WebSearch billing-Information Query Service(IQS)-阿里云帮助中心

Once your account is converted to a paid account, you will be charged for API calls to the WebSearch service.

Usage notes

The pay-as-you-go method bills you based on your actual usage. Bills are generated daily, and the corresponding fees are deducted from your Alibaba Cloud account.
If the discrepancy between your billing data and Alibaba Cloud's statistics is 1% or greater, designated technical contacts from both parties will reconcile the data. If the discrepancy is less than 1%, Alibaba Cloud's statistics take precedence.

Metering

Important

Billable item: This is the name of the product or service that appears on your Alibaba Cloud bill. Refer to this item during bill reconciliation.

1. Web search (Text)

Metering: An API call is a valid request if the HTTP response code (httpcode) from the target address is less than 400.

When you call the UnifiedSearch interface using the Web Search (Text) API, metering varies by the EngineType parameter:

EngineType	Search latency (average RT)	Number of returned webpages	Billable item
Generic	950 ms	Approx. 10	Web Search (Standard Edition) × 1
GenericAdvanced	950 ms	40–80	Web Search (Standard Edition) × 1 + value-added package × 1
LiteAdvanced	500 ms	1–50	Web Search (Express Edition) × 1
Deep	10s	1–50	Vertical Search × 50

2. Multimodal search (Image search)

Metering: An API call is a valid request if the HTTP response code (httpcode) from the target address is less than 400.

When you call the MultimodalSearch interface using the Multimodal Search (Image Search) API, metering varies by the EngineType parameter:

EngineType	Search latency (average RT)	Number of returned webpages	Billable item
MultimodalSpeed	1,000 ms	—	Multimodal Search (Express Edition) × 1
MultimodalSpeedAdvanced	1,600 ms	—	Multimodal Search (Express Edition) × 1 + value-added package × 1

3. Value-added package

Value-added service metering: Billing is based on the number of value-added packages consumed per request, which varies by service type. The CostCredits field in the API response shows the package consumption for each request.

Service	Billable item
Enhanced summary	value-added package × 1
Enhanced edition	value-added package × 1
Multimodal enhancement	value-added package × 1

Pricing

Standard edition (Generic)

Important

When you call the UnifiedSearch API, billing is based on the request parameters.

If the engineType parameter is set to Generic, you are billed for Web Search (Standard Edition).

Performance specification (QPS)	Tiered price (CNY/1,000 invocations)
Performance specification (QPS)	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4
30 (inclusive)	0 ≤ daily invocations < 200,000	200,000 ≤ daily invocations < 350,000	350,000 ≤ daily invocations < 600,000	≥ 600,000
60 (inclusive)	1,000,000 ≤ daily invocations < 1,200,000	1,200,000 ≤ daily invocations < 1,600,000	1,600,000 ≤ daily invocations < 2,000,000	≥ 2,000,000
100 (inclusive)	1,700,000 ≤ daily invocations < 2,000,000	2,000,000 ≤ daily invocations < 2,600,000	2,600,000 ≤ daily invocations < 3,000,000	≥ 3,000,000
200 (inclusive)	3,500,000 ≤ daily invocations < 4,500,000	4,500,000 ≤ daily invocations < 6,000,000	6,000,000 ≤ daily invocations < 8,000,000	≥ 8,000,000

Billing illustration

Billing rules

Tiered unit price
Note
This service uses tiered pricing. The pricing tier for your total daily invocations determines the unit price for all invocations on that day.
Scenario: Different tiers on different days
- Example: User A has a performance specification of 30 QPS. On May 10, 2025, they make 360,000 Web Search (Standard Edition) invocations. On May 11, 2025, they make 150,000 invocations.
  - Cost for May 10: All invocations are billed at the Tier 3 price for 30 QPS. The cost is (360,000 / 1,000) × 34.00 = CNY 12,240.
  - Cost for May 11: All invocations are billed at the Tier 1 price for 30 QPS. The cost is (150,000 / 1,000) × 42.00 = CNY 6,300.
Scenario: Usage exceeds the highest tier for a QPS specification
- Example: User A has a performance specification of 30 QPS but makes 1,100,000 Web Search (Standard Edition) invocations on May 10, 2025. This usage may exceed the capacity of the current performance specification. If you frequently exceed your QPS limit, we cannot guarantee service reliability. We recommend upgrading to 60 QPS. To upgrade, contact your business manager or click Contact us at least one week in advance.
  - With 30 QPS: All 1,100,000 invocations are billed at the Tier 4 price for 30 QPS. The cost is (1,100,000 / 1,000) × 30.00 = CNY 33,000.
  - After upgrading to 60 QPS: All 1,100,000 invocations are billed at the Tier 1 price for 60 QPS. The cost is (1,100,000 / 1,000) × 42.00 = CNY 46,200.
Performance specification
Note
- The default performance specification for new purchases is 30 QPS.
- To upgrade your specification, your daily invocation volume must reach the minimum threshold of the next tier. You must submit requests one week in advance. Without an approved upgrade request, your service is limited to the default QPS performance.
- If your daily invocation volume fails to meet the minimum threshold of your current performance tier for five consecutive calendar days, your performance specification automatically downgrades.
Scenario: Performance specification downgrade
- Example: User A has a performance specification of 60 QPS. For five consecutive days, from May 1 to May 5, 2025, their daily invocation volume is less than 1,000,000, which is the minimum for the 60 QPS Tier 1.
  - Starting on the sixth calendar day (May 6 at 00:00), the specification downgrades to 30 QPS, and billing follows the pricing tiers for 30 QPS. For the period from May 1 to May 5, billing is still based on the 60 QPS Tier 1 price.

Express edition (LiteAdvanced)

Important

When you call the UnifiedSearch API, billing is based on the request parameters.

If the engineType parameter is set to LiteAdvanced, you are billed for Web Search (Express Edition).

Service type	Unit price (CNY/1,000 invocations)
Web Search (Express Edition) [LiteAdvanced]	12.00

Billing rules

Note

The default performance specification for new purchases is 10 QPS.
To request a higher specification, your daily invocation volume typically needs to reach 400,000 (10 QPS × 40,000). To request a QPS quota increase, submit a request at least one week in advance by contacting your business manager or clicking Contact us. Without an approved upgrade request, your service is limited to the default QPS performance.

Scenario: Billing for Web Search (Express Edition)

Example: User A makes 100,000 LiteAdvanced invocations on May 10, 2025.
- Web Search (Express Edition) cost: (100,000 / 1,000) × 12.00 = CNY 1,200.

Deep edition (Deep)

Service type	Unit price (CNY/1,000 invocations)
Web Search (Deep Edition) [Deep]	50.00

Billing rules

Note

The default performance specification for new purchases is 5 QPS.
To request a higher specification, your daily invocation volume typically needs to reach 200,000 (5 QPS × 40,000). To request a QPS quota increase, please submit a request one week in advance by contacting your business manager or clicking Contact us. Without an approved upgrade request, your service is limited to the default QPS performance.

Scenario: Billing for Web Search (Deep Edition)

Example: User A makes 100,000 Deep invocations on May 10, 2025.
- Web Search (Deep Edition) cost: (100,000 / 1,000) × 50.00 = CNY 5,000.

Multimodal search (Image search)

Important

When you call the MultimodalSearch API, billing is based on the request parameters.

If the engineType parameter is set to MultimodalSpeed, you are billed for Multimodal Search (Express Edition).

Service type	Unit price (CNY/1,000 invocations)
Multimodal Search (Express Edition) [MultimodalSpeed]	25.00

Billing rules

Note

The default performance specification for new purchases is 5 QPS.
To request a higher specification, please submit a request one week in advance by contacting your business manager or clicking Contact us. Without an approved upgrade request, your service is limited to the default QPS performance.

Scenario: Billing for multimodal search

Example: User A makes 100,000 MultimodalSearch API calls on May 10, 2025.
- Multimodal Search (Express Edition) cost: (100,000 / 1,000) × 25.00 = CNY 2,500.

Value-added package

Important

When you call the UnifiedSearch API, billing for value-added services is based on the request parameters:

If the engineType parameter is set to GenericAdvanced, you are billed for the Enhanced Edition value-added service.
If the summary field within the contents parameter is set to true, you are billed for the enhanced summary value-added service.

When you call the Multimodal Search (Image Search) API, billing is based on the request parameters:

If the engineType parameter is set to MultimodalSpeedAdvanced, you are billed for multimodal enhancement.

Service type	Unit price (CNY/1,000 invocations)
Enhanced edition	2.80 (1 value-added package)
Enhanced summary	2.80 (1 value-added package)
Multimodal enhancement	2.80 (1 value-added package)

Billing rules

Value-added service types
- Enhanced Edition: Returns more URL results, ranging from 40–80.
- Enhanced summary: Provides text snippets of relevant paragraphs from the main content of the first 10 URLs, generated by a Large Language Model (LLM).
Value-added service metering: Billing is based on the number of value-added packages consumed per request, which varies by service type. The CostCredits field in the API response shows the package consumption for each request.
Unit price: This is a flat rate per invocation, with no performance specification limits.
Scenario: Billing for value-added packages
- Example: User A has a 30 QPS specification. On May 10, 2025, they make a total of 400,000 Web Search (Standard Edition) invocations. Of these, 360,000 invocations use the enhanced summary service and 120,000 invocations use the Enhanced Edition service.
  The total daily invocation count is 400,000, which falls into the Tier 3 pricing for 30 QPS.
  1. Value-added package cost: (360,000 + 120,000) / 1,000 × 2.80 = CNY 1,344.
    - Enhanced summary cost: (360,000 / 1,000) × 2.80 = CNY 1,008.
    - Enhanced Edition cost: (120,000 / 1,000) × 2.80 = CNY 336.
  2. Web Search (Standard Edition) cost: (400,000 / 1,000) × 34.00 = CNY 13,600.
  3. Total cost for May 10: 1,344 + 13,600 = CNY 14,944.