Storage capacity units (SCUs) are subscription storage resource plans that can be used to offset the storage fees of various Alibaba Cloud storage services. Compared with storage plans that are dedicated to specific storage services, SCUs can be more flexible and cost-effective.
Purchase method
For more information about how to purchase SCUs, see Create an SCU.
You can purchase multiple SCUs for the same region within the same billing period to offset your storage fees.
Offset rules
SCUs can be used to offset the storage fees of multiple Alibaba Cloud storage services. The following table describes the rules when you use SCUs to offset the storage fees of different storage classes of Object Storage Service (OSS) resources in regions in the Chinese mainland.
For more information about the rules for other Alibaba Cloud storage services and regions, visit the pricing page.
Storage class | Offset factor per GB | Description |
Standard LRS | 0.06 | Every 0.06 GB of SCU capacity can be used to offset the storage fees for 1 GB of Standard locally redundant storage (LRS) objects. |
Standard ZRS | 0.06 | Every 0.06 GB of SCU capacity can be used to offset the storage fees for 1 GB of Standard zone-redundant storage (ZRS) objects. |
IA LRS | 0.04 | Every 0.04 GB of SCU capacity can be used to offset the storage fees for 1 GB of Infrequent Access (IA) LRS objects. |
IA ZRS | 0.05 | Every 0.05 GB of SCU capacity can be used to offset the storage fees for 1 GB of IA ZRS objects. |
Archive LRS | 0.01 | Every 0.01 GB of SCU capacity can be used to offset the storage fees for 1 GB of Archive LRS objects. |
Offset order
The storage fees of OSS resources are offset in the following order: region-specific storage plans, storage plans for the Chinese mainland, and SCUs. You are charged for the remaining usage based on the pay-as-you-go billing method.
Examples
User A purchased a Standard (LRS) storage plan that had a capacity of 500 GB and an SCU that had a capacity of 20 GB for the China (Hangzhou) region in June 2021. User A stored 600 GB of Standard LRS objects and 200 GB of Archive LRS objects in the China (Hangzhou) region in June 2021. The following table describes how the storage fees of User A in June 2021 are offset.
Storage class | Offset by storage plan | Offset by SCU |
Standard LRS | The storage fees for 500 GB of Standard LRS objects are offset by the Standard (LRS) storage plan of 500 GB. | The storage fees for the remaining 100 GB of Standard LRS objects are offset by 6 GB of the SCU. 6 GB indicates the capacity in the SCU used to offset the fee for the remaining 100 GB of storage usage, since the 500 GB of storage usage is offset by the Standard (LRS) storage plan (600 GB - 500 GB) × 0.06 = 6 GB. |
Archive LRS | None. | The storage fees for 200 GB of Archive LRS objects are offset by 2 GB of the SCU. 2 GB indicates the capacity in the SCU used to offset the fee for 200 GB of storage usage. 200 GB × 0.01 = 2 GB. |