ApsaraVideo Live provides data transfer plans and transcoding plans. Compared to the pay-as-you-go model, resource plans are more cost-effective. You can view the remaining quota and validity periods of your purchased plans in the Expenses and Costs console.
Resource plan types
Type | Description | Billable items |
Data transfer plan | General-purpose data transfer plan
Regular data transfer plan
Note We recommend the general-purpose plan, which has broader coverage and is more cost-effective. | |
Transcoding plan | This plan provides a set number of hours that can be used to offset the duration of H.264 Narrowband HD™ transcoding. It cannot be used for other transcoding types (standard transcoding, audio-only transcoding, and H.265 Narrowband HD™ transcoding). The plan's duration is consumed at different rates depending on the output resolution:
Example: Transcoding one hour of video to H.264 SD consumes two hours from your plan balance. |
To purchase a resource plan, click here.
Notes
Regular data transfer plans have region restrictions. You cannot use a regular plan for a specific region to cover traffic usage in other regions.
Resource plans take effect immediately upon purchase and are prioritized for deduction. If you have multiple plans of the same type, the plan that expires soonest is used first.
When a resource plan is depleted, subsequent usage is automatically billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.
A resource plan is valid for the duration specified at purchase. Unused quota in an expired plan is forfeited and non-refundable. The validity periods of multiple plans of the same type are calculated independently and do not stack.
You can receive a full refund for any unused resource plan within five days (120 hours) of purchase, for any reason.
Data transfer plan
ApsaraVideo Live offers two types of live data transfer plans: General-purpose and Regular.
The general-purpose plan covers all use cases of the regular plan, has no regional restrictions, and offers better pricing.
General-purpose data transfer plan
This plan simplifies resource management and offers the following advantages:
Deducts traffic usage for both standard streaming and RTS.
Provides unified pricing for all regions outside the Chinese mainland, including China (Hong Kong), China (Macao), and China (Taiwan), so you do not need to purchase separate plans for each region.
Applies different deduction ratios based on the service type (standard streaming or RTS) and region (Chinese mainland or outside the Chinese mainland).
Specifications
Global: Recommended if your business is solely within the Chinese mainland or operates globally (including the Chinese mainland).
Global (Excluding Chinese mainland): This plan is for businesses that operate exclusively outside the Chinese mainland. It simplifies cost calculations, but cannot be used to deduct usage within the Chinese mainland.
For detailed pricing, visit the bug page.
You can use both plans to deduct usage outside the Chinese mainland, and the effective price per GB is the same after conversion.
Coverage
Standard streaming: Covers playback traffic using protocols such as RTMP, FLV, and HLS.
RTS: covers playback traffic generated by end users pulling live streams using RTS (over the ARTC protocol).
Global type
Pricing
Specification | Price |
100 GB | USD 4 |
500 GB | USD 19 |
1 TB | USD 37 |
5 TB | USD 180 |
10 TB | USD 350 |
50 TB | USD 1,740 |
200 TB | USD 5,038 |
1 PB | USD 25,795 |
Deduction ratio
Deduction ratio | Chinese mainland | Outside the Chinese mainland |
Standard streaming | 1 | 2.7 |
RTS | 1.5 | 3.7 |
Formula:
Deducted quota = Actual usage × Deduction ratio
Example:
A customer purchases a 500 GB general-purpose data transfer plan (Global) and incurs the following usage:
10 GB of standard streaming traffic in the Chinese mainland
10 GB of RTS traffic in the Chinese mainland
10 GB of standard streaming traffic outside the Chinese mainland
10 GB of RTS traffic outside the Chinese mainland
The remaining quota is calculated as: 500 GB - (10 GB × 1) - (10 GB × 1.5) - (10 GB × 2.7) - (10 GB × 3.7) = 411 GB.
Global (Excluding Chinese mainland) type
Pricing
Specification | Price |
100 GB | USD 10 |
500 GB | USD 49 |
1 TB | USD 98 |
5 TB | USD 485 |
10 TB | USD 960 |
50 TB | USD 4,700 |
200 TB | USD 13,429 |
1 PB | USD 68,755 |
Deduction ratio
Deduction Ratio | Outside the Chinese mainland |
Standard streaming | 1 |
RTS | 1.4 |
Formula:
Deducted quota = Actual usage × Deduction ratio
Examples:
A customer purchases a 500 GB general-purpose data transfer plan applicable to global regions excluding the Chinese mainland.
10 GB of standard streaming traffic and 10 GB of RTS traffic are generated in the Chinese mainland. The plan cannot be used to offset this usage.
10 GB of standard streaming traffic and 10 GB of RTS traffic are generated in regions outside the Chinese mainland. The plan can be used. The remaining quota is calculated as: 500 GB - 10 GB × 1 - 10 GB × 1.4 = 476 GB.
Regular data transfer plan
This plan specifically deducts downstream playback traffic for standard streaming. It does not apply to RTS.
We offer eight region-specific plans. Each plan can only deduct data transfer usage within its corresponding region and does not support cross-region deduction. For example, a plan for the Chinese mainland cannot be used to deduct data transfer in the Asia Pacific 1 (AP1) region.
For detailed pricing, visit the bug page.
Pricing
Specification | Chinese mainland | Global (Excludes Chinese mainland) | Asia Pacific 1 | Asia Pacific 2 | Asia Pacific 3 | Europe | North America | South America | Middle East and Africa |
100 GB | USD 4 | USD 10 | USD 8 | USD 10 | USD 9 | USD 7 | USD 7 | USD 20 | USD 20 |
500 GB | USD 19 | USD 50 | USD 38 | USD 49 | USD 44 | USD 33 | USD 33 | USD 94 | USD 94 |
1 TB | USD 37 | USD 99 | USD 75 | USD 98 | USD 88 | USD 65 | USD 65 | USD 185 | USD 185 |
5 TB | USD 180 | USD 472 | USD 365 | USD 485 | USD 430 | USD 315 | USD 315 | USD 900 | USD 900 |
10 TB | USD 350 | USD 893 | USD 720 | USD 960 | USD 850 | USD 620 | USD 620 | USD 1,780 | USD 1,780 |
50 TB | USD 1,740 | USD 4,155 | USD 3,520 | USD 4,700 | USD 4,170 | USD 3,040 | USD 3,040 | USD 8,700 | USD 8,700 |
200 TB | USD 5,038 | USD 16,028 | USD 9,010 | USD 13,429 | USD 11,756 | USD 5,038 | USD 5,223 | USD 23,798 | USD 25,498 |
1 PB | USD 25,795 | USD 79,023 | USD 46,127 | USD 68,755 | USD 60,188 | USD 25,795 | USD 26,739 | USD 121,845 | USD 130,548 |
Example
A customer purchases a regular data transfer plan of 500 GB for the Chinese mainland.
10 GB of standard streaming traffic and 10 GB of RTS traffic are generated in the AP1 region, and 10 GB of RTS traffic is generated in the Chinese mainland. The plan cannot offset this usage due to an unmatched region and unsupported service type.
10 GB of standard streaming traffic is generated in the Chinese mainland. The plan can be used. The remaining quota is calculated as: 500 GB - 10 GB = 490 GB.
Selection guide
Compared to a region-specific regular plan, a general-purpose plan can be used to deduct traffic usage for standard streaming and RTS across regions.
When choosing a general-purpose plan, consider whether your business operations involve the Chinese mainland and calculate the total equivalent traffic your business requires.
Example 1:
Previously, Customer A purchased three separate, region-specific regular plans:
A regular plan of 500 GB for the Chinese mainland
A regular plan of 500 GB for Europe
A regular plan of 500 GB for South America
To consolidate this usage, apply the deduction ratios of the general-purpose plan:
(500 GB × 1) + (500 GB × 2.7) + (500 GB × 2.7) = 500 GB + 1350 GB + 1350 GB = 3200 GB
Therefore, a 3,200 GB general-purpose data transfer plan (Global) would cover the same business needs.
Example 2:
Previously, Customer B purchased three separate, region-specific regular plans:
A regular plan of 500 GB for the Chinese mainland
A regular plan of 500 GB for Europe
A regular plan of 500 GB for South America
Meanwhile, the following additional amount of RTS traffic was incurred:
500 GB of RTS traffic in the Chinese mainland
500 GB of RTS traffic in Europe
500 GB of RTS traffic in South America
To consolidate this usage, apply the deduction ratios of the general-purpose plan:
(500 GB × 1) + (500 GB × 2.7) + (500 GB × 2.7) + (500 GB × 1.5) + (500 GB × 3.7) + (500 GB × 3.7) = 500 GB + 1350 GB + 1350 GB + 750 GB + 1850 GB + 1850 GB = 7650 GB
Therefore, a 7,650 GB general-purpose data transfer plan (Global) would cover all of these business needs.
Manage resource plans
Log on to the ApsaraVideo Live console.
In the navigation pane on the left, choose .
On the Resource Plan Management page, view your purchased resource plans. The page lists details for each plan, such as the instance name/ID, name, total amount, remaining amount, effective period, and expiration time.
Click Purchase Resource Plan to purchase resource plans as needed.
Click Usage & Alerting to set alerts for your resource plans.
