Billable items for ApsaraVideo VOD value-added services - ApsaraVideo VOD

ApsaraVideo VOD bills for value-added services, including the Player SDK, the short video SDK, online editing and composition, storage and transfer acceleration, and video security (DRM encryption). By default, these services use the pay-as-you-go billing method. You are charged based on your actual usage of each billable item. This topic describes the pay-as-you-go billing rules, pricing, and billing examples for each value-added service.

Billable items

Note

The prices of the value-added services mentioned in this topic are subject to the pricing on the official website. For more information, see VOD Pricing.

Player SDK billing

Short video SDK billing

Online editing and composition billing

Storage and transfer acceleration billing

Video security

Player SDK billing

The Player SDK is billed based on the edition and value-added features that you purchase.

Important

On February 14, 2025, the mobile Player SDK (version 7.0.0 and later) will offer a Professional Edition in addition to the Standard Edition. To obtain the Professional Edition, contact our sales team. After you obtain the license, see Integrate a player license for authorization instructions.
If your spending on ApsaraVideo VOD, ApsaraVideo Live, or Intelligent Media Services reaches a specific amount, you can receive a free one-year license for the Player SDK Professional Edition. For more information, see Free with qualifying purchase.
A newly obtained license for the mobile Player SDK Professional Edition supports only version 7.0.0 and later. Before you obtain the license, confirm the version number of the Player SDK that is integrated into your application.

For more information about the features of the Player SDK, see Player SDK features.

Price and example

Player SDK pricing: The prices for the value-added features are as follows.
Module
Web H.265 playback
Price (USD/year)
7,400
Player SDK billing example: Assume that you purchase the web H.265 playback feature for one year. The fee is USD 7,400.

Purchase a license

To purchase a license for the Player SDK, place an order on the Audio and Video Terminal SDK Purchase Page and grant authorization. For instructions, see Integrate a player license.

Free with qualifying purchase

To apply for free resources, visit Player SDK Free with Purchase Application.

If your cumulative spending on ApsaraVideo VOD, ApsaraVideo Live, or Intelligent Media Services reaches a specific amount within the last 31 days (from T-30 to T), you can receive a free Player SDK license for a specific edition. The details are as follows:

Important

T: The current date (inclusive).
T-30: 30 days before the current date (inclusive).
The statistical period is the last 31 days and is calculated on a rolling basis.

Spending type

Service type

Purchase amount (USD)

Offer description

Qualifying spending (original price)

ApsaraVideo VOD,

ApsaraVideo Live,

Intelligent Media Services

≥ 15,000

Receive a free license for the Player SDK Professional Edition, valid for one year.

Short video SDK billing

The short video SDK is billed based on the edition and features that you purchase.

For information about the pricing and features of the short video SDK editions, see Features of the short video SDK.

Short video SDK edition	Platform	Price (CNY/year)
Basic Edition	Mobile (Android, iOS)	1,800
Standard Edition	Mobile (Android, iOS)	30,000
Professional Edition	Mobile (Android, iOS)	50,000

Billable item	Description	Billing method
Feature	Billing Rules: You are charged for each feature module. The total fee is the sum of the fees for each feature. Billing Cycle: You are billed on a yearly basis. Fees are deducted in real time when you submit an order. Bills are generated within 2 to 3 hours. The validity period is one year. Price: For specific prices, see the short video SDK pricing table below.	Pay-as-you-go: Not supported. Resource Plans: Billed by feature combination.

Price and example

Short video SDK pricing: The prices for each feature are as follows.
Module
Recording module
Import module
Animated sticker
MV
Caption
Price (USD/year)
4,400
3,000
7,400
7,400
7,400
Short video SDK billing example: Assume that you purchase the import and animated sticker features for one year. The total fee is USD 3,000 + USD 7,400 = USD 10,400.

Online editing and composition billing

The ApsaraVideo VOD online editing service is available in two tiers: Basic Editing and Advanced Editing. You are charged based on the specifications and duration of the output files in different regions. This service provides a variety of cloud-based editing capabilities for audio, video, images, and text. More capabilities will be added over time.

Online editing is categorized as Basic Editing or Advanced Editing. You are charged based on the specifications and duration of the output files in different regions.

Billable item	Description	Billing method
Online editing and composition specifications and duration	Billing Rules: The total fee is the sum of the editing fees for all formats. If both Basic Editing and Advanced Editing are used on the same video to output a video of the same specification and resolution, the editing is considered Advanced Editing and is charged at the Advanced Editing rate. Billing Cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. Fees are deducted in real time. Bills are typically generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The actual time a bill is generated may vary. Price: For specific prices, see the online editing and composition pricing table below.	Pay-as-you-go: The total fee is the sum of the editing fees for all formats. The editing fee for a single format = Duration of the final edited output file (minutes) × Unit price for editing that format. Resource plans: Not supported.

Price and example

Online editing and composition pricing: The pay-as-you-go prices are as follows.

Basic Editing (Unit: USD/minute)

Output specification	Output resolution	Chinese mainland	Japan	Singapore	Indonesia	Germany	US
Video (H.264)	4K (3840 × 2160) and lower	0.0427	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.045	0.045
Video (H.264)	2K (2560 × 1440) and lower	0.0213	0.0375	0.0375	0.0375	0.0338	0.0338
Video (H.264)	HD (1920 × 1080) and lower	0.0099	0.025	0.025	0.025	0.0225	0.0225
Video (H.264)	SD (1280 × 720) and lower	0.005	0.0125	0.0125	0.0125	0.0113	0.0113
Video (H.264)	LD (640 × 480) and lower	0.0033	0.0094	0.0094	0.0094	0.0084	0.0084

Advanced Editing (Unit: USD/minute)

Output specification	Output resolution	Chinese mainland	Japan	Singapore	Indonesia	Germany	US
Video (H.264)	4K (3840 × 2160) and lower	0.1922	0.225	0.225	0.225	0.2025	0.2025
Video (H.264)	2K (2560 × 1440) and lower	0.0959	0.1688	0.1688	0.1688	0.1521	0.1521
Video (H.264)	HD (1920 × 1080) and lower	0.0446	0.1125	0.1125	0.1125	0.1013	0.1013
Video (H.264)	SD (1280 × 720) and lower	0.0225	0.0563	0.0563	0.0563	0.0509	0.0509
Video (H.264)	LD (640 × 480) and lower	0.0149	0.0423	0.0423	N/A	0.0378	0.0378

Online editing and composition billing example: Assume that you perform video editing in the Chinese mainland from 08:00 to 09:00 on a given day. You perform Basic Editing on a video and output a 100-minute video with H.264 encoding and LD (640 × 480) resolution. The editing fee for this video is 100 minutes × USD 0.0033/minute. You perform Advanced Editing on another video and output a 100-minute video with H.264 encoding and 2K (2560 × 1440) resolution. The editing fee for this video is 100 minutes × USD 0.0959/minute. The total editing bill for the period from 08:00 to 09:00 is (100 minutes × USD 0.0033/minute) + (100 minutes × USD 0.0959/minute) = USD 9.92.

Storage and transfer acceleration billing

ApsaraVideo VOD provides cross-region storage and transfer acceleration services, including upload and download acceleration. You are charged for the upload and download acceleration traffic that is generated in different regions.

Note

Storage and transfer acceleration is a separate billable item. It is billed together with storage outbound traffic (oss_flow_out). For example, if you enable storage and transfer acceleration and download 1 GB of data from a bucket with this feature enabled using an acceleration endpoint, you are charged for 1 GB of download acceleration and 1 GB of storage outbound traffic.
In ApsaraVideo VOD, storage and transfer acceleration fees are incurred only for uploads to and downloads from the VOD system bucket. If you also enable transfer acceleration for your own OSS bucket that is connected to ApsaraVideo VOD, the related transfer acceleration fees are billed separately by OSS.

Billable item	Billing	Billing method
Upload acceleration traffic Download acceleration traffic	Billing Rules: Upload or download acceleration traffic refers to the cumulative traffic generated by uploading content to ApsaraVideo VOD (with upload acceleration) or downloading content from ApsaraVideo VOD (with download acceleration) over the Internet across different regions. You are charged based on the upload and download acceleration traffic in different regions. Billing Cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. Fees are deducted in real time. Bills are typically generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The actual time a bill is generated may vary. Activation: To activate this service, submit a ticket or contact your Alibaba Cloud business manager. Price: For specific prices, see the transfer acceleration pricing table below.	Pay-as-you-go: Storage and transfer acceleration traffic fee = (Upload + Download acceleration traffic) (GB) × Unit price per GB Resource Plans: Not supported.

Price and example

Storage and transfer acceleration pricing: The pay-as-you-go prices are as follows.

Billable item (Unit: USD/GB)	Chinese mainland to Chinese mainland	Chinese mainland to outside China	Outside China to outside China	Outside China to Chinese mainland
Upload acceleration traffic	0.12	0.2	0.12	0.2
Download acceleration traffic

Storage and transfer acceleration billing example: Assume that from 08:00 to 09:00 on a given day, the upload acceleration traffic from the Chinese mainland to a region outside China is 900 GB. The corresponding traffic fee is 900 GB × USD 0.2/GB = USD 180.

Video security

DRM billing

The ApsaraVideo VOD DRM service uses DRM to encrypt videos. This is a transcoding-based process. When a video is transcoded with DRM encryption, you are charged only for transcoding. DRM fees are incurred when a client requests a license to play the DRM-encrypted video. You are charged based on the number of license requests.

Billable item	Billing	Billing method
DRM	Billing Rules: You are charged based on the number of license requests for the DRM-encrypted video from the client. Billing Cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. Fees are deducted in real time. Bills are typically generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The actual time a bill is generated may vary. Activation: Activate this service in the ApsaraVideo VOD console. For more information, see Configure DRM encryption. Price: For specific prices, see the DRM pricing table below.	Pay-as-you-go: DRM fee = Number of license requests for the DRM-encrypted video from the client × Unit price per request Resource Plans: Not supported.

Price and example

DRM pricing: The pay-as-you-go prices are as follows.
Region
Price
China (Beijing), China (Shanghai)
USD 0.0012/request
Singapore, Indonesia (Jakarta), Japan (Tokyo)
USD 0.0015/request
DRM billing example: Assume that you use the DRM service and there are a total of 1,000 video license requests in the China (Shanghai) region. The fee is 1,000 requests × USD 0.0012/request = USD 1.2.

Module	Recording module	Import module	Animated sticker	MV	Caption
Price (USD/year)	4,400	3,000	7,400	7,400	7,400

Region	Price
China (Beijing), China (Shanghai)	USD 0.0012/request
Singapore, Indonesia (Jakarta), Japan (Tokyo)	USD 0.0015/request