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PolarDB:Storage space billing rules

Last Updated:Jan 24, 2026

PolarDB offers two billing methods for storage space, each with a different pricing plan: pay-as-you-go and subscription.

Introduction and comparison

The PolarDB storage classes PSL4 and PSL5 are billed based on storage capacity. The following table compares the two billing methods.

Billing method

Storage cost calculation

Benefits

Scenarios

Pay-as-you-go by capacity

Charged based on the actual storage space your data uses. Fees are deducted from your account hourly.

Flexible

Small total storage usage for all clusters in a region under your Alibaba Cloud account, with frequent fluctuations in business volume.

Subscription by space

Pay for the cluster's storage space in advance when you create it.

Cost-effective

Total storage usage for all clusters in a region under your Alibaba Cloud account is less than 10 TB, and business volume does not fluctuate frequently.