This topic describes the billing rules for audio and video calls.
Introduction
Alibaba Cloud Real-Time Communication (RTC) bills you for real-time audio and video calls based on call duration and specifications. Your bill is calculated based on the total daily call duration, measured in minutes.
Billing details
Audio/video call fee = Unit price for audio call specification × Audio call duration + Unit price for video call specification × Video call duration
- The media type (audio or video) and specification (such as 480p or lower, or 720p or lower) are determined by the publisher's configuration.
- Duration is measured in seconds but billed in minutes. Durations are rounded up to the next whole minute. For example, a call that lasts less than one minute is billed as one minute.
- Unit price for audio call specification: When a user subscribes only to an audio stream, billing is based on the audio call specification. For more information, see Real-Time Communication Pricing.
- Audio call duration: Billing starts when a user successfully subscribes to the first audio stream and ends when the user unsubscribes from the last audio stream.
- If the publisher's media type is video but a subscriber subscribes only to the audio stream, the call is billed based on the audio specification.
- If you subscribe to both audio and video streams, you are charged only for the video stream. The audio stream is not billed separately.
- Audio calls are billed based on the subscription duration for each endpoint. This duration is calculated from the start of the first subscription to the end of the last subscription. If an endpoint subscribes to multiple streams simultaneously, the duration is not aggregated.
- Unit price for video call specification: When a user subscribes to audio and video streams or only to a video stream, billing is based on the video call specification. For more information, see Real-Time Communication Pricing.
- Video call duration: Billing starts when a user successfully subscribes to a video stream and ends when the user unsubscribes from that stream.
- If the publisher's media type is video, the call is still billed based on the video specification even if the camera is turned off during the call.
- Video calls are billed based on the cumulative duration of each video stream subscribed to by an endpoint. If an endpoint subscribes to multiple video streams, the duration of each stream is calculated independently.
Real-Time Communication duration plans (resource plans)
If you do not purchase a Real-Time Communication duration plan, fees are deducted from your Alibaba Cloud account balance on a pay-as-you-go basis. We recommend purchasing a resource plan in advance. When you use the service, the usage is deducted from your plan's quota. For more information, see Real-Time Communication Duration Plan.
The following points describe how resource plans work:
- Resource plans take effect immediately after purchase and must be used within their validity period. An expired plan becomes inactive.
- You can purchase multiple resource plans. The quotas are cumulative. Usage is deducted from the plan that expires first.
- When a resource plan expires or its quota is exhausted, the service automatically switches to the pay-as-you-go billing method. To avoid service disruption from overdue payments, monitor your resource plan usage and purchase a new plan or ensure your account balance is sufficient.
- You cannot upgrade or downgrade a resource plan.
- The validity period of each resource plan is calculated independently. The validity periods of multiple plans are not cumulative.
- Resource plans provided by Alibaba Cloud RTC can be used only to offset usage generated by the RTC service.
The refund policy for resource plans is as follows:
- You can request a refund for a resource plan if it was purchased within the last 7 days and has not been used.
- You cannot request a refund for a resource plan if it was purchased more than 7 days ago or if it has been used.
- You cannot request a refund for the remaining quota of a used or expired resource plan.
Billing examples
The prices in the following examples are for reference only. For actual prices, see Real-Time Communication Pricing.
Example 1:
Users A, B, and C join a channel for an audio call that lasts 2100 seconds.
Usage calculation:
- Because the three users are in an audio call, only audio charges apply. Billing is based on the audio call specification.
- The call duration is 2100 seconds, which is 35 minutes.
Fee calculation:
Audio/video call fee = Unit price for audio call specification (CNY 0.006/minute) × Audio call duration (35 minutes) × 3
Example 2:
Users A, B, and C join a channel for a video call that lasts 3700 seconds. A's video resolution is 640 × 360. B's and C's video resolution is 1280 × 720.
Usage calculation:
A video call with three participants does not incur voice call billing.
A subscribes to the video streams from B and C. A's video call specification is 720p or lower (for B's and C's streams).
B subscribes to the video streams from A and C. B's video call specifications are 480p or lower (for A's stream) and 720p or lower (for C's stream).
C subscribes to the video streams from A and B. C's video call specifications are 480p or lower (for A's stream) and 720p or lower (for B's stream).
- The call duration is 3700 seconds, which is 62 minutes.
Fee calculation:
- A's RTC fee = Unit price for video call (CNY 0.024/minute) × Video call duration (62 minutes) × 2
- B's RTC fee = Unit price for video call (CNY 0.012/minute) × Video call duration (62 minutes) + Unit price for video call (CNY 0.024/minute) × Video call duration (62 minutes)
- C's RTC fee = Unit price for video call (CNY 0.012/minute) × Video call duration (62 minutes) + Unit price for video call (CNY 0.024/minute) × Video call duration (62 minutes)
Total RTC fee = A's RTC fee + B's RTC fee + C's RTC fee
Example Three:
Users A, B, and C join a channel for a call that lasts 600 seconds. C pushes only an audio stream. A's video resolution is 640 × 360, and B's is 1280 × 720.
Calculating usage:
In a three-way audio and video call, the cost includes charges for both audio and video even if one participant (C) only pushes an audio stream.
A subscribes to B's video stream and C's audio stream. A is billed for video at 720p or lower and for audio at the standard audio specification.
B subscribes to A's video stream and C's audio stream. B is billed for video at 480p or lower and for audio at the standard audio specification.
C subscribes to the video streams of A and B. Therefore, C receives A's video stream at up to 480p and B's video stream at up to 720p.
- The call duration is 600 seconds (10 minutes).
Billing:
- RTC fee for A = (CNY 0.024/minute × 10 minutes of video) + (CNY 0.006/minute × 10 minutes of audio)
- RTC fee for B = (CNY 0.012/minute × 10 minutes of video) + (CNY 0.006/minute × 10 minutes of audio)
- RTC fee for C = (CNY 0.012/minute × 10 minutes of video) + (CNY 0.024/minute × 10 minutes of video)
Total RTC fee = RTC fee for A + RTC fee for B + RTC fee for C
Notes
- Alibaba Cloud RTC generates and settles bills for the previous day at approximately 02:00 (UTC+8) each day. The actual time the bill is generated may vary.
- The screen sharing feature is billed as a separate video stream. The billing specification is based on the screen sharing resolution that you set.
- If you use Interactive Whiteboard, CDN live streaming, or server-side recording, the fees for these services are calculated separately. For more information, see Billing for CDN live streaming, Billing for server-side recording, and Billing for Interactive Whiteboard.