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Expenses and Costs:Export Alibaba Cloud FOCUS 1.0 (Preview)

Last Updated:Feb 03, 2026

Alibaba Cloud supports exporting cost and usage data that conforms to the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS™). This standardized format for cloud billing data helps enterprises analyze costs and optimize resources more efficiently.

Note
  • This feature is in invitational preview. You have access to the preview if the Bill > Bill Subscription menu is available in the Expenses and Costs console.

  • The exported FOCUS data is for analysis only and cannot be used for reconciliation. For final reconciliation, settlement, and payment, use the official bill overview or bill details functionalities on the Alibaba Cloud management console.

  • Exporting FOCUS bill data is free of charge. However, you need Object Storage Service (OSS) resources to export the data. OSS charges storage fees based on the type, size, and storage duration of the bill files. For more information about OSS billing, see Storage fees.

What is FOCUS?

FOCUS™ (FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification) is a technical specification that standardizes billing data across cloud providers. For more information, visit the FOCUS official website.

Export Alibaba Cloud FOCUS 1.0 (Preview)

The final data for a billing month is exported after 12:00 (UTC+8) on the fourth day of the following month.

  1. In the Expenses and Costs console, go to Bill > Bill Subscription, and click Create Bill Subscription.

  2. If you are using OSS subscription for the first time, you must grant permissions. Click Go to Authorize.

    On the Cloud Resource Access Authorization page, click Confirm Authorization Policy.

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  3. On the OSS Subscription tab, set Export File to Standard Bill FOCUS.

  4. Set Start Billing Month. You can select the current month or a past month, going back to when this feature entered invitational preview. 

  5. Set the subscription directory. In the OSS Bucket field, enter the bucket name. To store files in a specific directory within the bucket, enter a path in the OSS Directory field. After you complete the settings, click Create.

  6. View subscription records on the Bill Subscription page.

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Push time

Bill type

Daily push (UTC+8)

Final monthly push (UTC+8)

Billable Item Billing Details

Full data from the previous day is pushed before 18:00

Before 18:00 on the 3rd day of the next month

Split Bill Details

Full data from the previous day is pushed before 18:00

Before 18:00 on the 4th day of the next month

Cost Details

Full data from the previous day is pushed before 18:00

Before 18:00 on the 4th day of the next month

Standard Bill FOCUS

Full data from the previous day is pushed before 18:00

Before 18:00 on the 4th day of the next month

Monthly Bill PDF

Not supported

Before 18:00 on the 3rd day of the next month

File naming convention

  • Format: All bill files are compressed in .zip format. Large files are automatically split and named in the format ..._part_001.zip.

  • Naming: {Account UID}_{Site ID}_{Bill Type}_{YYYYMM}.zip

    • Site ID: 1 for Alibaba Cloud China Website (www.aliyun.com), 2 for Alibaba Cloud International Website (www.alibabacloud.com)

  • Folder: {Specified Folder}/{YYYYMM}/{YYYYMMDDHHMMSS}/

FOCUS 1.0 field reference

Note

Alibaba Cloud FOCUS 1.0 (Preview) is in invitational preview. Some of the provided fields may not conform to the FOCUS 1.0 requirements. For details about the differences, see Alibaba Cloud FOCUS 1.0 (Preview) conformance gaps.

Field

Description

Data type

Nullable

AvailabilityZone

A provider-assigned identifier for a physically isolated area within a region that provides high availability and fault tolerance.

String

Yes

BilledCost

A charge serving as the basis for invoicing. It includes all discounts and reductions but excludes the amortization of upfront charges (one-time or recurring).

Decimal

No

BillingAccountId

The identifier assigned to a billing account by the provider.

String

No

BillingAccountName

The display name of the billing account.

String

Yes

BillingCurrency

The currency in which a charge was actually billed.

String

No

BillingPeriodEnd

The end date and time of a billing period.

Date/Time

No

BillingPeriodStart

The start date and time of a billing period.

Date/Time

No

ChargeCategory

The highest-level classification based on the billing nature of the charge.

String

No

ChargeClass

Indicates whether the current row is a correction to a previously invoiced billing period.

String

Yes

ChargeDescription

A self-contained summary of the charge's purpose and price.

String

Yes

ChargeFrequency

Identifies how often a charge occurs.

String

No

ChargePeriodEnd

The end date and time of a charge period.

Date/Time

No

ChargePeriodStart

The start date and time of a charge period.

Date/Time

No

CommitmentDiscountCategory

Indicates whether a commitment discount is based on usage quantity or cost (spend).

String

Yes

CommitmentDiscountId

The provider-assigned identifier for a commitment discount.

String

Yes

CommitmentDiscountName

The display name of a commitment discount.

String

Yes

CommitmentDiscountStatus

Indicates whether the charge is related to the consumption of a commitment discount or the unused portion of the committed amount.

String

Yes

CommitmentDiscountType

The provider-assigned identifier for the type of commitment discount applied to the current row.

String

Yes

ConsumedQuantity

The usage amount of a resource or service, measured in consumed units.

Decimal

Yes

ConsumedUnit

The provider-specified unit of measurement for the usage of a resource or service.

String

Yes

ContractedCost

The cost calculated by multiplying the contracted unit price by the corresponding pricing quantity.

Decimal

No

ContractedUnitPrice

The contracted unit price for a single pricing unit. It includes negotiated discounts but excludes commitment discounts.

Decimal

Yes

EffectiveCost

The actual cost after applying all discounts, reductions, and amortized upfront fees.

Decimal

No

InvoiceIssuerName

The name of the entity responsible for invoicing the consumed resources or services.

String

No

ListCost

The cost calculated by multiplying the public unit price by the corresponding pricing quantity.

Decimal

No

ListUnitPrice

The provider's suggested unit price for a single pricing unit, excluding discounts.

Decimal

Yes

PricingCategory

Describes the pricing model used for a charge at the time of use or purchase.

String

Yes

PricingQuantity

The quantity of a resource or service used or purchased, measured in pricing units.

Decimal

Yes

PricingUnit

The provider-specified unit of measurement for pricing, used for usage measurement after rules such as tiered pricing are applied.

String

Yes

ProviderName

The name of the entity that makes resources or services available for purchase.

String

No

PublisherName

The name of the entity that produced the purchased resources or services.

String

No

RegionId

The provider-assigned identifier for a geographic area where a resource is deployed or a service is provided.

String

Yes

RegionName

The name of a geographic area where a resource is deployed or a service is provided.

String

Yes

ResourceId

The provider-assigned identifier for a resource.

String

Yes

ResourceName

The display name of a resource.

String

Yes

ResourceType

The type of resource to which the charge applies.

String

Yes

ServiceCategory

The highest-level classification of a service based on its core function.

String

No

ServiceName

A service that can be purchased from a provider, such as a cloud virtual machine, a Software as a Service (SaaS) database, or professional services from a system integrator.

String

No

SkuId

A unique, provider-defined identifier used to organize the common properties of SKU prices.

String

Yes

SkuPriceId

A unique identifier that defines the unit price used to calculate the charge.

String

Yes

SubAccountId

The ID of a group of resources or services, often used to manage access or costs.

String

Yes

SubAccountName

The name of a group of resources or services, often used to manage access or costs.

String

Yes

Tags

A collection of tags assigned to a tag source, which may include provider-defined or user-defined tags.

JSON

Yes

X_CommodityCode

A unique code used by Alibaba Cloud to identify a specific commodity under a cloud product.

string

No

X_CommodityName

The name of a specific commodity under a cloud product.

string

No

X_BillingItemCode

The code of the billing item to which the cloud resource fee belongs.

string

No

X_BillingItemName

The name of the billing item to which the cloud resource fee belongs.

string

No

X_InstanceID

The dimension used by Alibaba Cloud products and services for cost statistics and summarization when generating bills. Different cloud products and services may have different billing granularities, which affects the level of detail in bills and how costs are calculated.

For cloud products where the billing granularity does not equal the resource management granularity, additional splitting is required to meet internal management needs.

string

No