How to view Alibaba Cloud Savings Plan usage - Expenses and Costs

This topic describes how to view these metrics and use them to optimize your savings plans.

Query savings plan usage

Usage reflects how much of your savings plan commitment is utilized. A higher usage rate indicates that your savings plan is being used more effectively.

Formula: Usage (%) = Deducted Amount / Total Amount (Savings Plan), where:

Deducted Amount: The actual amount of your pay-as-you-go bills covered by the savings plan over a period of time.
Total Amount (Savings Plan): The total amount of your commitment, calculated as the hourly commitment multiplied by the number of hours in the plan's term.

Example

A user purchases a 3-year, all-upfront, general-purpose savings plan. From October 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025, the Total Amount (Savings Plan) is 160.80 USD, and the Deducted Amount is 127.41 USD.

Usage = 127.41 / 160.80 = 79.24%. This indicates that while the savings plan was effective, approximately 20% of the commitment was not utilized. Adjust your resource usage strategy to improve the usage rate.

You can query the usage of your savings plans in the following ways:

Console

Log on to the Expenses and Costs console. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Account> Savings Plan.
Click the Usage tab. You can view usage data by Time Dimension or by setting Filters.
- Time Dimension: You can query data by hour, day, or month. Hourly data is available for the last 30 days, daily data for the last 90 days, and monthly data for the last 18 months.
- Filters: To view the usage of specific instances, you can filter by criteria such as instance type and region.
- Query by Budget: You can create a Usage or coverage budget in Budget Management and then query usage data based on the budget. For more information, see Budget Management.
After you set the filters, the page displays aggregate data such as Expected Amount, Total Amount (Savings Plan), and Saved Amount. Below the aggregate data, you can view the Usage (%) trend and the Usage Details to analyze the overall usage status.

Legacy console

Log on to the Expenses and Costs console. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Savings Plan > Overview.
Click the Usage tab. You can view usage data by Time Granularity or by adding Filters.
- Time Granularity: You can query data by hour, day, or month. Hourly data is available for the last 30 days, daily data for the last 90 days, and monthly data for the last 18 months.
- Filters: Filter by criteria such as instance type and region to view the usage of specific instances.
After you set the filters, the page displays aggregate data such as Expected Amount, Total Amount (Savings Plan), and Saved Amount. Below the aggregate data, you can view the Usage (%) trend and the Usage Details to analyze the overall usage status.

API

You can use the following API operations to query usage.

API	Description
DescribeSavingsPlansUsageTotal	Queries the aggregate usage of savings plans.
DescribeSavingsPlansUsageDetail	Queries the usage details of savings plans.

Note

Usage report data is finalized T+3 days after the billing cycle. Data queried before this time may be incomplete due to billing delays. This data is for reference only and is not suitable for financial reconciliation.

The Usage tab does not support querying total-amount savings plans. You can view the usage of a total-amount savings plan on the Overview page.

Query savings plan coverage

Coverage shows the percentage of your eligible pay-as-you-go usage that is covered by your savings plans. A higher coverage rate indicates greater cost savings.

Formula: Coverage (%) = Deducted Amount / Total spend on eligible resources, where:

Deducted Amount: The pay-as-you-go amount covered by the savings plan.
Total spend on eligible resources: The sum of the amount covered by the savings plan and any remaining pay-as-you-go charges for eligible usage.

Example

A user purchases a 3-year, all-upfront, general-purpose savings plan. From October 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025, the Deducted Amount is 1.23 USD, and the total spend on eligible resources is 1.23 USD.

Coverage = 1.23 / 1.23 = 100%. This indicates that the savings plan fully covered the costs for eligible resources, achieving optimal cost savings.

You can query the coverage of your savings plans in the following ways:

Console

Log on to the Expenses and Costs console. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Account> Savings Plan.
Switch to the Coverage tab, where you can view coverage data by using the following conditions or by setting Filters.
- Time Dimension: You can query data by hour, day, or month. Hourly data is available for the last 30 days, daily data for the last 90 days, and monthly data for the last 18 months.
- Filters: Filter by criteria such as product, instance type, and region to view the coverage of specific instances.
- Query by Budget: You can create a Usage or coverage budget in Budget Management and then query coverage data based on the budget. For more information, see Budget Management.
- Shared account: If you share a savings plan with other accounts, you can select a specific account to view its coverage.
After you set the filters, the page displays aggregate data such as Total Coverage (%) and Deducted Amount. Below the aggregate data, you can view the Coverage Rate trend and Coverage Details.

In the Filters panel, you can set criteria such as Query by Budget, Time Dimension, Product Detail, Owner Account, Region, Instance Type, and Tag.

Use the legacy console

Log on to the Expenses and Costs console. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Savings Plan > Overview.
Click the Coverage tab. You can view coverage data by Time Granularity or by adding Filters.
- Time Granularity: You can query data by hour, day, or month. Hourly data is available for the last 30 days, daily data for the last 90 days, and monthly data for the last 18 months.
- Filters: Filter by criteria such as product, instance type, and region to view the coverage of specific instances.
- Query by Budget: You can create a Usage or coverage budget in Budget Management and then query coverage data based on the budget. For more information, see Budget Management.
After you set the filters, the page displays aggregate data such as Expected Amount, Total Amount (Savings Plan), and Saved Amount. Below the aggregate data, you can view the Usage (%) trend and the Usage Details to analyze the overall status.

API

You can use the following API operations to query coverage.

API	Description
DescribeSavingsPlansCoverageTotal	Queries the aggregate coverage of savings plans.
DescribeSavingsPlansCoverageDetail	Queries the coverage details of savings plans.

Note

Coverage data is finalized T+3 days after the billing cycle.

The Coverage tab does not support querying total-amount savings plans. You can view the coverage of a total-amount savings plan on the Overview page.

Optimize savings plans

Analyzing usage and coverage helps you adjust your commitments and optimize your spending.

Usage	Coverage	Analysis	Recommendation
High	High	Your commitment is well-matched to your usage, ensuring effective cost savings.	Maintain your current configuration and review it periodically.
High	Low	The plan is fully utilized, but significant pay-as-you-go spending remains uncovered.	Increase your savings plan commitment to cover more spending and achieve greater savings.
Low	High	Your commitment exceeds your actual spending. The plan is underutilized.	Reduce your savings plan commitment, or switch to a plan type that better fits your usage.
Low	Low	A mismatch between your resource usage and the plan's scope leads to an underutilized commitment and missed savings.	Adjust your resource usage and instance types to maximize the pay-as-you-go spending covered by your savings plan.

Note

For workloads that use Auto Scaling, achieving 100% coverage is often not the most cost-effective strategy. Use the Savings Plan Purchase Recommendation tool to determine the optimal configuration for your workloads.