Help Center/ Object Storage Service/ Billing/ Billing Modes/ Overview
Updated on 2026-04-17 GMT+08:00
View PDF
Share

Overview

There are two OBS billing modes: resource packages and pay-per-use.

  • Using resource packages is a prepaid billing mode. A resource package is a resource quota you buy in advance. Your pay-per-use resources are preferentially covered by eligible resource packages. The longer your package duration and the larger the quota, the more money you save. Purchasing resource packages is a good option for long-term, stable data storage. If your resource packages are used up or expire, you will be billed on a pay-per-use basis.
  • Pay-per-use is a postpaid billing mode. You pay as you go and just pay for what you use. The OBS usage is calculated by the second but billed every hour. Pay-per-use billing is a good option for scenarios where there are sudden traffic bursts, such as e-commerce promotions.

Table 1 lists the differences between these billing modes.

Table 1 Differences between billing modes

Billing Mode

Resource packages

Pay-per-use

Payment

Prepaid

Resource packages are preferentially used to cover the usage.

Postpaid

Billed by the actual OBS usage

Billed Usage Period

Hour

Hour

Billing Items

Single-AZ Standard storage

Multi-AZ Standard storage

Single-AZ Archive storage

Outbound Internet traffic

Pull traffic

Cross-region replication traffic

All OBS items can be billed on a pay-per-use basis. For details, see Pay-per-Use Billing.

Billing Mode Change

You can switch to pay-per-use billing.

The pay-per-use billing applies only when your resource packages are used up or expire. For details, see Billing Mode Changes.

You can choose to use resource packages. For details, see Billing Mode Changes.

Application Scenarios

Recommended for resources expected to be in use long-term. A cost-effective option for scenarios where the resource usage duration is predictable.

Good for short-term, bursty, or unpredictable workloads that cannot tolerate any interruptions, such as requests, data read, and image processing.

Checking the Billing Mode of an Item in a Bill

In a bill, you can check whether an item is billed on a pay-per-use basis or covered by a resource package.

  1. In the navigation pane of OBS Console, choose Buckets.
  2. In the bucket list, copy the name of the bucket whose bill you want to view.
  3. On the right of the top navigation bar, click Billing & Costs.
  4. In the navigation pane, choose Billing > Expenditure Details. On the page displayed, view all expenditure details.
  5. Choose a billing cycle and specify a dimension (Usage by default).
  6. Select Resource ID as the search criteria, enter the bucket name copied in 2, and click the icon.

    Figure 1 Searching for a bill

    You can also click on the right side to export the bill details.

  7. In the Billing Mode column of the bill, check how an item is billed, either on a pay-per-use basis or covered by a resource package.

Parent topic: Billing Modes