Billing of basic services - ApsaraVideo VOD - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

The basic services of ApsaraVideo VOD include media storage, media transcoding, acceleration, and outbound traffic. By default, the pay-as-you-go billing method is used and you are charged based on the actual usage. This topic describes the billing rules for each billable item and provides billing examples.

Billable items

Note The prices described in this topic are for reference only. If the prices differ from the prices that are displayed on the pricing page, the prices on the pricing page prevail. For more information, see ApsaraVideo VOD pricing.

Media storage

ApsaraVideo VOD provides storage for media files. You are charged based on the space that you use to store media files and the storage duration. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored.

Note Tiered storage is supported only in the China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen), and Singapore regions. You can store media files as Infrequent Access (IA), Archive, or Cold Archive objects in ApsaraVideo VOD. You can also modify the storage class of media files.


Billable item	Billing rule	Billing cycle and pricing	Billing method
Storage usage of Standard objects	You are charged based on the total sizes and storage durations of Standard objects. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored.	Billing cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.	Pay-as-you-go: Storage fees per hour = Storage usage (GB) × Unit price per month/30 (days)/24 (hours). Note A month is considered 30 days. Resource plan: For more information about the storage plans of ApsaraVideo VOD, see Overview.
Storage usage of IA objects	You are charged based on the total sizes and storage durations of IA objects. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored. Important For IA storage, the minimum billable size for each object is 64 KB. Objects that are smaller than 64 KB are charged as 64 KB. Objects that are larger than or equal to 64 KB are charged based on their actual sizes.		Pay-as-you-go: Storage fees per hour = Storage usage (GB) × Unit price per month/30 (days)/24 (hours). Note A month is considered 30 days. Resource plan: not supported.
Storage usage of IA objects that are stored for less than the minimum storage duration	If an IA object is overwritten or deleted after it is stored for less than 30 days (720 hours), you are charged for the remainder (720 hours - Actual storage duration) of the minimum storage duration.		Pay-as-you-go: Storage fees = Size of deleted objects (GB) × Unit price per month/30 (days)/24 (hours) × (720 - Actual storage duration). Note A month is considered 30 days. Resource plan: not supported.
Storage usage of Archive objects	You are charged based on the total sizes and storage durations of Archive objects. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored. Important For Archive storage, the minimum billable size for each object is 64 KB. Objects that are smaller than 64 KB are charged as 64 KB. Objects that are larger than or equal to 64 KB are charged based on their actual sizes.		Pay-as-you-go: Storage fees per hour = Storage usage (GB) × Unit price per month/30 (days)/24 (hours). Note A month is considered 30 days. Resource plan: not supported.
Storage usage of Archive objects that are stored for less than the minimum storage duration	If an Archive object is overwritten or deleted after it is stored for less than 60 days (1,440 hours), you are charged for the remainder (1,440 hours - Actual storage duration) of the minimum storage duration.		Pay-as-you-go: Storage fees = Size of deleted objects (GB) × Unit price per month/30 (days)/24 (hours) × (1,440 - Actual storage duration). Note A month is considered 30 days. Resource plan: not supported.
Storage usage of Cold Archive objects	You are charged based on the total sizes and storage durations of Cold Archive objects. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored. Important For Cold Archive storage, the minimum billable size for each object is 64 KB. Objects that are smaller than 64 KB are charged as 64 KB. Objects that are larger than or equal to 64 KB are charged based on their actual sizes.		Pay-as-you-go: Storage fees per hour = Storage usage (GB) × Unit price per month/30 (days)/24 (hours). Note A month is considered 30 days. Resource plan: not supported.
Storage usage of Cold Archive objects that are stored for less than the minimum storage duration	If a Cold Archive object is overwritten or deleted after it is stored for less than 180 days (4,320 hours), you are charged for the remainder (4,320 hours - Actual storage duration) of the minimum storage duration. Note Cold Archive objects have a minimum storage duration of 180 days. The minimum storage duration of a Cold Archive object is calculated from the time when the storage class of the object is converted to Cold Archive.		Pay-as-you-go: Storage fees = Size of deleted objects (GB) × Unit price per month/30 (days)/24 (hours) × (4,320 - Actual storage duration). Note A month is considered 30 days. Resource plan: not supported.

Media storage pricing (USD/GB/month)


Storage class	Storage space	Chinese mainland	China (Hong Kong)	Singapore	Germany (Frankfurt)	Japan (Tokyo)	India (Mumbai)	Indonesia (Jakarta)
Standard	≤ 50 GB	Free	0.02	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
Standard	>50 GB	0.0173	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.0209	0.019	0.02
IA	> 0 GB	0.0126	0.0147	0.01575	0.0105	0.0168	0.01575	0.01575
Archive	> 0 GB	0.005355	0.004725	0.004725	0.004305	0.004725	0.004515	0.004725
Cold Archive	> 0 GB	0.00231	0.0021	0.0021	0.00189	0.0021	0.0021	0.0021

Data retrieval

You can access media resources stored as Standard objects in ApsaraVideo VOD any time without incurring data retrieval fees. However, if you access IA, Archive, or Cold Archive objects, you are charged data retrieval fees. Archive and Cold Archive objects must be restored before you can access these objects.


Billable item	Billing rule	Billing cycle and pricing	Billing method
Data retrieval of IA objects	When you access IA objects, you are charged data retrieval fees based on the size of retrieved IA data. You are charged data retrieval fees based on the size of retrieved IA objects.	Billing cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.	Pay-as-you-go: Retrieval fees = Size of retrieved objects (GB) × Unit price for data retrieval of IA objects Resource plan: not supported.
Data retrieval of Archive objects	When you restore Archive objects, you are charged data retrieval fees based on the size of restored Archive data. Note You are not charged if you access an Archive object when the object is in the restored state.		Pay-as-you-go: Retrieval fees = Size of restored objects (GB) × Unit price for data retrieval of Archive objects Resource plan: not supported.
Data retrieval of Cold Archive objects	When you restore Cold Archive objects, you are charged data retrieval fees based on the corresponding priority of data retrieval and the size of the retrieved data. You are not charged object restoration fees if a Cold Archive object that is in the restored state is accessed. You are charged based on one of the following restoration priorities for Cold Archive objects: Standard Expedited Bulk		Pay-as-you-go: Retrieval fees = Size of restored objects (GB) × Unit price for data retrieval of the corresponding priority Resource plan: not supported.

Data retrieval pricing (USD/GB)


Data retrieval type	Chinese mainland	China (Hong Kong)	Singapore	Germany (Frankfurt)	Japan (Tokyo)	India (Mumbai)	Indonesia (Jakarta)
Data retrieval of IA objects	0.00525	0.0105	0.007875	0.007875	0.007875	0.00756	0.007875
Data retrieval of Archive objects	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105
Data retrieval of Cold Archive objects based on the standard priority	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105	0.0105
Data retrieval of Cold Archive objects based on the expedited priority	0.0315	0.0315	0.0315	0.0315	0.0315	0.0315	0.0315
Data retrieval of Cold Archive objects based on the bulk priority	0.00525	0.00525	0.00525	0.00525	0.00525	0.00525	0.00525

Billing example

On November 1, 2022, Steve stored 100 GB of IA objects, including 10,000 30 KB files, in ApsaraVideo VOD in the Singapore region. On November 20, 2022, Steve downloaded a 1 GB file to a local device, updated the file content, and then uploaded the file to ApsaraVideo VOD. The size of the updated file is still 1 GB and no accelerated domain name is configured in ApsaraVideo VOD. In this case, the total fee is USD 1.673165. The following table describes the billable items.


Billable item	Description
Data storage	100.32 GB × 0.01575 = USD 1.58004 Note The minimum billable size for each IA object is 64 KB. Objects that are smaller than 64 KB are charged as 64 KB. Therefore, Steve is charged for 0.61 GB data when the actual total size of 10,000 files is about 0.29 GB. In this case, Steve is charged for 100.32 GB data storage.
Outbound traffic	1 × 0.08 = USD 0.08 Note Outbound traffic fees are generated when Steve download files from ApsaraVideo VOD and no accelerated domain name is configured in ApsaraVideo VOD. For more information about billing of outbound traffic, see Outbound traffic.
Storage of IA objects that are stored for less than the minimum storage duration	1 × 0.01575/30 × 10 = USD 0.00525 Note If you upload a file whose name already exists in ApsaraVideo VOD, the existing file is deleted. Only the new file that is uploaded to ApsaraVideo VOD is stored. If you delete the file before it is stored for 30 days, you are charged additional deletion fees.
Data retrieval	1 × 0.007875 = USD 0.007875

Outbound traffic

If Alibaba Cloud CDN is not used for acceleration, you are charged for the outbound traffic that is generated when you download or play videos from ApsaraVideo VOD over the Internet.

Note After you add an accelerated domain name to ApsaraVideo VOD, you are charged for acceleration, and you can use data transfer plans to offset the outbound traffic. For more information, see Acceleration.


Billable item	Description	Billing method
Outbound traffic	Billing rule: You are charged for the cumulative traffic that is generated when you download video files from ApsaraVideo VOD over the Internet without Alibaba Cloud CDN in different regions. Billing cycle: You are charged on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.	Pay-as-you-go: The outbound traffic fee = Outbound traffic (GB) × Unit price (USD/GB). Resource plan: not supported.

Pricing and examples

Pay-as-you-go: The pricing for outbound traffic is described in the following table. Unit: USD/GB.
Billable item Chinese mainland China (Hong Kong) Singapore Germany (Frankfurt) Japan (Tokyo) India (Mumbai) Indonesia (Jakarta)
Outbound traffic 0.077 0.118 0.08 0.07 0.12 0.076 0.08
Billing example: If you download 3 video files whose sizes are 1.2 GB, 0.7 GB, and 0.5 GB from URLs in the Chinese mainland during 08:00 to 09:00, the outbound traffic fee for the billing cycle from 08:00 to 09:00 is calculated based on the following formula: (1.2 + 0.7 + 0.5) × 0.077 = USD 0.185.

Billable item	Chinese mainland	China (Hong Kong)	Singapore	Germany (Frankfurt)	Japan (Tokyo)	India (Mumbai)	Indonesia (Jakarta)
Outbound traffic	0.077	0.118	0.08	0.07	0.12	0.076	0.08

Media transcoding

You are charged for each regular transcoding job and Narrowband HD transcoding job that you created for media files that are stored in ApsaraVideo VOD. Transcoding fees vary based on the specification and duration of each output file and the region where your media files are stored. You are not charged for failed transcoding jobs. Regular transcoding, audio transcoding, container format conversion, and Narrowband HD 1.0 transcoding are supported.

Note

Transcoding to FD (960 × 540) videos is not supported since October 11, 2018.
The unit price of media transcoding is set based on minutes. However, you are charged every second for transcoding media files.
You are charged for frame animation based on the same billing standards as video transcoding. The fee for frame animation is added to your bill for transcoding.


Billable item	Description	Billing method
Media transcoding	Billing rule: You are charged for the total cost of transcoding videos to different specifications. Billing cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Billing specifications: The resolution of an output video is determined by the width and height of the video. For example, if the height of a video does not exceed 1280 pixels and the width does not exceed 720 pixels, the video resolution is SD (1280 × 720) or lower. If the height of a video is greater than 1280 pixels or the width is greater than 720 pixels, the resolution of the video is higher. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.	Pay-as-you-go: Video transcoding fee for a specification = Output video duration (seconds) × Unit price (USD per minute)/60. Resource plan: For more information about the transcoding plans of ApsaraVideo VOD, see Overview.

Important The following table describes the pricing of media transcoding in the Chinese mainland. For more information about the pricing in other regions, see ApsaraVideo VOD pricing.

Pricing and examples

Media transcoding pricing: The pricing for media transcoding is described in the following table.


Output specification	Output resolution	Regular transcoding (USD/minute)	Narrowband HD 1.0 transcoding (USD/minute)
H.264 video	≤ 4K (3840 × 2160)	0.0433	0.1299
H.264 video	≤ 2K (2560 × 1440)	0.0217	0.0651
H.264 video	≤ HD (1920 × 1080)	0.0101	0.0303
H.264 video	≤ SD (1280 × 720)	0.005	0.015
H.264 video	≤ LD (640 × 480)	0.0034	0.0102
H.265 video	≤ 4K (3840 × 2160)	0.2167	0.6501
H.265 video	2K (2560 × 1440)	0.1083	0.3249
H.265 video	≤ HD (1920 × 1080)	0.0504	0.1512
H.265 video	≤ SD (1280 × 720)	0.0252	0.0756
H.265 video	≤ LD (640 × 480)	0.0168	0.0504
Audio	-	0.0009	-
Container format conversion	-	0.0011	-

Billing example: If you use regular transcoding to transcode a 200-minute H.264 video to an LD video and use Narrowband HD 1.0 transcoding to transcode the same video to an SD video from 08:00 to 09:00 in the Chinese mainland, the total transcoding fee for the billing cycle from 08:00 to 09:00 is calculated based on the following formula: 200 × 0.0034 + 200 × 0.015 = USD 3.68.

Acceleration

When you play videos, you are charged for acceleration if Alibaba Cloud CDN is used.

Note After you add a domain name to accelerate, you are charged for acceleration. If you do not add domain names, you are charged for outbound traffic. For more information, see Outbound traffic.


Billable item	Description	Billing method
Data transfer Note To protect users from losses due to malicious traffic, the default maximum bandwidth for the pay-by-data-transfer metering method is 10 Gbit/s. If you want to use the pay-by-bandwidth metering method, submit a request on Yida or contact Alibaba Cloud customer service.	Scenario: The pay-by-data-transfer metering method is suitable for services that experience traffic fluctuations and bandwidth peaks and have a daily bandwidth utilization of lower than 30%. Billing rule: You are charged based on tiered pricing for the amount of network traffic generated inside and outside the Chinese mainland. The tiers are reset at the beginning of each calendar month. The conversion scale for traffic is 1024. For example, 1 GB equals 1,024 MB. Billing cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.	Pay-as-you-go: Traffic fee of a tier = Traffic within the tier (GB) × Unit price. Resource plans: For more information about the data transfer plans of ApsaraVideo VOD, see Overview.

Pricing and examples

Pay-by-data-transfer pricing: The pricing for acceleration is described in the following table. Unit: USD/GB.


Traffic tier	Chinese mainland	North America	Europe	Asia Pacific 1	Asia Pacific 2	Asia Pacific 3	Middle East and Africa	South America
[0 GB, 50 TB]	0.04	0.07	0.07	0.081	0.108	0.096	0.2	0.2
50 (50 TB, 100 TB]	0.03	0.06	0.06	0.062	0.094	0.083	0.18	0.18
100 (100 TB, 1 PB]	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.053	0.079	0.07	0.15	0.14
> 1 PB	0.02	0.025	0.025	0.048	0.072	0.064	0.14	0.13

Billing example: If traffic of 102,410 GB is consumed in the Chinese mainland from 10:00 to 11:00 on a day, the traffic fee for the billing cycle from 10:00 to 11:00 is calculated based on the following formula: 51,200 × 0.04 + (102,400 - 51,200) × 0.03 + (102,410 - 102,400) × 0.03 = USD 3,584.3.