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    MaxCompute:Subscription Standard Edition

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    MaxCompute:Subscription Standard Edition

    Last Updated:Mar 26, 2026

    MaxCompute's subscription billing method gives you a dedicated resource pool sized by the number of compute units (CUs) you purchase. Subscription CUs are reserved exclusively for your projects—no shared capacity, no resource contention.

    Basic resources

    Resource Description Billing rule

    Computing resources

    The resource pool is Dedicated. Fixed resources are allocated based on the purchased amount of CUs. Projects that use subscription resources can only use the project's dedicated resource pool to run compute jobs, such as SQL (including UDFs), MapReduce, Spark, or Graph jobs.

    Purchase CUs when you activate the service. The minimum purchase is 50 CUs. For more information about the specific billing rules, see Compute costs (pay-as-you-go).
    Computing resources A dedicated resource pool sized by the number of CUs you purchase. Subscription CUs serve only the projects assigned to them, running SQL jobs with user-defined functions (UDFs), MapReduce jobs, Spark jobs, and Graph jobs. Purchase at least 50 CUs when you activate MaxCompute. For pricing details, see Computing pricing.

    Prerequisites

    Before you begin, ensure that you have:

    • Activated the pay-as-you-go standard edition in the same region. Subscription resources cover computing capacity only; storage and download services run under the pay-as-you-go model.

    • (Optional) Prepared a RAM user if you plan to authorize RAM users to manage resources. Authorized RAM users are considered the same as the corresponding Alibaba Cloud account.

    Usage notes

    Assign subscription CUs to projects

    After purchasing subscription CUs, assign them to projects in one of the following ways:

    • At project creation: Select the subscription computing resources when creating a project in the region where your subscription is active.

    • On the Quotas page: Configure resource rules in the MaxCompute console after the project is created.

    • At job submission: Specify a subscription quota when submitting a job.

    For details, see Use of computing resources.

    Understand CU capacity behavior

    Each Alibaba Cloud account has an independent CU pool per region. For example, if you purchase 100 subscription CUs in the China (Hangzhou) region, you have a pool of exactly 100 CUs:

    • If jobs use fewer than 100 CUs, the unused CUs remain idle.

    • If jobs require more than 100 CUs, they run within the 100-CU limit—job execution time increases because resources are insufficient.

    If the CUs that you purchase are insufficient, you can increase the number of CUs. If multiple CUs are idle, you can decrease the number of CUs. To adjust capacity, see Upgrade or downgrade resource configurations.

    Manage multiple quotas

    Each Alibaba Cloud account can purchase multiple subscription standard compute resource specifications (multiple level-1 quotas) in the same region. Resources between level-1 quotas are independent and cannot be shared.

    Switch billing methods

    The pay-as-you-go and subscription billing models are independent. To move an existing project to subscription resources, change the project's billing method. See Switch between billing methods.

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