This topic explains how to calculate ApsaraVideo Live usage and select a billing method to help you save on costs.
Background
Alex is an entrepreneur in Hangzhou who leads a team that developed a live streaming application. Each day, 100 hosts go live on the application. All hosts broadcast simultaneously for one hour, and each has an average of 1,000 viewers.
Alex chooses the pay-by-traffic billing method.
The time shifting feature is enabled for each live stream. The retention period is set to one day.
Hosts broadcast from different devices, such as mobile phones and PCs. All viewers watch on the mobile application. To ensure consistent video quality, each video stream must be transcoded to the standard H.264 format at 1080p.
To ensure content security, the automated review feature is enabled for each live stream. This includes pornography detection and terrorist content review. The snapshot interval for review is 5 seconds. Snapshots are stored in Object Storage Service (OSS) and deleted after two days.
To allow users to watch replays, the live recording feature is also enabled. Streams are recorded and encapsulated into both MP4 and FLV files. The files are stored in OSS.
Based on this scenario, Alex will use the following ApsaraVideo Live features: standard live streaming, time shifting, live stream transcoding, snapshots, automated review, live stream recording, and storage.
Usage calculation
Billable item | Data | Quantity | Usage calculation |
Standard live streaming | Concurrent ingest streams | 100 |
|
Concurrent viewers per stream | 1,000 | ||
Duration of each stream (hours) | 1 | ||
Video bitrate after transcoding (Mbps) | 0.5 | ||
Video bitrate before transcoding (Mbps) | 1 | ||
Time shifting | Duration of each stream (hours) | 1 | Daily time shifting data written: 100 (streams) × 0.5 (video bitrate in Mbps) × 3,600 (viewing time in seconds) ÷ 1,024 ÷ 8 = 21.97 GB |
Concurrent ingest streams | 100 | ||
Video bitrate after transcoding (Mbps) | 0.5 | ||
Live stream transcoding | Transcoded streams | 100 | Daily transcoding duration: 100 (streams) × 60 (minutes) = 6,000 minutes |
Duration of each stream (hours) | 1 | ||
Snapshots | Streams for review | 100 | Number of snapshots generated per day: 100 (streams) × 3,600 (stream duration in seconds) ÷ 5 = 72,000 snapshots |
Duration of each stream (hours) | 1 | ||
Snapshot interval (seconds) | 5 | ||
Automated review | Snapshots for review | 72,000 | Number of snapshots reviewed for pornography and terrorist content per day: 72,000 (snapshots) × 2 (categories) = 144,000 snapshots |
Review categories | 2 | ||
Live stream recording | Concurrent recording streams | 100 |
|
Duration of each stream (hours) | 1 | ||
Storage | Video storage | 87.90 GB per day |
Total daily storage: 43.95 GB + 43.95 GB = 87.90 GB Note The recorded videos are the original ingested streams, not the transcoded streams. |
Snapshot storage | Assuming each of the 72,000 snapshots is 0.5 MB | 35.16 GB per day |
Cost calculation
The following unit prices are based on the ApsaraVideo Live pricing information from the official Alibaba Cloud website as of January 1, 2021. For the latest unit prices, see the ApsaraVideo Live Pricing page.
Billable item | Billable metric | Usage | Daily cost (Example: Day 1 of the month) |
Standard live streaming | Downstream traffic | 21.46 TB per day | Traffic is billed based on a tiered pricing model. The usage is accumulated and billed progressively over a calendar month. For detailed billing rules, see Pay-by-traffic. 10 TB × USD 0.042 per GB + 11.46 TB × USD 0.04 per GB = USD 899.48 |
Time shifting | Time shifting data written | 21.97 GB per day | Billing is based on the retention period and the amount of data written. For detailed billing rules, see Billing of time shifting. 21.97 GB × USD 0.039 per GB = USD 0.85 |
Live stream transcoding | Transcoding duration | 6,000 minutes per day | Billing is based on the transcoding standard, resolution, and total transcoding duration. For detailed billing rules, see Billing of live stream transcoding. 6,000 minutes × USD 0.0099 per minute = USD 59.4 |
Snapshots | Number of snapshots | 72,000 snapshots per day | Billing is based on the number of snapshots. For detailed billing rules, see Billing of live snapshots. 72 thousand snapshots × USD 0.015 per thousand snapshots = USD 1.08 |
Automated review | Number of reviewed images | 144,000 images per day | Billing is based on the number of images scanned by the review service. For detailed billing rules, see Billing of automated review. Assuming all are confirmed by the algorithm: 144 thousand images × USD 0.223 per thousand images = USD 32.11 |
Live stream recording | Peak number of concurrent recording streams per month | 100 per month | Monthly recording service fee: 100 × USD 4.5 = USD 450 |
Recording length | 12,000 minutes per day | Recording and container format conversion fee: Billed by recording length. For more information about the billing rules, see Billing of live stream recording. 12,000 minutes × USD 0.0025 per minute = USD 30 | |
Storage | Video storage | 87.90 GB per day; 2,637 GB per month. | For information about storage billing, see Storage costs. If you choose locally redundant storage (LRS), the estimated monthly cost is: (2,637 + 70.32) GB × USD 0.017 per GB = USD 46.2 |
Snapshot storage | 35.16 GB per day; If snapshots are stored for only two days, they occupy 70.32 GB. |
Summary
Alex will receive two types of bills: monthly and daily.
Monthly bills are generated and charged at the end of each month:
The monthly cost includes USD 46.2 for storage and USD 450 for the monthly recording service.
Daily bills are generated and charged at the end of each day:
The daily costs include USD 899.48 for live stream traffic, USD 0.85 for time shifting, USD 59.4 for live stream transcoding, USD 1.08 for snapshots of automated review, USD 32.11 for automated review, and USD 30 for recording and container format conversion.
For users such as Alex with stable business needs:
You can choose resource plans and storage plans to reduce costs. The more resource plans you purchase, the greater the discount.
You can also consider combining subscription resource plans with the pay-as-you-go method to maximize resource utilization and minimize costs.