## Platform overview
Platform for AI (PAI) is an end-to-end AI development platform from Alibaba Cloud. It covers data labeling, model development, model training, and model deployment. PAI provides these core modules:
<table> <thead> <tr> <td><p><b>Module</b></p></td> <td><p><b>Description</b></p></td> <td><p><b>Use case</b></p></td> <td><p><b>Quick start</b></p></td> </tr> </thead> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2858732.html#7be041f9926ng">Model Gallery</a></p></td> <td><p>Wraps EAS and DLC to let you train and deploy open-source large models without writing code.</p></td> <td><p>Zero-code training and deployment of open-source models</p></td> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2926776.html">Model Gallery quick start</a></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/113696.html">Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS)</a></p></td> <td><p>Deploys trained models as online inference services with minimal configuration.</p></td> <td><p>Deploy models as service endpoints</p></td> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2881460.html">EAS quick start</a></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/194831.html">Data Science Workshop (DSW)</a></p></td> <td><p>Provides a cloud-based interactive development environment. Notebook and VS Code users can start developing models immediately.</p></td> <td><p>AI model development</p></td> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2881459.html">DSW quick start</a></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2663875.html">Distributed Learning Cluster (DLC)</a></p></td> <td><p>Creates distributed or single-node training jobs without manual machine provisioning or environment setup. The workflow matches local training scripts.</p></td> <td><p>Distributed model training</p></td> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2881461.html">DLC quick start</a></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/311162.html">Intelligent Tagging (iTAG)</a></p></td> <td><p>Labels images, text, video, and other data types. Also offers fully managed labeling outsourcing services.</p></td> <td><p>Data labeling</p></td> <td><p>-</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/114522.html">Designer</a></p></td> <td><p>Includes 140+ built-in algorithm components. Build models visually by dragging and dropping components.</p></td> <td><p>Big data + AI model development</p></td> <td><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/69213.html">Designer quick start</a></p></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> **Click a module name to learn more about its features.**

## Product strengths
<table> <thead> <tr> <td><p><b>Full AI development lifecycle</b></p> <ul> <li><p>Covers data labeling, model development, training, optimization, deployment, and AI operations management as a unified platform.</p></li> <li><p>Includes 140+ optimized built-in algorithm components.</p></li> <li><p>Supports multiple development modes, deep integration with big data engines, multi-framework compatibility, and custom container images.</p></li> </ul></td> <td><p><b>Multiple open-source frameworks</b></p> <ul> <li><p>Flink for stream processing.</p></li> <li><p>TensorFlow, PyTorch, Megatron, and DeepSpeed with performance optimizations on top of their open-source releases.</p></li> <li><p>Spark, PySpark, and MapReduce.</p></li> </ul></td> <td><p><b>Industry-leading AI optimization</b></p> <ul> <li><p>High-performance sparse training framework: supports tens of billions of sparse features, hundreds of billions of samples, and incremental training across 1,000+ workers.</p></li> <li><p>PAI Blade accelerates inference for mainstream models such as ResNet50 and Transformer+LM.</p></li> </ul></td> <td><p><b>Flexible deployment options</b></p> <ul> <li><p>Fully managed and semi-managed modes on the public cloud.</p></li> <li><p>AI high-performance computing clusters and lightweight deployment form factors.</p></li> <li><p>Scheduled execution through DataWorks with separate production and development environments for data isolation.</p></li> </ul></td> </tr> </thead> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <tbody></tbody> </table>

## Billing
<table> <thead> <tr> <td><p><b>Billing method</b></p></td> <td><p><b>Description</b></p></td> <td><p><b>Use case</b></p></td> <td><p><b>Applicable modules</b></p></td> </tr> </thead> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td><p>Pay-as-you-go</p></td> <td><p>Pay after use based on actual consumption.</p></td> <td><p>Short-term or unpredictable workloads such as test environments, demand spikes, or early-stage projects.</p></td> <td><p>DSW, DLC, EAS, Designer</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>Subscription</p></td> <td><p>Prepaid monthly or yearly plans.</p></td> <td><p>Long-term, steady workloads. Prepaying for a fixed period (such as one month or one year) gives you a lower unit price than pay-as-you-go.</p></td> <td><p>DSW, DLC, EAS</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>Resource plan</p></td> <td><p>Prepaid quota package for a specific resource.</p></td> <td><p>Heavy use of a specific resource type. Quota packages offer volume discounts.</p></td> <td><p>DSW</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>Savings plan</p></td> <td><p>Prepaid discount commitment plan.</p></td> <td><p>Commit to a fixed spending amount over a period to receive a lower pay-as-you-go rate.</p></td> <td><p>DSW, EAS</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>Duration-based billing (Serverless)</p></td> <td><p>Pay only for the time a service actively processes requests. Deployment is free. The service scales automatically based on request volume.</p></td> <td><p>Variable request volume (Serverless deployment). Handles high concurrency and dynamic loads efficiently.</p></td> <td><p>EAS</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

For detailed billing information, see [Billing](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2788195.html).

## New user guide
If you're new to PAI, see [Get started with PAI](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2837439.html#7de0dccce528a).

## Use cases
<table> <thead> <tr> <td><p><b>Large model deployment and fine-tuning</b></p> <ul> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2630311.html">Quickly deploy LLMs in EAS</a></p></li> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2865727.html#28583ac953ywb">One-click deployment of DeepSeek-V4 and R1 models</a></p></li> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2883379.html">Qwen3 series model deployment, fine-tuning, and evaluation</a></p></li> </ul></td> <td><p><b>AI-generated content (AIGC)</b></p> <ul> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2807792.html">Deploy Stable Diffusion web UI</a></p></li> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2804240.html">Generate HD long videos with EasyAnimate</a></p></li> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2747103.html#e6de7b7217ifw">AI video generation: ComfyUI</a></p></li> </ul></td> <td><p><b>Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)</b></p> <ul> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2985572.html">RAG-based LLM chatbot</a></p></li> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/2844137.html">Build a DeepSeek+RAG Q\&amp;A application for finance and healthcare</a></p></li> </ul></td> <td><p><b>AI agents</b></p> <ul> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/3025114.html">Deploy OpenClaw on EAS</a></p></li> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/3024900.html">Deploy QwenPaw on EAS</a></p></li> <li><p><a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/3031269.html">Deploy Hermes Agent on EAS</a></p></li> </ul></td> </tr> </thead> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <colgroup></colgroup> <tbody></tbody> </table>

## FAQ
### Q: What do I do if a DSW instance fails to start or stop, and how do I release an instance?

For details, see [DSW FAQ - Instance start and release](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/102789.html#ea33702817uhv).

### Q: Why does an EAS service call fail?

For details, see [EAS FAQ - Service invocation](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/document_detail/61703.html#74fddba2a2j0g).