Beginning January 8, 2021, Alibaba Cloud Content Delivery Network (CDN) uses the pay-by-data-transfer metering method by default. After Alibaba Cloud CDN is activated, you cannot manually change the metering method in the Alibaba Cloud CDN console.
If Business Type is set to DCDN when you add a domain name to Alibaba Cloud CDN, you can view and manage the domain name in the Dynamic Route for DCDN (DCDN) console. DCDN-accelerated domain names that are managed in the Alibaba Cloud CDN console are billed based on the billing rules of DCDN. If you have purchased a resource plan of Alibaba Cloud CDN or DCDN, the resource plan can be shared between Alibaba Cloud CDN and DCDN. You can use the resource plan to offset data transfer fees generated by outbound network traffic and HTTPS requests for static content. For more information, see What is Dynamic Route for CDN?
Billable items
You are charged for the basic services and value-added services of Alibaba Cloud CDN. You can use subscription resource plans to offset service fees. Billable items include:
- Basic services (required): You can choose between pay-by-data-transfer and pay-by-bandwidth, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Billing of basic services 
- Value-added services (optional): When you enable a basic service, you can also enable one or more value-added services, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Billing of value-added services 
- Subscription resource plans (optional): Alibaba Cloud CDN provides subscription resource plans that can be used to offset resource fees. Resource plans are more cost effective.
Billable regions
Regions inside mainland China and outside mainland China are classified into different billable regions.
- Inside mainland China: Regions inside mainland China are in the same billable region.
- Outside mainland China: Regions outside mainland China are divided into the following billable regions based on the location where the CDN nodes are deployed: North America (NA), Europe (EU), Asia Pacific 1 (AP1), Asia Pacific 2 (AP2), Asia Pacific 3 (AP3), Middle East and Africa (MEAA), and South America (SA).
- North America includes Canada and US.
- Europe includes Russia, Ukraine, UK, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Germany.
- Asia Pacific 1 includes Hong Kong (China), Macao (China), Taiwan (China), Japan, and other Southeast Asia countries and regions except for Vietnam and Indonesia.
- Asia Pacific 2 includes India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Vietnam.
- Asia Pacific 3 includes Australia and New Zealand.
- Middle East and Africa include Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, and South Africa.
- South America includes Brazil.
Metering methods
Alibaba Cloud CDN is billed for basic services and value-added services. For more information, see CDN Pricing.
| Billable item | Billing rule | Metering method | Billing method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data transfer (default) |
You are charged based on tiered pricing in each billable region. The billing cycle is one calendar month. Within a billing cycle, the amount of data transfer that exceeds the quota in the current pricing tier is billed based on the next pricing tier. | Pay-by-data-transfer | Pay-as-you-go: The bill of a billing cycle is issued about 3 hours after the billing cycle ends. The time when bills are issued is determined by the system. |
| Data transfer plans: You can make a one-off payment for a data transfer plan. The validity period of a data transfer plan can be one month, six months, or one year.
Note Data transfer plans support only the pay-by-data-transfer metering method. If the current metering method is pay-by-bandwidth, the remaining quota in the data transfer plan is suspended. The remaining quota is available only after you change the metering method to pay-by-data-transfer.
|
Subscription: You can use data transfer plans to offset data transfer fees on an hourly basis. | ||
| Peak bandwidth | You are charged based on the daily peak bandwidth values in each region. Unit: Mbit/s.
Note Beginning January 8, 2021, basic services of Alibaba Cloud CDN use the pay-by-data-transfer metering method by default.
To change to the pay-by-bandwidth metering method, submit a ticket or contact your sales manager.
|
Pay-by-peak-bandwidth | Pay-as-you-go: The bill of the current day is issued and the bandwidth fee is deducted from your account balance after 00:00 on the next day. The time when bills are issued is determined by the system. |
For more information, see Billing of basic services.
| Billable item | Billing rule | Metering method | Billing method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Application Firewall (WAF) | Resource plans for WAF: You can make a one-off payment for resource plans. These resource plans use the subscription billing method and are valid for one year. After you complete the payment for a resource plan, it immediately takes effect. The amount of resources that exceeds the resource plan is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. | Pay-as-you-go: You are charged based on the number of requests. | Subscription |
| HTTPS requests for static content | After you enable HTTPS in the Alibaba Cloud CDN console, you are charged for HTTPS requests that request static content. | Pay-as-you-go | |
| Resource plans for HTTPS requests that request static or dynamic content: You can make a one-off payment for resource plans. These resource plans use the subscription billing method. After you complete the payment for a resource plan, it immediately takes effect. The number of HTTPS requests that exceeds the resource plan is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. | Subscription | ||
| Real-time log delivery | To enable the real-time log delivery service, log on to the Alibaba Cloud CDN console and choose in the left-side navigation pane. You are charged for log entries that are delivered to a specified location. | Pay-as-you-go: You are charged based on the number of log entries delivered to a specified location. | Pay-as-you-go |
| Content moderation | Resource plans for content moderation: You can make a one-off payment for resource plans. These resource plans use the subscription billing method and are valid for one year. After you complete the payment for a resource plan, it immediately takes effect. The number of images that exceeds the resource plan is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. | Subscription |
For more information, see Billing of value-added services.
Make purchases
Alibaba Cloud CDN and DCDN offer discounts for resource plans. You can purchase resource plans on the buy page.
Query resource usage
Alibaba Cloud CDN allows you to query the numbers of HTTPS requests and QUIC requests. For more information, see Query resource usage.
Query bills
Alibaba Cloud CDN allows you to query bills by day or by month. For more information, see Query bills.
High bill alerts
If your domain name is under attack, such as bot attack, bills may be higher than expected. To prevent unexpected high bills, you can configure high bill alerts. For more information, see Prevent high bills.
Overdue payments
If the balance in your Alibaba Cloud account is insufficient, Alibaba Cloud notifies you by text messages or emails so that you can top up your account balance at the earliest opportunity. For more information, see Overdue payments.
Money-back guarantees
You can apply for refunds if you are eligible for the money-back guarantees of Alibaba Cloud CDN. For more information, see Money-back guarantees.