Billing and Pricing
1. Billing Method
Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom is billed by the time devices participate in an active room and the time cloud mixing is actually performed. While a room is active, participation duration continues to accumulate for every online participating device, whether or not the device is speaking. Cloud mixing duration does not accumulate when cloud mixing is not being performed.
Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom is a value-added product for the TiRTC audio and video channel service. Customers must activate TiRTC first, and the related TiRTC fees are settled separately under the applicable TiRTC rules.
2. Standard Billing Items
| Standard billing item | Standard price in Chinese mainland | Billing condition |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-party voice intercom service | CNY 0.007/participant-minute | While the room is active, usage continuously accumulates according to the number of online participating devices |
| Cloud mixing service | CNY 0.008/minute | Periods when standard audio mixing is actually performed in the cloud |
There is currently no single publicly listed price for overseas and other service regions. Refer to your contract or order for the applicable price.
3. Billing Item Details
3.1 Multi-Party Voice Intercom Service
A participant-minute is the sum of the effective in-room duration of all online participating devices while a room is active. Muting a device or having no one speak temporarily does not stop participant duration from accumulating.
For example, if 5 devices remain online in the same active room for 10 minutes, they generate 50 participant-minutes, regardless of how long anyone actually speaks during that period.
3.2 Cloud Mixing Service
The cloud mixing service processes multiple audio streams in a room into standard mixed audio in the cloud. It is billed only for the period when cloud mixing is actually performed. The duration is not multiplied by the number of participating devices and is not charged repeatedly according to the number of simultaneous speakers.
For the same room at the same time, only one standard cloud mixing duration is billed. The multi-party voice intercom service and cloud mixing service may incur charges at the same time.
3.3 Relationship to TiRTC Billing
- TiRTC charges for device access and audio and video channel services under the applicable product rules.
- This page specifies only the incremental fees for Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom and its cloud mixing service.
- TiRTC and Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom are shown as separate items on the bill.
4. Usage Calculation Rules
4.1 Effective Participation Duration
Effective participation duration for a device starts when the device successfully joins an active room. It ends when the device leaves the room, the connection is disconnected, or the room is paused or closed. While the room remains active, muting a device or having no one speak temporarily does not stop billing.
The following periods do not incur multi-party voice intercom service fees:
- The device has not successfully joined the room.
- The room has been paused or closed.
- The device has left the room, the connection has been disconnected, or the service has been confirmed unavailable due to a Tange platform failure.
4.2 Idle Room Suspension and Reactivation
Customers can configure the room idle timeout within the supported product range. After no one has spoken continuously for the configured period, the platform can pause or close the room to prevent devices from remaining idle for long periods while continuing to generate participant duration.
After a room is paused or closed, accumulation of multi-party voice intercom duration and cloud mixing duration stops. The next time a device initiates intercom, the client must reactivate and join the room through the product API. Reactivation is not a separate billing item. Refer to the product API documentation for the exact flow and connection wait time.
4.3 Multi-Party and Mixing Calculation
- Multi-party voice intercom usage is the sum of the effective participation duration of all devices in the room.
- The same device is counted at most once at the same point in time. Simultaneously sending and receiving audio does not cause duplicate charges.
- Cloud mixing is timed only while mixing is actually performed. For the same room at the same time, only one standard mixing duration accumulates.
- When multiple people speak at the same time, cloud mixing duration is not accumulated repeatedly according to the number of speakers or audio input streams.
For example, if 11 devices remain online in an active room for 10 minutes, they generate 110 participant-minutes. If cloud mixing is actually performed for only 1 minute, the room also generates 1 cloud mixing minute.
4.4 Aggregation and Rounding
- Device participation duration and cloud mixing duration are recorded separately in seconds.
- Each billing item is aggregated by customer account, project, service region, and calendar day.
- The daily aggregated seconds are divided by 60 and rounded up to whole minutes. An individual utterance or intercom operation is not rounded separately.
- Sessions crossing a calendar day boundary are split at midnight and aggregated separately.
5. Fee Calculation and Bills
5.1 Fee Formula
Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom fee = participant-minutes × CNY 0.007 + cloud mixing minutes × CNY 0.008
Total customer fee = Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom fee + TiRTC audio and video channel service fee + other fees specified in the contract or order
5.2 Fee Calculation Example
Assume a room has 10 devices that all remain online while the room is active for 60 minutes on the same day, and standard cloud mixing is actually performed for 10 minutes:
| Billing item | Usage | Calculation | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-party voice intercom service | 600 participant-minutes | 10 × 60 × 0.007 | CNY 4.20 |
| Cloud mixing service | 10 minutes | 10 × 0.008 | CNY 0.08 |
| Total | — | 4.20 + 0.08 | CNY 4.28 |
These fees do not include the TiRTC audio and video channel service fee.
5.3 Usage Details
Bills and usage details show the customer account, application, device, effective duration, settlement unit price, and fees. The multi-party voice intercom service, cloud mixing service, and TiRTC audio and video channel service are shown separately.
6. Account and Settlement
6.1 Top-Up and Deduction
- Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom uses a prepaid enterprise account model: top up first, then consume.
- After a customer tops up, the amount is credited to the enterprise account balance.
- Multi-party voice intercom and cloud mixing usage charges are deducted from the enterprise account balance according to actual usage.
- Pending charges caused by the delay between metering and bill generation are deducted first after the customer tops up.
6.2 Bills and Overdue Balance Notifications
- The system records actual usage and fees. Customers can view billing items, settled usage, and fees on their bills.
- When the enterprise account balance is insufficient to cover the amount due, the account becomes overdue and the system sends overdue balance alerts.
6.3 Overdue Balance Handling
An overdue account enters a grace period followed by a retention period:
- Grace period (1 day): The grace period lasts for 24 consecutive hours from the time the account becomes overdue. During this period, Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom remains available, generated participant duration and cloud mixing duration continue to be metered and settled, and the system continues to send overdue balance alerts.
- Service suspension and retention period (15 days): If the overdue balance remains unpaid when the grace period ends, the system stops creating or reactivating multi-party voice rooms and ends multi-party voice rooms that are still running. Room configurations, membership relationships, and other related business data are frozen and retained for 15 calendar days. No new Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom fees are incurred during the retention period.
- Recovery during the retention period: After the customer tops up, the system first deducts pending settlement charges. Once the overdue balance is fully paid, Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom is automatically restored, and room configurations, membership relationships, and related business data that have not been deleted during the retention period become available again.
- End of the retention period: If the overdue balance remains unpaid at the end of the 15-day retention period, Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom room configurations, membership relationships, and other business data are deleted and cannot be recovered.
The TiRTC audio and video channel service and other related products are billed independently. Their overdue balance handling and data retention rules are subject to their respective billing descriptions. Suspending Multi-Party Real-Time Voice Intercom does not automatically stop other activated services.
Contract discounts, minimum spending, prepaid discounts, taxes, and payment terms are subject to the contract or order signed by both parties.
7. Additional Notes
- Prices on this page apply to standard multi-party voice rooms and standard cloud audio mixing capabilities.
- Services outside the standard product specifications are separately agreed in the contract or order.
- If product prices or billing rules change, refer to the applicable updated billing description, console notification, or contract.