Platform For AI:Billing FAQ

Q: Which PAI projects incur fees?

• Machine Learning Designer/Studio workflows that are running incur fees for the algorithm components they use.

• DSW instances that are running consume computing resources and incur fees. To avoid unnecessary charges, stop any instances that are not in use.

  Important

  After you stop an instance, if you have expanded its system disk, the expanded capacity continues to incur storage fees. To stop all billing for a DSW instance, you must delete the instance. Before you delete the instance, make sure that you back up all necessary data.

• DLC tasks that run in public resource groups incur fees. Tasks that run in dedicated resource groups do not incur fees because the resource groups are prepaid at the time of purchase.

• EAS services that run in public resource groups incur fees, regardless of whether the service is invoked. For services that run in dedicated resource groups, pay-as-you-go resource groups incur fees, while subscription resource groups do not because they are prepaid.

  For more information, see EAS billing.

  • When a pay-as-you-go dedicated resource group has a status of Running, it incurs fees.

    Important

    When you scale a running dedicated resource group in or out, it enters an intermediate state, such as scaling in or scaling out. Resources used in this state also incur fees.

  • When a service deployed in a public resource group has a status of Running, it incurs fees.

    Important

    When you scale out a deployed service, it enters an intermediate state (waiting). Resources used in this state also incur fees.

  • System disk fees.

    • If you add a system disk when you deploy an EAS service using a public resource group, the system disk continues to incur charges even after you stop the service. To stop these charges, you must delete the EAS service. Before you delete the service, make sure you no longer need it.

    • If you add a system disk when you purchase a dedicated resource group machine, billing for the system disk stops only when you delete the pay-as-you-go resource group machine or when the subscription for the resource group machine expires. Before you delete the resource group machine, make sure you no longer use it.

Q: How do I stop a project that is being billed?

• Stop billing for Machine Learning Designer/Studio projects.

  1. Log on to the PAI console. At the top of the page, select the destination region. In the upper-right corner, select the target workspace. Then, click Enter Visualized Modeling (Designer).

  2. On the Visualized Modeling (Designer) page, double-click the workflow name to open the workflow page.

  3. On the canvas, click the button to stop the running workflow.

• Stop DSW instances.

  Important

  • If a DSW instance is created by using a dedicated resource group and no datasets are mounted to the instance, the system disk of the DSW instance is used for temporary storage. If you stop or delete the DSW instance, data cannot be restored. Proceed with caution.

  • If a DSW instance is created by using a public resource group, the environment is saved on the free disk mounted to the instance after you stop the instance. If you do not restart the instance within 15 days after the instance is suspended, the disk is released.

  • If you resize a system disk when you create a DSW instance, you are still charged for the system disk even if the instance is stopped. If you want to stop all billing related to the DSW instance, delete the DSW instance. Make sure that the required data is backed up before you delete the instance.

  • We recommend that you create DSW instances within a workspace. This helps prevent unnecessary costs that can occur if you cannot stop your DSW instances due to incorrect operations.

  1. Log on to the PAI console. At the top of the page, select the destination region. In the upper-right corner, select the target workspace. Then, click Enter DSW.

  2. On the Data Science Workshop page, click Stop in the Operation column of the target instance.

     After the instance is stopped, its Status changes to Stopped. At this point, billing stops for pay-as-you-go instances. When you exit DSW, make sure your instance is in the Stopped state to avoid unnecessary charges.

• Stop billing for Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS) projects:

  Important

  Make sure that the projects you stop are no longer needed to avoid unnecessary business losses.

  • Stop projects that run in pay-as-you-go dedicated resource groups.

    To stop billing, you must reduce the number of servers in the dedicated resource group to 0.

    1. Log on to the PAI console. Select a region on the top of the page. Then, select the desired workspace and click Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS).

    2. On the Elastic Algorithm Service page, click the Resource Group tab. Click the name of the target resource group to open the resource group details page.

    3. On the Machine List tab, click Delete in the Operation column of the pay-as-you-go machine to delete the machine and stop billing.

  • Stop projects that run in public resource groups:

    On the Elastic Algorithm Service page, click the Inference Service tab. Click Stop in the Operation column of the service that you want to stop. This stops the model service and billing.

    Note

    If you added a system disk when you deployed the EAS service, you are still charged for the system disk even if the service is stopped. To stop all billing related to the EAS service, you must delete the EAS service. Before you delete the service, make sure that it is no longer used to avoid unnecessary business losses.

  • Stop pay-as-you-go billing for EAS dedicated gateways

    On the Elastic Algorithm Service page, click the Dedicated Gateway tab. Click Delete in the Operation column of the pay-as-you-go dedicated gateway.

• Unsubscribe from AI Computing Resource Group (Subscription), EAS Dedicated Gateway Subscription, and EAS Dedicated Machine Subscription

  Important

  Make sure that the resources you unsubscribe from are no longer needed to avoid unnecessary business losses.

  1. Log on to the Expenses and Costs console.

  2. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Unsubscription Management.

  3. Select the required unsubscription type. For Product Name, select International Site_AI Computing Resource Group_Subscription, EAS Dedicated Gateway Subscription, or EAS Dedicated Machine Subscription. Then, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the unsubscription process.

Q: How do I query deductions and details?

On the Billing Details page, you can filter bills to view machine learning billing details. For more information, see View billing details. The Product Detail column indicates the sub-product module that incurred the fees. The values have the following meanings:

• EAS Dedicated Machine Pay-as-you-go: Fees incurred by EAS pay-as-you-go dedicated resource groups.

• Machine Learning (PAI): These fees include the fees incurred when Machine Learning Designer/Studio uses MaxCompute computing resources for training. You can distinguish specific fees based on the Billable Item. The following table describes the mappings.

  Product Detail	Billable Item	Instance ID	Source of Expense
  Machine Learning (PAI)	Usage	text_analysis data_analysis data_manipulation deep_learning default	Fees generated by Machine Learning Designer/Studio experiment training.

• EAS Dedicated Machine Subscription: Fees incurred by EAS subscription dedicated resource groups.

Q: Why am I still being charged after stopping DSW instances or EAS services?

• DSW instances: If you expanded the system disk when you created the DSW instance, you are still charged for the system disk regardless of whether the instance is running. To stop all billing related to the DSW instance, you must delete the DSW instance. Before you delete the instance, make sure that you back up all necessary data.

• EAS services: Stopping your use of an EAS service does not mean the service itself has stopped. It may still be running in the background, consuming resources, and incurring fees. Therefore, if you are sure that you do not need an EAS service, you must manually stop or delete it. When you delete the service, make sure that you back up all necessary data.

Q: Why are extra fees incurred when I use EAS trial resources?

• Reason: When you deploy stable-diffusion-webui or comfyui in EAS, if you select an image version with the -api or -cluster suffix, the deployment uses resources for an asynchronous queue. These resources are billable and cannot be offset by EAS trial resources.

• Solution: When you deploy stable-diffusion-webui or comfyui, select the standard version. This is the image version with the -standard suffix or no suffix.

Q: Why are fees still deducted after I stop a billable project?

Alibaba Cloud does not deduct fees in real time. Fees are deducted after a bill is generated. A delay exists between your operations in the console and bill generation. For example, the fees for resources used from 10:00 to 11:00 may be billed and deducted several hours later. Therefore, even if you stop the project at 11:00, you may receive a deduction notification several hours later. This can create the illusion of being overcharged. In reality, the billing is only delayed, and you are not overcharged.

Q: Why are extra fees incurred when I use a DSW resource plan?

• Reason: If you purchased and use a DSW resource plan but still incur extra fees, this may be because the DSW instance is still running after the resource plan expires. Alibaba Cloud does not deduct fees in real time, and bill generation is delayed by several hours. Therefore, corresponding pay-as-you-go fees are generated.

• Solution:

  • Go to the Resource Packages page in the Expenses and Costs console to view the expiration date of your purchased DSW resource plan. Purchase a new resource plan in a timely manner.

  • We recommend that you reserve a certain amount of funds in your Alibaba Cloud account. This prevents overdue payments caused by the expiration of the resource plan at the time of billing, which could affect your services.

Q: Why are fees incurred when no workflows exist in Machine Learning Designer?

Machine Learning Designer algorithms can be executed in ways other than creating workflows on the platform. This can also incur fees. Other execution methods include the following:

• odpscmd tool: You can use the odpscmd tool to access MaxCompute to run PAI commands and execute specified algorithms.

• DataWorks Data Development: You can run PAI commands in an ODPS SQL node to execute specified algorithms.

Check these other execution methods to determine the source of the fees.

Q: Why are pay-as-you-go fees deducted from a stored-value card?

When Alibaba Cloud deducts fees for a pay-as-you-go bill, the deduction order is as follows:

1. Valid vouchers in your Alibaba Cloud account.

2. Valid stored-value cards in your Alibaba Cloud account.

3. The cash balance in your Alibaba Cloud account. Funds transferred from other accounts are deducted before funds that you add yourself.

This means that if your account has a valid voucher applicable to the order, the fees are first deducted from the voucher. If you do not have a voucher, the fees are deducted from a stored-value card. If the stored-value card has no balance, the fees are deducted from your cash balance.