Cost Splitting
Updated at：2025-10-27
Overview
Cost allocation provides you with the allocation records of shared resources under the same account (e.g., allocation of instance coupons to specific instances, allocation of BOS to specific buckets, etc.) It records the costs you have invested in each actual machine, allowing you to view the allocated payable amount for each cloud-based machine. This can be used as a reference for your internal settlement, but not as a basis for financial reconciliation between you and Baidu AI Cloud.
Field description
Cost allocation will split the following types of billing resources, which are:
- For subscription machines: We will allocate the cost based on time. For example, if a machine is purchased on June 15, 2024, with a total cost of RMB 365 and a validity period of 1 year, the cost allocated to June will be the fee for 15 days, i.e., RMB 15, and the cost allocated to July will be RMB 31.
- For usage package-based billing instances: We will allocate the cost according to the actual consumption of the package and the specific resource ID used. For example, for a BOS read count package, the used portion will be allocated to specific buckets, and the unused portion upon expiration will be allocated as an “unallocated billing item”.
- For billing instances such as instance coupons and storage packages: We will allocate the cost based on the daily usage of instance coupons/storage packages by instances. If an instance coupon/storage package is not used to offset the cost of an instance, the corresponding amount will be recorded as an “unallocated billing item”.
- For products with unified consumption billing like BOS: To meet your internal settlement needs, the cost will be allocated to specific buckets. If there are costs that cannot be allocated to a specific bucket (e.g., billing items such as outbound traffic), they will be separately recorded in the instance with the allocated instance ID of “-”.
Explanations of several scenarios:
- Allocated instance ID is “-”: Represents unallocated instance coupons, storage packages, usage packages, or the allocated costs of BOS buckets without a clear owner.
- Source instance ID is “-”: For products like BOS and CDN, the source billing entity has no concept of “instance ID”; or the machine does not enjoy cost allocation and is a separately billed machine.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Allocated instance ID | The instance ID after cost allocation. If the allocated instance ID is “-”, it indicates that this part of the usage has no clear machine owner, such as unallocated instance coupons, storage packages, usage packages, or BOS buckets without a clear owner. |
| Allocated product name | The product name corresponding to the instance after cost allocation. |
| Region | The region corresponding to the instance after cost allocation. |
| Bill type | The payment method corresponding to the instance after cost allocation. |
| Source instance ID | The ownership of the cost before allocation, which is generally the instance ID of the instance coupon, storage package, or usage package. |
| List price amount | The allocated list price amount after splitting. It should be noted that since the split item bill is allocation data, the product of the unit price and usage quantity in the split item bill may not be equal to the list price amount. |
| Need-pay amount | The allocated payable amount after splitting, which can be used as a reference for your internal settlement. It should be noted that since the split item bill is allocation data, the product of the unit price and usage quantity in the split item bill may not be equal to the payable amount. Total payable amount of allocated instance IDs: The total internal investment you have made for this instance. |
| Resource labels | The tags you have assigned to the corresponding allocated instance IDs. |
Differences between cost allocation and consumption bills
- For subscription machines: The consumption bill records the month when the order is purchased. For example, if a machine is purchased on June 15 for RMB 365, the consumption bill will record a consumption of RMB 365 in June, while the cost allocation will record RMB 15.
- For usage package-based machines: The consumption bill records the total amount of the purchased usage package. For example, if a usage package is purchased on June 15 for RMB 300, the consumption bill will record a consumption of RMB 300 in June. If you do not use the usage package in June, the cost allocation amount will be 0.
- For instance coupons, storage packages, etc.: The consumption bill records the purchase cost of the instance coupons or storage packages, while the cost allocation records the cost of the instance coupons or storage packages allocated to specific machines.
- For products with unified consumption billing like BOS: The consumption bill records the total consumption amount corresponding to the product and its billing items, while the split item bill will split the cost into specific buckets.