PAI billing FAQ - billable items, stop charges, view bills - Platform For AI

This topic provides answers to frequently asked questions about PAI billing, including billable items, how to stop billing, how to view billing details, and why charges may appear after you stop resources.

Ask PAI Agent first

Click the icon in the upper-right corner of the PAI console to launch the PAI AI Assistant (Agentic PAI). Agentic PAI provides user manuals and operational guidelines for end-to-end PAI products. It supports O&M diagnostics for DSW instances, DLC tasks, and EAS services, automatically identifying the root causes of failures and providing troubleshooting recommendations.

Q: Will I be charged if I activate PAI but do not use any services?

Activating Platform of Artificial Intelligence (PAI) and creating a default workspace are free of charge. You are billed only when you use specific modules such as Data Science Workshop (DSW), Deep Learning Containers (DLC), or Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS) — for example, when you create instances, deploy services, or run training jobs. Each module is billed separately based on its own billing rules.

If you confirm that you have not created any instances or services, you typically will not receive any PAI-related bills. However, if you also activated other products such as Object Storage Service (OSS) or MaxCompute during the process, those products may incur separate charges. We recommend that you check the billing details in the Billing Management console.

Q: How do I disable PAI?

PAI does not have a single "Disable" button. You must stop billing or unsubscribe resources for each sub-service that you use:

DSW instances: Go to the PAI console and navigate to Data Science Workshop (DSW). Stop or delete the instance. If you expanded the system disk, you must delete the instance to stop all charges. Back up your data before deletion.
EAS services: Stop services that run on public resource groups. For pay-as-you-go dedicated resource groups, scale the number of machines to 0 or delete the machines. For Subscription resources, unsubscribe them in the Billing Management console.
Lingjun AI Computing Resource: In the PAI console, choose AI Computing Resource > Resource Pool > Lingjun AI Computing Resource, and unsubscribe the corresponding order in the order list.
Savings plans and free trials: These expire automatically and require no manual action.

Q: Which PAI items incur charges?

DSW Running instances consume computing resources and incur charges. We recommend that you stop instances that are not in use to avoid unnecessary costs.

Important
If the system disk of a DSW instance was expanded, storage fees continue to accrue even after the instance is stopped. To stop all charges related to a DSW instance, delete the instance. Back up all important data before deletion.
DLC Jobs that run on public resource groups incur charges. Jobs that run on dedicated resource groups do not incur additional charges because dedicated resource groups are paid at the time of purchase.
EAS Services deployed on public resource groups incur charges as soon as the instance allocates resources, regardless of whether the service enters the running state or receives any requests. Services that run on pay-as-you-go dedicated resource groups incur pay-as-you-go charges. Services that run on Subscription dedicated resource groups do not incur additional charges because the resource groups are paid at the time of purchase.

The following is a summary of the billing rules. For more information, see EAS billing.
- When a pay-as-you-go dedicated resource group is in the Running state, the system bills for the resources.
  
  Important
  When a running dedicated resource group is being scaled in or out, it enters an intermediate state (scaling in or scaling out). The system still charges for the resources that are occupied during this state.
- For services deployed on public resource groups, the system starts billing as soon as the instance allocates resources.
  
  Important
  When a deployed service is being scaled out, it enters an intermediate state (waiting). The system still charges for the resources that are occupied during this state.
- System disk fees:
  - If you added a system disk when deploying an EAS service on a public resource group, the system disk continues to incur charges after the EAS service is stopped. To stop system disk billing, you must delete the EAS service. Before deletion, make sure the service is no longer in use.
  - If you added a system disk when purchasing a dedicated resource group machine, the system disk stops billing only after the pay-as-you-go machine is deleted or the Subscription machine expires. Before deletion, make sure the resource group machine is no longer in use.
Machine Learning Designer For running workflows in Designer or Studio, the algorithm components incur charges during computation.

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

Stop the DSW instance.
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 to avoid accidentally leaving instances running and incurring unnecessary charges.
1. Log on to the PAI console. Select the target region at the top of the page and the target workspace on the right, and then click Enter DSW.
2. On the Interactive Modeling (DSW) page, find the target instance and click Stop in the Actions column.
  
  After the instance is stopped, its Status changes to Stopped. For pay-as-you-go instances, the system stops billing at this point. When you exit DSW, make sure your instance is in the Stop state to avoid unnecessary charges.
Stop billing for Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS):

Important
Make sure that the resources you stop are no longer needed to avoid business losses.
- Stop projects that run on pay-as-you-go dedicated resource groups.
  
  Scale the number of servers in the dedicated resource group to 0 to stop billing. Perform the following steps:
  1. Log on to the PAI console. Select a region on the top of the page. Then, select the desired workspace and click Enter Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS).
  2. On the Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS) page, click the Resource Group tab and click the name of the target resource group to go to the resource group details page.
  3. On the Machine List tab, click Delete in the Actions column of the pay-as-you-go machine to delete it and stop billing.
- Stop projects that run on public resource groups:
  
  On the Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS) page, click the Inference Service tab and click Stop in the Actions column of the service that you want to stop. This stops the model service and billing.
  
  Note
  If a system disk was added when deploying the EAS service, the system disk continues to incur charges even after the service is stopped. To stop all charges related to the EAS service, delete the service. Before deletion, make sure the service is no longer in use to avoid business losses.
- Stop EAS dedicated gateway pay-as-you-go billing.
  
  On the Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS) page, click the Dedicated Gateway tab and click Delete in the Actions column of the pay-as-you-go dedicated gateway.
Unsubscribe AI computing resource groups (Subscription), EAS dedicated gateway (Subscription), and EAS dedicated machine (Subscription).

Important
Make sure that the resources you unsubscribe are no longer needed to avoid business losses.
1. Log on to the Billing Management console.
2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Unsubscription Management.
3. Select the unsubscription type based on your situation. For Product Name, select International Site_AI Computing Resource Group_Subscription, EAS dedicated gateway (Subscription), or EAS dedicated machine (Subscription), and then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the unsubscription.
Stop billing for Machine Learning Designer/Studio visual modeling.
1. Log on to the PAI console. Select the target region at the top of the page and the target workspace on the right, and then click Go to 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.

Q: What should I do if I cannot find my DSW instances, DLC jobs, or EAS services?

You can check your DSW, DLC, and EAS resources on the overview page. Try switching to different regions if you do not see them.

Q: How do I view billing details?

On the Billing Details page, you can filter to view detailed bills for machine learning. For more information, see View PAI billing details. The Product Details column indicates which sub-product module generated the fee. The values have the following meanings:

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

Machine Learning Platform for AI (PAI): This fee includes charges for Machine Learning Designer/Studio using MaxCompute computing resources for training. You need to distinguish specific fees by Billable Item. The mappings are as follows:

Product Detail	Billable Item	Instance ID	Fee Source
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 generated by EAS Subscription dedicated resource groups.

Q: Why am I still being billed after stopping a DSW instance or EAS service?

Delayed billing: For DSW and EAS instances that use pay-as-you-go billing, there is a delay between resource usage and bill generation. The charge notification you receive may be for actual usage before you stopped the instance, not for charges incurred after stopping.
DSW instance system disk: If the system disk was expanded when the instance was created, the system disk continues to incur charges even after the instance is stopped. To stop all charges, delete the instance. Back up all important data before deletion.
EAS service running in the background: Not using a service does not mean it is stopped. As long as a service has not been manually stopped or deleted, it continues to incur charges for the resources it occupies. Back up all important data before deletion.

Q: Why am I still being charged when using EAS trial resources?

Cause: When you deploy stable-diffusion-webui or ComfyUI in EAS, if you select an image version that includes -api or -cluster, these versions allocate an async queue resource during deployment. This resource is billed separately and cannot be offset by EAS trial resources.
Solution: When deploying stable-diffusion-webui or ComfyUI, select the standard version — that is, an image version with -standard or no suffix.

Q: Why are there still charges after I stop billable items?

Alibaba Cloud uses a post-usage billing mechanism, which means that bills are generated hours after actual resource usage. For example, fees incurred between 10:00 and 11:00 may not be deducted until several hours later. Therefore, it is normal to receive charge notifications after you stop billable items. This does not indicate overcharging.

Q: Why are there additional charges when I use a DSW resource deduction plan?

Cause: If you purchased and used a DSW resource deduction plan but still incurred additional charges, the plan may have expired while DSW instances were still running. Because Alibaba Cloud does not bill in real time and there is a delay of several hours in bill generation, pay-as-you-go charges may have been incurred.
Solution:
- Go to the Billing Management console > Manage Instance page to check the expiration date of your DSW resource deduction plan, and purchase a new plan in time.
- We recommend that you maintain a sufficient balance in your Alibaba Cloud account to avoid overdue payments when resource plans expire, which may affect your services.

Q: Why are there charges when no workflows exist in Designer?

Designer algorithms can be triggered through the following methods, not limited to workflows created manually in the Designer UI:

odpscmd: You can use the odpscmd tool to access MaxCompute and run PAI commands to execute specific algorithms.
DataWorks data development: You can run specific algorithms by executing PAI commands in ODPS SQL nodes.

Check whether you have executed algorithms through the above methods to identify the source of the charges.

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

Alibaba Cloud deducts pay-as-you-go fees in the following order:

Valid vouchers in your Alibaba Cloud account.
Valid stored-value cards in your Alibaba Cloud account.
Cash balance in your Alibaba Cloud account (balance transferred from other accounts is used before your own top-up balance).

Q: What should I do if I get a "Failed to communicate with the billing system" error when activating the PAI labeling platform or workspace?

This error is usually caused by a billing system communication issue, not by the activation itself.

Activating a workspace is free of charge. You are billed only when you use specific modules such as DSW, DLC, or EAS. Each module is billed separately based on its own billing rules.

We recommend that you check your Alibaba Cloud account status (for example, whether you have overdue payments) and try again after resolving any issues.

Q: Are DSW pay-as-you-go fees refundable? Can I settle bills early?

DSW pay-as-you-go instances start billing as soon as their status changes to Running. Charges are incurred even if no operations are performed. These fees are non-refundable. To stop billing, delete the instance. Back up all important data before deletion.

Pay-as-you-go bills are automatically deducted from your Alibaba Cloud account balance at the beginning of the following month. Early manual settlement is not supported.

Q: Why do DSW instance prices returned by OpenAPI differ from those shown in the console?

The price difference may be caused by the following factors:

Currency difference: The console may display prices in USD, while OpenAPI returns prices in the local currency.
Query parameter mismatch: Parameters such as region, billing method, or instance specifications may differ from the console selections.
Price scope difference: OpenAPI returns the original list price, which may not reflect real-time pricing. The console may display bundled package or discounted prices.

For actual purchases and billing, refer to the prices displayed in the console.

Q: What is the price difference between PAI-EAS GPU instances and ECS GPU instances of the same model?

PAI-EAS GU30 series GPU instances are priced at least 20% lower than traditional A10 instances.
For models other than the GU30 series, there is no fixed price difference ratio. Refer to the specification prices displayed at the time of purchase in each product console.
To view ECS GPU specifications and prices, go to the ECS console or ECS pricing page. The PAI console displays only EAS specifications and does not show ECS GPU information.

Q: Can I deploy databases or other data-dependent components in PAI-PPU?

PAI-PPU supports deploying databases and other data-dependent components through Kubernetes or PAI products. For scenarios where model training or inference depends on data, we recommend referring to the PAI-PPU best practices for storage and data loading configuration.

The compatibility of specific database component deployments should be evaluated based on your business scenario, such as I/O performance requirements and network topology.