for a full 90 days, while those stored for over 90 days are billed on their actual storage duration. If objects are deleted or transitioned to another storage class before they have been stored for this minimum storage duration, you still need to pay for the remaining days. The cost for the remaining days is calculated as follows: Unit price of Archive storage x Used space x Remaining days/30. Minimum storage size: 64 KB. If an object is smaller than 64 KB, it will be billed as if it were 64 KB. Objects larger than 64 KB are billed for their actual size.
Requests	GET, PUT, and storage class transition requests	GET, PUT, and storage class transition requests, including PUT, POST, COPY, LIST, GET, and HEAD
Data retrievals	The amount of data retrieved	Reading objects in the Infrequent Access storage class will incur retrieval costs depending on the objects' size. Reading objects in the Archive storage class will incur retrieval costs depending on the objects' size and restore speed. You are billed for data retrievals regardless of whether you read the objects over an intranet or Internet connection. If you are using an Internet connection, you will also be billed for the outbound Internet traffic generated. After an Archive object is restored, an object copy is generated and stored in the Standard storage class. During the copy retention period, you will be billed for the storage space occupied by both the object and its copy. The object copy will be automatically deleted after it expires. The storage cost for the object copy in the entire validity period will be charged at a time when the object is restored. NOTE: You can repeatedly restore archived data if you want to: Prolong the validity: If you do this, the new restore will be also billed. After a second restore, the validity period of Standard object copies will be prolonged, and you need to pay for storing these copies during the prolonged period. Shorten the validity: If you do this, error code "409 ObjectHasAlreadyRestored" will be reported. In such case, no restore costs or additional costs for storing Standard object copies are incurred.

Pricing Details

You are billed for using OBS on a pay-per-use basis by default. With this billing mode, you pay only for how long (hours) you actually use the resources. There is no minimum cost.

Billed Usage Period

The system collects usage of a previous hour (for example, 18:00–19:00) every hour and generates an SDR accordingly. An SDR generated at 19:30 usually records the cost from 18:00 to 19:00 or from 17:00 to 18:00 due to possible delays.

The minimum settlement duration is one hour regardless of when objects are uploaded. Specifically, if you uploaded an object between 18:00 and 19:00, you will be billed for its storage of a full hour (18:00 to 19:00).

Billing Formula

Cost = Used resources x Unit price

Impacts of Arrears

Figure 1 shows the statuses a pay-per-use OBS resource can have throughout its lifecycle. After an OBS resource is purchased, it enters the valid period and runs normally during this period as long as your account balance is sufficient or there are resource packages available for use. If your account goes into arrears, the OBS resource enters a grace period and then a retention period.

Figure 1 Lifecycle of a pay-per-use OBS resource

Arrears Reminder

The system will bill you for pay-per-use resources after each billing cycle ends. If your account goes into arrears, we will notify you by email, SMS, or in-app message.

Impacts of Arrears

If your account is insufficient to pay your amount due, your account goes into arrears, and your pay-per-use resources enter the grace period. You are still responsible for expenditures generated during the grace period. You can view the charges on the Billing Center > Overview page and pay any past due balance as needed.

If you do not bring your account balance current before the grace period expires, the resource status turns to Frozen and it enters a retention period. You cannot perform any operations on a pay-per-use resource in the Frozen status.

If you do not bring your account balance current before the retention period ends, the OBS resource will be released and the data cannot be recovered.