Billing policies and free-of-charge policy

This page explains:

• Billing, fee deductions, and account suspension policies
• Agora's free of charge policy

Agora Console provides you with information on billing, fee deductions, and any suspension to your account based on the account type.

None of this applies if you have signed a contract with Agora. The contract overrides all finance information such as billing, deductions, and suspension details.

You have a paid account if you have registered with Agora and done any of the following:

• Added a credit card to your account or topped up your balance using a bank account.

• You have recently made a payment.

• Signed a contract with Agora.

Agora provides each paid account with 1000 free minutes for any outstanding billing amount after a fee deduction.

On the first day of each month, Agora Console issues your bill. The billing period is for the previous calendar month. To view billing information for your projects:

1. In Agora Console, click home.

2. Click Bills.

   You see the detailed billing information for your projects, including billing period, due date, and amount.

   

This section describes the additional charges applicable to your account.

As of November 2021, Agora Singapore charges 7% Singapore Goods and Services Tax (GST) on invoices for all Agora services provided to accounts located in Singapore. Agora determines the account location based on the tax identification number, contact address, or billing address that you have provided. All GST collected from Singapore accounts is paid to the Singapore tax authority.

If you have any questions, contact sales@agora.io.

On the sixth day of each month, Agora Console automatically deducts the fee for the previous month and notifies you by email.

• The services are free of charge, and Agora does not deduct any fee when you meet both of the following requirements:

• The services are free of charge, and Agora does not deduct any fee when you meet both of the following requirements:

• Your monthly total service minutes of Agora Cloud Recording do not exceed 10,000 charge-free minutes; and

• You do not use any other charged Agora services or products.

• If your account balance is negative after the deduction, Agora sends you an email, reminding you to top up your account at your earliest convenience and avoid account suspension.

If your account balance is negative for 30 days since the deduction date, Agora suspends your account and notifies you by email. None of your projects can access the Agora services.

If this happens, please top up your account at your earliest convenience. Once your balance is greater than or equal to zero, Agora unfreezes your account.

Agora suspends your account on the second day after any of the following happens:

• Your total service minutes using Cloud Recording exceed 10,000 charge-free minutes.

• The number of daily active users (DAU) in your RTM project exceeds 1,000.

• You use any Agora services or products not included in the 10,000 charge-free minutes and the usage exceeds the free quota of the services or products.

After account suspension, none of your projects can access the Agora services.

Please top up your account at your earliest convenience. Once you top up your account, Agora unfreezes your account and upgrades your account to a paid account.

You have a free account if you have registered with Agora and not done any of the following:

• Added a credit card to your account or topped up your balance using a bank account.

• You have recently made a payment.

• Signed a contract with Agora.

With a free Agora account, you have the first 10000 minutes free.

Agora gives each Agora Account 10,000 free-of-charge minutes each month, and deducts the minutes in the following sequence:

• Interactive live streaming standard audio minutes

• Voice call, video call, and interactive live streaming premimum audio minutes

• On-premise recording audio minutes

• Cloud recording audio non-transcoding minutes

• Cloud recording audio minutes

• Web page recording audio minutes

• Cloud Proxy audio minutes

• Interactive live streaming standard HD video minutes

• Voice call, video call, and interactive live streaming premimum HD video minutes

• On-premise recording HD video minutes

• Cloud recording HD video minutes

• Web page recording HD video minutes

• Cloud Proxy HD video minutes

• Voice call, video call, and interactive live streaming premimum HD+ video minutes

• On-premise recording HD+ video minutes

• Cloud recording HD+ video minutes

• Web page recording HD+ video minutes

• Cloud Proxy HD+ video minutes

• Interactive live streaming standard Full HD video minutes

• Voice call, video call, and interactive live streaming premimum Full HD video minutes

• On-premise recording Full HD video minutes

• Cloud recording Full HD video minutes

• Web page recording Full HD video minutes

• Cloud Proxy Full HD video minutes

• Interactive live streaming standard 2K video minutes

• Voice call, video call, and interactive live streaming premimum 2K video minutes

• On-premise recording 2K video minutes

• Cloud recording 2K video minutes

• Interactive live streaming standard 2K+ video minutes

• Voice call, video call, and interactive live streaming premimum 2K+ video minutes

• On-premise recording 2K+ video minutes

• Cloud recording 2K+ video minutes

• Cloud proxy 2K+ video minutes

If your total service minutes do not exceed 10,000 minutes, the service is free of charge. After the 10,000 free-of-charge minutes are fully deducted, Agora charges you for the additional service minutes. The remaining free-of-charge minutes will be cleared at the end of each calendar month. The 10,000 free-of-charge minutes policy does not apply to CDN live streaming. Using this service leads to immediate account freeze. If your app scenario involves CDN live streaming, we recommend adding a credit card to your account, making a payment, or signing a contract with Agora.

The 10,000 free-of-charge minutes policy does not apply to the Agora VSDK.

In Cloud Recording, service minutes are calculated either by the number of users or by the number of streams. Agora calculates service minutes by the number of users.

Suppose N users talk for M minutes in a channel, the total service minutes = N * M.

• If two users talk for 10 minutes, the total service minutes are: 2 * 10 = 20.

• If five users talk for 10 minutes, the total service minutes are: 5 * 10 = 50.

• If 10 users talk for 10 minutes, the total service minutes are: 10 * 10 = 100.

In this approach, the service minutes purely depend on the number of the users in the channel, regardless of how many streams each user subscribes to.

Suppose N users talk for M minutes in a channel, and each user subscribes to all remote streams in the channel, the total service minutes = N * (N-1) * M.

• If two users talk for 10 minutes, the total service minutes are: 2 * (2-1) * 10 = 20.

• If five users talk for 10 minutes, the total service minutes are: 5 * (5-1) * 10 = 200.

• If 10 users talk for 10 minutes, the total service minutes are: 10 * (10-1) * 10 = 900.

In this approach, if a user subscribes to multiple streams, every remote stream the user subscribes to is counted.

See the table below for the difference between the two approaches:

Scenario	Service minutes by the number of users	Service minutes by the number of streams
Two users talk for 10 minutes.	20 minutes	20 minutes
Five users talk for 10 minutes.	50 minutes	200 minutes
10 users talk for 10 minutes.	100 minutes	900 minutes

The difference between the two approaches become greater when more people join the channel.

Agora calculates service minutes by the number of users, which is easier and more straightforward.