The pay-as-you-go billing method for the Content Moderation API and OSS violation detection service is ideal to scan a small amount of content or have an irregular scanning schedule, such as for a one-time check. This method bills you daily based on the number of items scanned, such as images or text entries. This topic describes how daily fees are calculated.
Daily fee calculation
After you submit a detection request, the algorithm returns the detection results. The detection result can be conclusive or inconclusive. A conclusive result is block if a content violation is detected, or pass if the content is considered normal. An inconclusive result is review, which means the content requires manual review. For more information about the API operations, see the API reference.
When you use the Content Moderation API, billing is based on your scan volume and the detection results. The scan volume is the number of detection requests for an object in a specific scenario. The unit price for scanning is divided into two types: a unit price for conclusive results (confirm) and a unit price for inconclusive results (review). The specific price depends on the object, scenario, and daily scan volume tier. You can find the prices on the Pricing Details page. The formula is as follows: Daily fee = (Unit price for conclusive scans × Number of conclusive scans) + (Unit price for inconclusive scans × Number of inconclusive scans).
Daily scan volume tiers
The minimum unit for a request is one scan, which can be one image or one text entry. The billing cycle is daily. We use a tiered pricing model with six tiers based on the total number of images and text entries that you scan per day. The higher your daily scan volume, the lower the unit price.
The following table describes the tier classifications.
| Scan volume (images/day) | Tier |
| 0 to 5,000 | A |
| 5,001 to 50,000 | B |
| 50,001 to 130,000 | C |
| 130,001 to 260,000 | D |
| 260,001 to 850,000 | E |
| >850,000 | F |
Free quota
Effective August 1, 2017, the free quota policy was updated. Each user receives a free daily quota of 3,000 image scans or 3,000 text scans for 31 days, starting from the first day of use (inclusive). This quota applies regardless of the detection result. After the 31-day period, the free quota is no longer available.
During the 31-day period, you are charged for any scans that exceed the daily quota of 3,000. The price is based on the tiered pricing that corresponds to your total scan volume for that day.
Daily unit prices
- The unit price for conclusive results (confirm) applies to API calls that return a conclusive result.
- The unit price for inconclusive results (review) applies to API calls that return an inconclusive result.
For more information about the tiered pricing for scan volumes, see Content Moderation Pricing.
- For some scenarios, such as QR code detection and video detection, the results are not classified as conclusive or inconclusive. Therefore, the unit price for inconclusive scans (review) is marked as "-".
- Video object detection supports the following two submission methods:
- You can capture frames from the video and submit the image sequence for detection.
- You can submit the video URL directly. We then download the video, capture frames, and perform the detection.
When daily fees are calculated, the call volume for video objects is based on the number of captured frames, not the number of videos.
- Text object detection is billed based on the number of text entries scanned using the API.
- For OSS detection, billing for images is based on the number of uploaded images in the selected buckets. Billing for videos is based on the number of captured frames from videos in the selected buckets.