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:Billing overview

Last Updated:Jun 26, 2023

This topic describes the pay-as-you-go billing method of the Content Moderation API.

Pay-as-you-go billing method

When you activate the Content Moderation service, the pay-as-you-go billing method is enabled by default. Content Moderation calculates daily fees based on your actual usage.

Method of calculating daily fees

After you submit a moderation request by referring to the API reference, Content Moderation returns machine-assisted moderation results to you. The machine-assisted moderation results may be definite. For example, a result of block is returned if the content contains violations, or a result of pass is returned if the content is normal. The machine-assisted moderation results may be indefinite. For example, a result of review is returned if the content requires manual review.

When you call the Content Moderation API, you are charged based on the number of items moderated and the machine-assisted moderation results. The number of items moderated is calculated based on the number of moderation requests for a single moderated object in a single moderation scenario. The unit price of moderation consists of the unit price of data moderated with definite machine-assisted moderation results returned (referred to as a) and the unit price of data moderated with indefinite machine-assisted moderation results returned (referred to as b). The specific unit price varies with the moderation object, moderation scenario, and amount of data moderated per day. For more information about the unit price of moderation, see Pricing. To be precise, you can calculate the daily fee by using the following formula: Daily fee = a × Amount of data moderated with definite machine-assisted moderation results returned + b × Amount of data moderated with indefinite machine-assisted moderation results returned.

Request quantity-based pricing

The number of requests is calculated based on the number of images or text entries to be moderated. The service is billed once per day. Content Moderation provides volume pricing based on the number of images and text entries moderated per day by the Content Moderation API. You can enjoy a lower unit price for a larger amount of data moderated per day.

Note

The daily cost of video moderation is calculated based on the number of captured frames.

The following table lists the price level that is applied to each quantity range.

Number of images or text entries moderated per day

Level

0 to 5,000

A

5,001 to 50,000

B

50,001 to 130,000

C

130,001 to 260,000

D

260,001 to 850,000

E

> 850,000

F

Daily unit prices

The unit price of moderation varies with the moderation scenario. The unit price of moderation consists of the unit price of data moderated with definite machine-assisted moderation results returned (a) and the unit price of data moderated with indefinite machine-assisted moderation results returned (b).

  • The unit price of data moderated with definite machine-assisted moderation results returned (a) indicates the unit price of call requests for which the machine-assisted moderation results returned are definite.

  • The unit price of data moderated with indefinite machine-assisted moderation results returned (b) indicates the unit price of call requests for which the machine-assisted moderation results returned are indefinite.

For more information about the tiered pricing, see Pricing.

Note
  • In some scenarios, such as QR code detection, the machine-assisted moderation results returned are always definite. In this case, the unit price (b) is not applicable.

  • To moderate a video, you can use one of the following methods:

    • Capture frames and submit the frames. Content Moderation moderates the submitted frames.

    • Submit the URL of the video. Content Moderation downloads the video from the URL, captures frames, and then moderates the captured frames.

    The daily cost of video moderation is calculated based on the number of frames captured from the moderated videos rather than the number of moderated videos.

  • For the text that is moderated by the Content Moderation API, you are charged based on the number of text entries.

Billing cycle

The billing cycle of the Content Moderation API is 24 hours.

Alibaba Cloud generates a bill on each calendar day based on the quantity of resources that you used on the previous calendar day, and deducts the service fee accordingly from your Alibaba Cloud account. A bill is usually generated within 10 to 12 hours after the end of each calendar day.

Overdue payments

If your account balance is insufficient to pay the bill and your account has an overdue payment for more than 24 hours, Alibaba Cloud stops providing the Content Moderation service for you. You can use the service again only after you pay the bill. The service will resume within 5 minutes after your payment.