This topic describes the billing methods, billable items, and pricing of ApsaraVideo VOD (VOD).
Billing methods
VOD supports the following billing methods: pay-as-you-go and subscription (resource plans). By default, the pay-as-you-go billing method is used. You can use resource plans to offset resource usage fees of common paid features of VOD.
Pay-as-you-go: You are charged for the actual usage of each billable item. Fees are deducted after resources are consumed. This billing method is ideal for scenarios in which the usage of resources is difficult to predict.
Resource plans (subscription): Resource plans use the subscription billing method and offer savings on different billable items. Resources are consumed before fees are offset by resource plans. Resource plans are ideal for scenarios in which the usage of resources is easy to predict.
Compared with the pay-as-you-go billing method, resource plans are more cost-effective.
If your resource plans expire or resource usage exceeds the capacity of the resource plans, the overages are billed based on the pay-as-you-go billing method, and you can view the details of the consumed resources in your bills. We recommend that you purchase resource plans based on the features that you need and the estimated amount of resource usage. For more information, see Purchase resource plans.
Pricing of VOD
Pricing of billable items
For more information about the pricing of each billable item, see ApsaraVideo VOD pricing. For more information about the pricing of the short video SDK, see Pricing of the short video SDK.
Pricing of resource plans
For more information about the pricing of VOD resource plans, see Pricing of ApsaraVideo VOD resource plans.
We recommend that you evaluate your business volume and choose resource plans based on the features and services that you want to use. For more information about the pricing, purchase, and offset rules of the resource plans, see Overview.
Data transfer plans can be applied only if the metering method is set to pay-by-data-transfer. If the metering method is not pay-by-data-transfer, the data transfer plans are frozen. You can change the metering method based on your business requirements. For more information, see Switch between metering methods.
Storage plans
Used to offset the usage of VOD media storage in all regions. Purchase
Regular transcoding plans
Used to offset the fees for H.264 LD regular transcoding. You can purchase these plans by region. Purchase
Data transfer plans
Used to offset only accelerated traffic, but not storage traffic. You can purchase these plans by region. Purchase
Billing cycles
The following table describes the billing cycle of VOD.
Billing cycle | Fee deduction time and bill generation time | Billable item |
Hourly | Fees are deducted every hour. Bills are generally generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The actual time when the bills are generated is determined by the system. |
|
Daily | Bills for each day are generated after 00:00:00 on the following day. After bills are generated, fees are deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. The actual time when the bills are generated is determined by the system. | Acceleration (pay-by-peak-bandwidth) |
Monthly | Bills for each month are generated after 00:00:00 on the first day of the following month. After bills are generated, fees are deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. The actual time when the bills are generated is determined by the system. | Acceleration (pay-by-95th-percentile-bandwidth) |
Yearly | Fees are deducted in real time after the order is submitted. Bills are generated within 2 to 3 hours. The validity period is 1 year. | Short video SDK |