Multimedia analysis of Platform for AI (PAI) provides the following services powered by algorithms: Basic Model Service and Advanced Model Service. After you enable multimedia analysis, you are charged based on the number of service calls. This topic describes how multimedia analysis is billed.
Billing rules
Billable resource | Billing method | Fee deduction | |
Number of service calls | Free Quota | The first 200 calls of each service are free of charge. | The fee is deducted in the following sequence: free quota, resource plans, pay-as-you-go. If the free quota and resource plans are exhausted, the remaining number of service calls are charged on a pay-as-you-go basis. |
Pay-as-you-go | A billing method that allows you to use resources and pay for them afterwards. You are billed based on the resources that are consumed. | ||
Subscription resource plans | You can purchase resource plans to offset the fees for billable items.
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Billing method
Subscription resource plans
Resource plans provide a set number of service calls for a full upfront payment. They are suitable for scenarios in which you can predict the number of service calls. A resource plan is valid for one year upon purchase. During the validity period, fees for service calls are offset by the resource plan. If the service calls in a resource plan are not used up by the time the resource plan expires, the remaining service calls become unusable.
If you have purchased multiple resource plans of the same service, the resource plan with the earliest expiration date is applied. If multiple resource plans of the same service have the same expiration date, a plan is applied at random.
Refer to the bills in the PAI console to obtain the actual prices of your resource plans.
Scenario | Call | Unit price (USD/call) | Total fee (USD) |
Basic Model Service | 1 Million | 0.000719 | 719 |
5 million | 0.00061 | 3,050 | |
20 million | 0.0005 | 10,000 | |
Advanced Model Service | 1 Million | 0.00859 | 8,590 |
5 million | 0.00734 | 36,700 | |
20 million | 0.00594 | 118,800 |
Calls deduction
Scenario | Service name | Calls consumed per service |
Basic Model Service | Image quality evaluation | 1 Basic Model Service |
Face attribute analysis | 1 Basic Model Service | |
Age analysis | 1 Basic Model Service | |
Multiple image labels | 1 Basic Model Service | |
Figure modification | 1 Basic Model Service | |
Watermark removal | 1 Basic Model Service | |
AI-generated image labeling | 1 Basic Model Service | |
Customized model service | N Basic Model Services. The value of N varies based on the complexity of the customized model. | |
Advanced Model Service | Post labeling of multi-modal content | 1 Advanced Model Service |
Video quality evaluation | 1 Advanced Model Service | |
Video classification by label | 1 Advanced Model Service |
Advantages of resource plans
A resource plan is valid for one year, but the pay-as-you-go billing method requires monthly payment and the discount may vary with service calls of different months.
Compared with the tiered pricing of the pay-as-you-go billing method, a resource plan enjoys a one-off discount. For example, if you call General Image Analysis for 20 million times in a month, you are charged USD 12,734 on a pay-as-you-go basis or USD 10,000 on a subscription basis.
Pay-as-you-go
After you enable a service provided by multimedia analysis, you are charged in pay-as-you-go mode by default. The fee is incurred and deducted based on the number of times you call the service. No limits are imposed on the number of service calls. Tiered pricing is applied to service calls, and service calls are reset after each calendar month. The pricing tiers are applied separately based on the number of calls that fall in each tier. The bill is generated on the first day of the next month.
Refer to the bills in the PAI console to obtain the actual prices.
Scenarios | Tier | Unit price (USD/call) |
Basic Model Service | 0 < Number of monthly service calls ≤ 5 million | 0.000719 |
5 million < Number of monthly service calls ≤ 20 million | 0.00061 | |
20 million < Number of monthly service calls | 0.0005 | |
Advanced Model Service | 0 < Number of monthly service calls ≤ 5 million | 0.00859 |
5 million < Number of monthly service calls ≤ 20 million | 0.00734 | |
20 million < Number of monthly service calls | 0.00594 |
Billing examples
The following billing examples are for reference only. Refer to the console or buy page of the service that you want to purchase for the actual fees.
Subscription
Scenario
You call Basic Model Service for 25 million times on a subscription basis in the current month.
Fee calculation
Call (10,000)
Unit price (USD/call)
Scheduling fee (USD)
Total fee (USD)
100
0.000719
719
5 million × 0.00061 + 20 million × 0.0005 = 13,050500
0.00061
3,050
2000
0.0005
10,000
Pay-as-you-go
Scenario
You call Basic Model Service for 25 million times on a pay-as-you-go basis in the current month.
Fee calculation
Tier
Unit price (USD)
Call
Fee (USD)
Total fee (USD)
0 < Number of monthly service calls ≤ 5 million
0.000719 per service call
5 million
3,595
5 million × 0.000719 + 15 million × 0.00061 + 5 million × 0.0005 = 15,2455 million < Number of monthly service calls ≤ 20 million
0.00061 per service call
15 million
9,150
20 million < Number of monthly service calls ≤ 25 million
0.0005 per service call
5 million
2,500
Overdue payments
Causes
The balance of your Alibaba Cloud account is insufficient.
Subscription: Your account balance is insufficient to pay for subscription fees.
Pay-as-you-go: Your account balance is less than the bill amount of the previous billing cycle. If the system fails to deduct fees, your account enters the overdue state.
Service suspension
In PAI, bills are generated within 4 hours after the previous billing cycle ends and displayed by using the T + 1 settlement method. If your account enters the overdue state, you are notified by text message.
After your account enters the overdue state, your PAI resources work normally within 24 hours. After 24 hours, your services are stopped.
View the overdue amount
Log on to the Billing Management console.
On the Account Overview page, view the outstanding amount due.
Renewal
To use resource plans, click Purchase Resource Plan on the Multimedia Analysis page to purchase resource plans. For more information, see Overview.
Refund policy
Fees incurred in pay-as-you-go mode cannot be refunded.