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
Billed Item		Description
Storage space	Standard storage	Space occupied by data in the Standard storage class (with single-AZ or multi-AZ redundancy). 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 (with single-AZ or multi-AZ redundancy). 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.
	Deep Archive storage (under limited beta testing)	Space occupied by data in the Deep Archive storage class. Minimum storage duration: 180 days. Objects stored for less than 180 days are billed for a full 180 days, while those stored for over 180 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. 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 transfer	Outbound Internet traffic	The amount of data (in the Standard storage class) transferred out of OBS over the Internet. After Infrequent Access, Deep Archive, and Archive objects are restored, the outbound Internet traffic generated when you download those restored objects can only be billed on a pay-per-use basis. NOTE: Internet traffic is generated as long as data is downloaded from OBS over the Internet, regardless of whether the download is successful. The outbound Internet traffic generated when you download the restored Infrequent Access, Deep Archive, and Archive objects cannot be covered by outbound Internet traffic packages.
	Cross-region replication traffic	The amount of data transferred from one region to another
	CDN pull traffic	The amount of data downloaded by CDN from OBS 3.0 buckets Downloading data from OBS 2.0 buckets generates outbound Internet traffic, which can be covered by a matched outbound Internet traffic package.
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. Reading objects in the Deep 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. Retrieving Infrequent Access objects or retrieving Archive objects from a bucket with direct reading enabled does not create object copies, so there will not be additional costs on Standard storage. Downloading and copying Archive objects from a bucket with direct reading enabled will generate data read traffic. 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.
Data processing	Image processing	The size of the processed image For details, see How Is Image Processing Charged?

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

For detailed prices under pay-per-use billing, see Price Calculator. The Price Calculator can help you make a cost estimate for the resources you select.

If you want the price per hour, make a conversion. Taking Standard storage (single AZ) as an example, its hourly unit price is as follows: $0.0230 USD per GB-month x (1/24) x (1/30) = $0.00003194 USD per GB-hour.

Billing Examples

The prices in the following examples are for reference only. For the actual prices, see Pricing Details.

Suppose the unit price of Standard storage (single AZ) is $0.0230 USD per GB-month and there are 100,000 GB Standard objects in a single-AZ bucket. In this case, the cost for storing these objects in an hour is as follows: $0.0230 USD per GB-month × 100,000 GB × (1/24/30) months = $3.19 USD.

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.