If your resource usage is stable, purchase an Alibaba Cloud Object Storage Service (OSS) resource plan to reduce costs. For example, if you expect to use about 100 GB of Standard (ZRS) storage over the next three months, purchase a 100 GB Standard (ZRS) Storage Plan with a three-month subscription.
Step 1: Determine which resource plan to purchase
Select an appropriate resource plan type and capacity based on the billable items and usage shown in your bills.
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Match by billable item: If standard zone-redundant storage capacity is the primary cost shown on your bill, purchase a Standard (ZRS) Storage Plan to offset the cost.
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Match by usage: If your bill shows 40 GB of storage capacity per hour, purchase a 40 GB Standard (ZRS) Storage Plan to precisely cover the actual usage.
Request charges are calculated based on the request fee rules.
Step 2: Purchase a resource plan
Purchase the resource plan that corresponds to the billable item identified by the detection tool or in your bill.
Before you purchase, note the following:
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Resource plan type — You cannot change the resource plan type after purchase. A resource plan can offset only charges for its corresponding billable items, not all charges. Select an appropriate resource plan type when you make the purchase.
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Cold Archive (LRS) capacity — A Cold Archive (LRS) storage plan, which uses locally redundant storage, has a minimum capacity of 500 TB.
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Log on to the OSS console.
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In the left-side navigation pane, choose Resource Usage > Resource Plan Management.
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On the Resource Plan Management page, click Purchase Resource Plan.
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Select the resource plan type, region, capacity, duration, and other parameters based on your requirements. Then, click Buy Now.
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Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the purchase.
A resource plan takes effect immediately after purchase and automatically offsets the corresponding billable items. You do not need to establish a connection manually.
Purchase example
In March 2022, Mr. Chen purchased a 500 GB globalStandard (LRS) storage plan and a 100 GB global outbound data transfer plan. His resource usage in March was as follows:
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In China (Hangzhou), the storage capacity of Standard (LRS) objects was 300 GB, outbound traffic over Internet was 110 GB, and 100,000 API requests were made during the month.
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In China (Shanghai), the storage capacity of Standard (LRS) objects was 100 GB, and the storage capacity of Standard (ZRS) objects was 200 GB during the month.
The billing details are as follows:
| Region | Resource plan offset | Pay-as-you-go |
| China (Hangzhou) | The 500 GB Standard (LRS) storage plan offsets the charges for 300 GB of Standard (LRS) storage capacity. | Charges for 100,000 API requests. |
| China (Hangzhou) | The 100 GB outbound data transfer plan offsets the charges for 100 GB of outbound traffic over Internet. | Charges for the remaining 10 GB of outbound traffic over Internet. |
| China (Shanghai) | The 500 GB Standard (LRS) storage plan offsets the charges for 100 GB of Standard (LRS) storage capacity. | Charges for 200 GB of Standard (ZRS) storage capacity. |
Cost optimization suggestions
If your resource usage is stable, choose an appropriate resource plan capacity and subscription duration to further reduce storage costs.
Storage plan deduction scope
A Standard (LRS) storage plan can offset Standard (LRS) storage capacity charges.
For additional resource plan types and deduction scopes, see Resource plan overview and selection.
Annual subscription discounts
The longer the subscription duration, the lower the average monthly unit price of the resource plan. Confirm the specific price on the Purchase Resource Plan page.
Compare resource plans and pay-as-you-go
The average monthly unit price of a resource plan is lower than the pay-as-you-go price. Confirm the specific price comparison on the Purchase Resource Plan page.
Select a billing method based on your business stage. In the early stage, when usage is low — for example, less than 100 GB of storage and less than 100 GB of outbound traffic — use the pay-as-you-go billing method. You pay only for actual usage and avoid wasting unused resource plan capacity. When your business stabilizes and usage consistently exceeds 100 GB of storage and 100 GB of outbound traffic, purchase resource plans of the appropriate type and capacity to reduce the unit cost.
Select capacity and duration
Resource plans of different capacities support different subscription durations, and some capacities are available only with specific durations. Before you purchase a plan, confirm the durations available for the required capacity on the Purchase Resource Plan page, and select the best combination based on your expected usage.
A Cold Archive (LRS) storage plan has a minimum capacity of 500 TB. If the capacity that you need is unavailable, see the FAQ section of this topic.
FAQ
What if I purchased the wrong resource plan?
If the resource plan you purchased does not meet your expectations, select a solution based on the number of days since purchase and whether the plan has been used.
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OSS resource plan unused within five days of purchase — Request a full refund. After the refund is complete, purchase the correct resource plan.
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OSS resource plan used, or unused for more than five days after purchase — Select one of the following solutions based on the deduction method of the purchased resource plan.
For a partial refund, the refund amount is calculated as follows: Refund amount = Amount paid - (Original order price / Actual number of purchased days) × Number of days used.
| Resource plan deduction method | Purchased resource plan | Solution | Description |
| Fixed total amount | Standard (LRS) storage plan, IA (LRS) storage plan | Request a partial refund. If you do not want a partial refund, convert the bucket redundancy type from LRS to ZRS so that a ZRS storage plan can directly offset the corresponding storage usage. | After conversion, the bucket is charged based on ZRS pricing instead of LRS pricing. ZRS storage costs more than LRS storage. For specific prices, see Object Storage Service pricing. |
| Fixed total amount | Anti-DDoS basic protection plan | Request a partial refund. | — |
| Decreasing total amount | transfer acceleration plan | Request a partial refund. | — |
| Monthly subscription | outbound data transfer plan | Refunds are not supported. | — |
For full-refund and partial-refund procedures, see Resource plan refund.
What if the desired resource plan capacity is unavailable?
OSS resource plans are typically available in capacities such as 100 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, and 10 TB. If a resource plan with your required capacity, such as 9 TB, is unavailable, select a purchase method for a custom capacity. For most resource plans, the method depends on whether the resource plan supports combination.
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Resource plans that support combination — For resource plans such as outbound data transfer plans, purchase multiple plans to obtain 9 TB of capacity. For example, purchase one 5 TB plan and two 2 TB outbound data transfer plans.
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Resource plans that do not support combination — For resource plans such as Standard (LRS) storage plans, use one of the following methods:
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Purchase a 10 TB Standard (LRS) storage plan.
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Purchase a 5 TB Standard (LRS) storage plan. Use pay-as-you-go for the remaining capacity.
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Cold Archive (LRS) storage plans — A Cold Archive (LRS) storage plan, which uses locally redundant storage, has a minimum capacity of 500 TB. Cold Archive is suitable for data that is accessed extremely infrequently, and data retrieval takes several hours. If you require less than 500 TB for cold data, use one of the following options:
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Use pay-as-you-go. You are charged based on actual usage and do not need to purchase a resource plan. After a resource plan expires, pay-as-you-go applies by default.
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Purchase an Archive (LRS) storage plan, which starts at 100 GB.
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Why doesn't the capacity increase after I renew a resource plan?
Renewing a monthly subscription resource plan, such as an outbound data transfer plan, extends only the validity period and does not increase the remaining capacity for the current month. On the first day of each month, the system automatically resets the capacity to the full amount. If the remaining capacity for the current month is insufficient, purchase an additional resource plan. The system automatically uses the new resource plan capacity based on the deduction rules.
Do I need to migrate data after an OSS resource plan expires and I purchase a new one?
No. Resource plans are used only to offset charges and do not involve data storage. After a resource plan expires, the data in your bucket remains in place and is not lost or made inaccessible because of the expiration. A new resource plan takes effect immediately after purchase and automatically offsets eligible storage charges.
Data deletion caused by overdue payments is unrelated to whether you purchase a resource plan.