A data sending method and an apparatus are provided to reduce a quantity of UEs that retransmit data, and to reduce an entire data sending latency. The method includes: sending, by a base station, power configuration information to a terminal, where the power configuration information includes a one-to-one correspondence between power information and terminal status information, and the power configuration information is used to enable the terminal to obtain transmit power used to send data; and receiving, by the base station, data sent by the terminal, where the transmit power of the data is determined by the terminal based on the power configuration information; the terminal status information includes at least one of a service type of the data sent by the terminal, a priority of the data sent by the terminal, and information about measurement of a radio environment by the terminal.