ApsaraVideo Real-time Communication (ARTC) fees include the call fees and mixed-stream transcoding fees. This topic describes the billing rules of ARTC.
Pricing
Pricing of calls
You are charged for calls per day based on the pay-as-you-go billing method. The bills of a day are generated and the amount due is deducted after 00:00 on the following day. The point in time at which bills are generated is determined by the system.
Type
Specification
Resolution to subscribe to
Price (USD per minute)
Audio call
Audio
Audio-only
0.00086
Video call
≤ 480p
≤ 720 × 480
0.00171
≤ 720p
720 × 480 to 1280 × 720
0.00343
> 720p (up to 1080p)
> 1280 × 720
0.01286
NoteThe type and specification of calls are determined by the configurations on the publish side.
Pricing of mixed-stream transcoding
You are charged for mixed-stream transcoding per day based on the pay-as-you-go billing method. The bills of a day are generated and the amount due is deducted after 00:00 on the following day. The point in time at which bills are generated is determined by the system.
Specification
Output resolution
Price (USD per minute)
Single-stream relay
Audio
0.00114
Video
0.00043
Audio
Audio-only
0.00071
≤ 480p
≤ 640 × 480
0.00171
≤ 720p
640 × 480 to 1280 × 720
0.00457
> 720p (up to 1080p)
> 1280 × 720
0.00914
NoteYou are charged based on the total duration of different specifications.
Billing rules
Call fees = Unit price of audio call × Audio call duration + Unit price of video call × Video call duration
Item
Description
Remarks
Unit price of audio call
If users subscribe to only audio streams, you are charged based on the audio specification.
Charges are calculated on a minute basis. The duration is rounded up to the next minute for billing.
If users subscribe to both audio and video streams, you are charged only for the video based on the video specification.
When a video is published:
If users subscribe to only the audio stream, you are charged based on the audio specification.
If users subscribe to the video stream, you are charged based on the video specification, regardless of whether the users turn off the camera during the call.
Audio call duration
The duration starts from the time when users subscribe to the first audio stream to the time when users unsubscribe from the last audio stream, regardless of how many devices are used for subscription during the process.
Unit price of video call
If users subscribe to audio and video streams or only video streams, you are charged based on the video specification.
Video call duration
The duration starts from the time when users subscribe to a video stream to the time when users unsubscribe from the video stream.
Mixed-stream transcoding fees = Unit price of mixed-stream transcoding × Mixed-stream transcoding duration
Item
Description
Remarks
Unit price of mixed-stream transcoding
The unit price varies based on the output resolution.
Charges are calculated on a minute basis. The duration is rounded up to the next minute for billing.
Alibaba Cloud generates the bills of a day at approximately 02:00 on the following day. The point in time at which bills are generated is determined by the system.
Mixed-stream transcoding duration
The duration starts from the time when a mixed-stream transcoding task begins to the time when the task ends.
NoteIf only one mixed-stream transcoding task is started in a channel, the duration of the task is the mixed-stream transcoding duration of the channel.
If multiple mixed-stream transcoding tasks are started in a channel simultaneously, the sum of the duration of each task is the mixed-stream transcoding duration of the channel.
Billing examples
Example 1: Three people join an audio call. The duration of the call is 2,100 seconds.
Fees = USD 0.00086 per minute × 35 minutes × 3
Example 2: Three people (A, B, and C) join a video call. The call lasts for a duration of 600 seconds. A uses a video resolution of 640 × 360, B uses a video resolution of 1280 × 720, and C uses only audio.
Fees of A = USD 0.00343 per minute × 10 minutes + USD 0.00086 per minute × 10 minutes
Fees of B = USD 0.00171 per minute × 10 minutes + USD 0.00086 per minute × 10 minutes
Fees of C = USD 0.00171 per minute × 10 minutes + USD 0.00343 per minute × 10 minutes
Total fees = Fees of A + Fees of B + Fees of C
Example 3: Streamer A starts a live stream with a resolution of 1080 × 720 for a duration of 1,200 seconds. Then, B and C join the live stream, starting a video call. In the video call, B and C use a video resolution of 640 × 360. The live stream lasts for another 3,700 seconds. During the process, a mixed stream of A, B, and C with a resolution of 1280 × 780 is relayed to viewers.
Single-stream relay fees of A = USD 0.00043 per minute × 20 minutes
Call fees of A = USD 0.00171 per minute × 62 minutes × 2
Call fees of B = USD 0.00343 per minute × 62 minutes + USD 0.00171 per minute × 62 minutes
Call fees of C = USD 0.00343 per minute × 62 minutes + USD 0.00171 per minute × 62 minutes
Mixed-stream transcoding fees = USD 0.00457 per minute × 62 minutes
Total interactive streaming fees = Single-stream relay fees of A + Call fees of A + Call fees of B + Call fees of C + Mixed-stream transcoding fees
NoteThe duration is rounded up to the next minute for billing. In this case, 3,700 seconds is rounded up to 62 minutes.
A uses an edition of Push SDK that supports interactive streaming to start the live stream. In this case, stream ingest is performed over Real-Time Communication (RTC). This requires the relay of the live stream from the RTC network to Alibaba Cloud CDN, which incurs single-stream relay fees.
The three people make a video call. Therefore, no audio charges are incurred.
A subscribes to the video streams of B and C. In this case, the video specification of A is the same as that of B and C (≤ 480p).
B subscribes to the video streams of A and C. In this case, the video specifications of B are the same as those of A (≤ 720p) and C (≤ 480p).
C subscribes to the video streams of A and B. In this case, the video specifications of C are the same as those of A (≤ 720p) and B (≤ 480p).
During the call, a mixed-stream transcoding task is started to transcode the mixed stream of A, B, and C. The resolution of the mixed stream is 1280 × 720. Therefore, the specification for mixed-stream transcoding is ≤ 720p. The duration of the mixed-stream transcoding task is equal to the call duration of 62 minutes.
Example 4: Ten people join a channel, in which three streamers ingest audio-only streams to seven viewers. The duration is 2,100 seconds. The audio-only streams of the three streamers are mixed.
Mixed-stream transcoding fees = USD 0.0050 per minute × 35 minutes
NoteA mixed-stream transcoding task is started to transcode the mixed stream of A, B, and C.
Only audio is mixed. Therefore, the specification for mixed-stream transcoding is Mixed_Audio (audio only).
Example 5: Ten people join a channel, in which three streamers ingest audio streams and video streams with a resolution of 480 × 640 to seven viewers. The duration is 3,700 seconds. The audio and video streams of the three streamers are mixed.
Mixed-stream transcoding fees = USD 0.00171 per minute × 62 minutes
NoteA mixed-stream transcoding task is started to transcode the mixed stream of A, B, and C.
Three audio and video streams are mixed and the output resolution is 480 × 640. Therefore, the specification for mixed-stream transcoding is 480p.
The duration is rounded up to the next minute for billing. In this case, 3,700 seconds is rounded up to 62 minutes.
The three streamers subscribe to individual streams of the other two instead of a mixed stream. The viewers subscribe to the mixed stream of the three streamers.