Alibaba Cloud CDN provides several types of resource plan that can be used to offset certain resource fees. However, some resource fees cannot be offset by resource plans. This topic describes why you are still charged for resources after you purchase resource plans and how to solve this issue.
Troubleshooting procedure

Possible causes and solutions
After you purchase resource plans, you may still be charged for resources due to the following causes. You can address this issue based on the provided solutions.
- Possible cause 1: Some billable items are not included in the resource plans
Billable items of Alibaba Cloud CDN are classified into basic services and value-added services. After Alibaba Cloud CDN is activated, you may be charged for multiple billable items such as data transfer and requests. Each type of resource plan can offset only the specified type of resource fee. For example, outbound data transfer plans cannot offset fees of HTTP requests for static content. In this case, payments or overdue payments are generated.
Note- For more information about billable items, see Billing overview.
- For more information about how to choose resource plans, see Guidelines for choosing resource plans.
Solution
Check your bills and confirm whether the billable items are included in the resource plans that you have purchased. If a billable item is not included in the resource plans, payments are generated.
Check whether value-added services are enabled, such as HTTPS. Value-added services are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Your account balance pays the payable amount due. You can also purchase resource plans for value-added services. For more information, see Billing of value-added services.
- Possible cause 2: The accelerated region of the resource plan is different from the
one where fees are incurred
You must specify an accelerated region when you purchase a resource plan. The resource plan can offset resource fees only in the specified accelerated region. For example, Alice purchased an outbound data transfer plan for the mainland China accelerated region. In this case, the resource plan can offset outbound data transfer fees only in mainland China. It cannot offset outbound data transfer fees in China (Hong Kong), China (Macao), China (Taiwan), or other regions outside mainland China.
Solution
If multiple accelerated regions are set for your accelerated domain names, we recommend that you purchase resource plans for each of the accelerated regions so that resource fees in these accelerated regions can be offset. For more information, see CDN Resource Plans.
- Possible cause 3: The metering method of Alibaba Cloud CDN does not support the resource
plans that you have purchased
Outbound data transfer plans support only the pay-by-data-transfer metering method. If the metering method of Alibaba Cloud CDN is pay-by-bandwidth or pay-by-95th-percentile, outbound data transfer plans cannot be used to offset outbound data transfer fees. In this case, payments or overdue payments are generated.
Solution
Change the metering method in the Alibaba Cloud CDN console. For more information, see Change the metering method.
- Possible cause 4: The amount of consumed resources has exceeded the quota of the resource
plan
After you purchase a resource plan, the amount of resources that exceeds the quota of the plan is automatically billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. For example, Alice purchased an outbound data transfer plan of 100 GB and the amount of outbound data transfer in the month is 110 GB. The amount (10 GB) that exceeds the plan is billed based on the pay-as-you-go billing method. In this case, an overdue payment may occur.
Solution
- Configure low capacity alerts: Low capacity alerts notify you before your resource plans are exhausted and help you prevent overdue payments. For more information, see CDN Resource Plans.
- Purchase more resource plans: You can purchase more resource plans to offset resource fees in case more payments or overdue payments are generated. However, resource plans cannot offset fees of resources that are consumed before the resource plans are purchased.
Note For more information, see Query the details of resource plans. - Possible cause 5: Bills are delayed
A resource plan takes effect immediately after you complete the payment. However, it takes 3 to 4 hours for Alibaba Cloud CDN to issue a bill after a billing cycle ends. For example, the bill that was issued at 10:00:00 (UTC+8) on October 10, 2020 belongs to the billing cycle from 06:00:00 (UTC+8) on October 10, 2020 to 07:00:00 (UTC+8) on October 10, 2020.
Solution
After you receive a bill, check the time when the bill is issued and the billing cycle of the bill.