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WebSearch billing and pricing

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This topic describes the metering rules and unit prices for the various editions and value-added packages of WebSearch.

Usage notes

  1. For pay-as-you-go (post-paid) services, you are charged for your actual usage. Bills are generated daily, and the fees are deducted from your Alibaba Cloud account.

  2. If the discrepancy between your bill and the statistics from Alibaba Cloud is 1% or greater, technical contacts from both parties will review the data. If the discrepancy is less than 1%, Alibaba Cloud's statistics prevail.

Note

This page only covers the billing details for WebSearch (Text Search) and its value-added packages.

Metering

Engine service metering

Important

  • The "Billing Item" field specifies the name of the corresponding product or service on your Alibaba Cloud bill. Please refer to this field when you reconcile your bill.

  • An API call is counted as a valid request when the HTTP status code of the response is less than 400.

When you call the WebSearch (Text Search) API, your usage is measured and billed based on the parameters in your request.

  • For example, if you set the engineType parameter to Generic, you are charged for WebSearch (Standard Edition).

The following tables show the metering rules for different engineType values.

CN

engineType

Version name

Billing details

Lite Edition

CNLiteBasic

CN LiteBasic

WebSearch (CN) *1

Auto Edition

CNAuto

CN Auto

WebSearch (CN) *1

Global

engineType

Version name

Billing details

Global Advanced Edition

GlobalAdvanced

Global Advanced

WebSearch (Global) *1

Generic

engineType

Version name

Returned webpages

Billing details

Generic Edition

Generic

Generic

Approx. 10

WebSearch (Standard Edition) *1

GenericAdvanced

Generic

Approx. 50

WebSearch (Standard Edition) *1 + value-added package *1

Value-added package metering

Different value-added services consume different numbers of value-added packages. You are billed for the packages consumed by each request. You can check the consumption details for each request in the CostCredits field of the API response.

Value-added service type

Trigger method

Billing details

Enhanced Edition (GenericAdvanced)

Set the engineType parameter to GenericAdvanced.

value-added package *1

Enhanced summary (First 10 URLs)

Set the summary parameter in the contents object to true.

Note

The enhanced summary feature is not supported by Global editions.

value-added package *1

Unit pricing

Engine service unit pricing

CN

engineType

Version name

Unit price (CNY/1,000 calls)

Lite Edition

CNLiteBasic

CN LiteBasic

8

Auto Edition

CNAuto

CN Auto

18

Billing rules

Performance specifications: The default performance specification for new subscriptions is 10 queries per second (QPS).

Note

To request a higher QPS quota, your daily calls must reach 400,000. Please submit your request at least one week in advance by contacting your business manager or by clicking Contact Us.

Pricing example: Billing for CN LiteBasic

  • Scenario: A user makes 100,000 calls toCNLiteBasicon May 10, 2025.

    • CN LiteBasic cost: (100,000 / 1,000) * 8 = 800 CNY

Global

engineType

Version name

Unit price (CNY/1,000 calls)

Global Advanced Edition

GlobalAdvanced

Global Advanced

56

Billing rules

Performance specifications: The default performance specification for new subscriptions is 10 queries per second (QPS).

Note

To request a higher QPS quota, your daily calls must reach 400,000. Please submit your request at least one week in advance by contacting your business manager.

Pricing example: Billing for Global Advanced

  • Scenario: A user makes 100,000 calls toGlobalAdvancedon May 10, 2025.

    • Global Advanced cost: (100,000 / 1,000) * 56 = 5,600 CNY

Generic

Performance specifications (QPS)

Tier 1: 42.00 CNY/1,000 calls

Tier 2: 38.00 CNY/1,000 calls

Tier 3: 34.00 CNY/1,000 calls

Tier 4: 30.00 CNY/1,000 calls

30 (inclusive)

0 ≤ daily calls < 200,000

200,000 ≤ daily calls < 350,000

350,000 ≤ daily calls < 600,000

≥ 600,000

60 (inclusive)

1,000,000 ≤ daily calls < 1,200,000

1,200,000 ≤ daily calls < 1,600,000

1,600,000 ≤ daily calls < 2,000,000

≥ 2,000,000

100 (inclusive)

1,700,000 ≤ daily calls < 2,000,000

2,000,000 ≤ daily calls < 2,600,000

2,600,000 ≤ daily calls < 3,000,000

≥ 3,000,000

200 (inclusive)

3,500,000 ≤ daily calls < 4,500,000

4,500,000 ≤ daily calls < 6,000,000

6,000,000 ≤ daily calls < 8,000,000

≥ 8,000,000

Billing rules

Tiered pricing: This edition uses a daily tiered pricing model. For a given performance specification, the unit price for all calls on a given day is determined by the highest usage tier reached.

  • Pricing example: Different tiers on different days

    • Scenario: A user has a performance specification of 30 QPS. They make 360,000 calls to WebSearch (Standard Edition) on May 10, 2025, and 150,000 calls on May 11, 2025.

    • May 10 cost: The daily usage of 360,000 calls falls into Tier 3 for the 30 QPS level. The entire volume is billed at the Tier 3 rate: (360,000 / 1,000) * 34.00 = 12,240 CNY.

    • May 11 cost: The daily usage of 150,000 calls falls into Tier 1 for the 30 QPS level. The entire volume is billed at the Tier 1 rate: (150,000 / 1,000) * 42.00 = 6,300 CNY.

  • Pricing example: Usage exceeding the current performance specification

    • Scenario: A user has a performance specification of 30 QPS but makes 1,100,000 calls on May 10, 2025. This call volume exceeds the intended capacity of the 30 QPS specification. Frequent overages can impact service reliability, so we recommend upgrading to the 60 QPS specification. To upgrade, contact your business manager at least one week in advance.

    • Cost at 30 QPS: All 1,100,000 calls are billed at the highest available rate for the 30 QPS level, which is Tier 4: (1,100,000 / 1,000) * 30.00 = 33,000 CNY.

    • Cost after upgrading to 60 QPS: The usage of 1,100,000 calls falls into Tier 1 for the 60 QPS level. All calls are billed at the Tier 1 rate for 60 QPS: (1,100,000 / 1,000) * 42.00 = 46,200 CNY.

Performance specifications: The default performance specification for a new Generic Edition subscription is 30 queries per second (QPS).

  • Upgrading performance specifications: You can request an upgrade to a higher QPS specification once your daily calls meet the minimum volume for that tier. Requests must be made at least one week in advance.

  • Downgrading performance specifications: Your performance specification will be automatically downgraded if your daily calls fall below the minimum volume required for your current QPS level for five consecutive calendar days.

  • Example: Performance specification downgrade

    • Scenario: A user has a 60 QPS performance specification. From May 1 to May 5, 2025 (five consecutive days), their daily calls are less than 1,000,000, which is the minimum required for the 60 QPS Tier 1.

    • Starting on the sixth calendar day (May 6 at 00:00), the performance specification is automatically downgraded to 30 QPS. Billing is then based on the new 30 QPS tiers. For the period from May 1 to May 5, billing is still based on the 60 QPS Tier 1 price.

Value-added package unit pricing

When you call the WebSearch (Text Search) API, value-added services are measured and billed based on the parameters in your API request.

  • If you set the engineType parameter to GenericAdvanced, you are charged for the Enhanced Edition value-added service.

  • If you set the summary parameter in the contents object to true, you are charged for the enhanced summary value-added service.

Service type

Unit price (CNY/1,000 calls)

Enhanced Edition (GenericAdvanced)

2.8 (Equals 1 value-added package)

Enhanced summary (First 10 URLs)

2.8 (Equals 1 value-added package)

Unit price: Billed per call, without performance specification limits.

Pricing example: Billing for value-added packages

  • Scenario: A user with a 30 QPS performance specification makes a total of 400,000 calls to WebSearch (Standard Edition) on May 10, 2025. The enhanced summary package was used for 360,000 of these calls, and the Enhanced Edition package was used for 120,000.

  • The total daily calls of 400,000 fall into Tier 3 for the 30 QPS level and are billed accordingly.

  • Enhanced summary cost: (360,000 / 1,000) * 2.8 = 1,008 CNY

  • Enhanced Edition cost: (120,000 / 1,000) * 2.8 = 336 CNY

  • WebSearch (Standard Edition) cost: (400,000 / 1,000) * 34 = 13,600 CNY

  • Total cost for May 10: 1,008 + 336 + 13,600 = 14,944 CNY

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