Before you begin your cloud journey, the first step is to have your own Alibaba Cloud account. This topic guides you through the registration.
Registration process overview
The registration of an Alibaba Cloud account consists of three stages: create an account, complete sign-up, and identity verification.
You can choose how far to take the registration based on your own business scenario. This topic focuses on the steps to create an account and complete sign-up. For the identity verification steps, see Identity verification overview.
In the following table, a supported scenario is marked as , and an unsupported scenario is marked as .
Business scenario | Create an account | Complete sign-up | Individual identity verification | Enterprise identity verification |
Browse content on the website | ||||
Activate a free trial | ||||
Buy cloud resources in regions outside the Chinese mainland | ||||
Buy cloud resources in Chinese mainland regions | ||||
Buy specific cloud services, such as CEN and SMS |
The information required and the estimated time for each stage are as follows:
Stage | Information required | Estimated time |
Create an account | Email address, mobile number (optional) | 5 minutes |
Complete sign-up | Mobile number, payment method, billing address, tax information (optional) | 10 minutes |
Identity verification |
| About 3 business days to complete the review after you submit the information |
Create an account
In the upper-right corner of the Alibaba Cloud website, click Sign In, and then click Register to go to the account registration page, and select an Account Type. You can change the account type when you complete sign-up, or update it in Account Center under Basic Information.
Individual: for individual developers and students, or for personal projects, learning, and testing.
Enterprise: for company business that requires multiple people to collaborate on managing cloud resources. An enterprise account can use certain features designed for enterprise scenarios, such as resource management and finance trusteeship.
Enter your email address and set a password. Note that this email address serves as the sign-in method for the account and the channel for receiving important notifications, so keep it safe. The password security requirements are as follows:
Length: 8 to 20 characters
Can contain only uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and punctuation marks (except spaces)
Must contain at least three of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, digits, and punctuation marks
Select an Account Type and a Country/Region, and then complete the verification of your mobile number or email address.
ImportantCountry/Region information determines your billing currency and applicable tax rates, and it cannot be changed after registration. Choose it carefully. If the country or region automatically detected by the system during registration is incorrect and cannot be manually changed, or if you find that the country or region is wrong after registration, we recommend that you delete the current account and register again.
Verify with a mobile number
This mobile number is the key credential for future security operations, such as resetting your password and changing sensitive information.
Enter your mobile number. The number must belong to the Country/Region that you selected. Otherwise, you cannot receive the verification code.
Click "Send Verification Code", and enter the 6-digit verification code that you receive to confirm.
Verify with an email address
This email address is the one that you entered in the first step of registration.
Click Send, and the system sends a verification code to the email address that you provided;
Check your inbox (including the spam folder), and then click the verification link in the email or enter the verification code in it to complete the verification.
After you read and accept the relevant Alibaba Cloud terms of service, click Register. At this point, a basic Alibaba Cloud account is created.
Complete registration
After you create an account, you must also complete security authentication and add payment information before you can buy paid cloud services in regions outside the Chinese mainland or activate the free trial of most paid services. If you skip this step and place an order directly, the system reports that your account information is incomplete and blocks the order.
1. Security authentication
To further ensure the security of your account, you must complete two-factor verification of your email address or mobile number.
Mobile number
If you registered your Alibaba Cloud account with an email address, you must complete secure phone number verification. The secure phone number is used to reset your password, enable TOTP verification, and perform similar operations.
Enter your mobile number. The number must belong to the Country/Region that you selected in the previous step. Otherwise, you cannot receive the verification code.
Click "Send Verification Code", and enter the 6-digit verification code that you receive to confirm.
Email address
If you used mobile number verification when you registered the account, you must complete security email address verification in this step. The security email address can be used to reset your password.
Click Get Verification Code. A verification code email containing a 6-digit code is sent to the email address that you entered during registration.
Enter the verification code and click Next to finish this verification.
2. Add payment information
Account Type: select Individual or Enterprise. Note that the account type selected here can differ from the one chosen during account registration, and it can be updated before identity verification is complete in Account Center under Basic Information.
As prompted on the page, fill in the payment information and billing information.
Payment methods vary by country and region. For more information, see Payment methods. You can also update them later in the Expenses and Costs console.
Payment information is used to pay the bills of activated cloud services or to place prepayment orders. The system may place a temporary authorization hold on your bank card (only for verification; no money is deducted).
NoteIf your PayPal account is not verified, you may not be able to use it as a payment method for your Alibaba Cloud account.
Alibaba Cloud does not currently support binding a PayPal account from the Chinese mainland.
For account and payment security, the system does not support using virtual credit cards for payment verification or card binding. If a security risk is detected, you must bind a physical bank card and submit the relevant materials for review. The review result is sent to you by email within 3 business days.
Entering the TIN for a Malaysian account : If the TIN is reported as invalid immediately after you change the BRN (business registration number), this is caused by a database synchronization delay. Wait a moment and try again. For a Malaysian enterprise, a TIN issued on or after January 1, 2023 ends with 0 and starts with C or D. Make sure that the BRN is entered correctly before you enter the TIN.
Click Next Page to finish filling in the payment information.
3. Provide tax information (skippable)
For enterprise accounts registered in certain countries (for example, the United Kingdom and Malaysia), you must provide tax information for local corporate tax filing and invoicing. If you do not want to handle it now, click Skip, and you can later maintain the tax ID information through Expenses and Costs> Tax ID Management.
Fill in the tax information and upload the tax qualification materials as prompted on the page.
Click Submit. After you submit the tax information, wait patiently for the review to pass.
After you successfully complete the sign-up, you can start to buy cloud services in regions outside the Chinese mainland or activate the free trial of most services.
If you need to buy cloud services in Chinese mainland regions, or if your enterprise plans to sign an online contract with Alibaba Cloud, apply for a credit line, or join the Alibaba Cloud Partner Network, you must also complete identity verification for your Alibaba Cloud account. For more information, see Identity verification overview.
FAQ
What can I do if the system reports that my account information is incomplete when I place an order?
If you receive the message that your account information is incomplete when you buy a cloud service, the account has not completed the information required for the purchase. The system checks the following four categories of information before an order is placed. Check each item and complete anything that is missing:
Check category | Content checked | Where to complete it |
Basic account information | Secure phone number, security email address | Sign in to the Account Center, go to the Security Settings page, and bind or update your mobile number and email address. |
Payment information | Payment method (such as a credit card or PayPal) | Sign in to the Expenses and Costs console, go to Payment Method Management, and add a valid payment method. |
Tax information | Tax ID and tax qualification (required in some countries/regions) | Sign in to the Expenses and Costs console, go to Tax ID Management, enter the tax information, and upload the qualification documents. This item is required in some countries/regions (such as the United Kingdom and Malaysia). |
Billing address | Mailing address for bills | Sign in to the Expenses and Costs console, and check and complete the billing address information in payment method management. |
To buy cloud services in Chinese mainland regions, you must also complete identity verification. For more information, see Identity verification overview.
The required items may differ by country/region. For example, an enterprise account registered in the United Kingdom or Malaysia must provide tax information.
Must I use a mobile number outside the Chinese mainland to register an Alibaba Cloud international site account?
Yes. The region of the mobile number bound to an Alibaba Cloud international site account must be consistent with the region selected when the account was registered.
What can I do if the Chinese mainland is unavailable when I select a region during registration?
The Alibaba Cloud international site does not support selecting the Chinese mainland as the registration region, and does not support binding a mobile number of the Chinese mainland. In addition, the international site does not support registering an account with a Chinese mainland entity. During registration, you must use an entity outside the Chinese mainland and a mobile number from outside the Chinese mainland that is consistent with the selected registration region. If you have completed registration with a Chinese mainland mobile number but have not yet completed the information required for an account outside the Chinese mainland, the system blocks the request when you place an order.
To use cloud services in Chinese mainland regions, we recommend that you go to the Alibaba Cloud China website (www.aliyun.com) to register an account.
Why can't I change the region information of my Alibaba Cloud international site account?
After an Alibaba Cloud international site account is registered, changing the registration country/region is not supported. To use services in another region, first cancel the current account, and then register a new account for the target region. For more information about how to cancel an account, see Close an Alibaba Cloud account.
During identity verification, the issuing place of the certificate that you use must be consistent with the country/region selected when the account was registered. Otherwise, the verification cannot pass. Choose the region carefully during registration.
What feature limits apply to a special account created by a domain transfer or by authorization management?
A special or temporary account created through a domain transfer (such as transferring in a .org domain) or in an authorization management scenario has a limited scope of use: it supports only the renewal or transfer-out management of existing domains. Such an account does not support:
Buying new cloud services (such as ECS or Simple Application Server)
Registering new domains
To use the cloud services and products of the Alibaba Cloud international site in full, register a standard Alibaba Cloud international site account.
Can I use the email address of an existing account to register a new account?
No. When you register an Alibaba Cloud account, each email address can be bound to only one account. To register a new account, you must use a new email address that is not yet bound to any Alibaba Cloud account.
Does an Alibaba Cloud international site account support ICP filing?
No. An Alibaba Cloud international site account does not support ICP filing operations, and filing information of an Alibaba Cloud China site account cannot be transferred to an international site account.
If an international site account holds filing information that needs to be canceled or changed (an international site filing transfer), you must first transfer the filing information to an Alibaba Cloud China site account, and then complete the relevant operations on the China site. If you have questions about international site filing or the cancellation of international site filing, contact Alibaba Cloud customer service for help.
What can I do if my account reports that personal basic information is incomplete and features are limited?
Question: What can I do if my account reports that personal basic information is incomplete and features are limited?
Answer: This message usually indicates that your account has not completed the basic information or has not finished identity verification. You can take the following steps:
Sign in to the Alibaba Cloud Management Console and go to the Account Center > Identity Verification page;
Complete your personal basic information (such as your name and ID number);
Follow the instructions on the page to complete the identity verification process.
After you complete the preceding steps, refresh the page or retry your operation, and the feature restriction is lifted.