Billing Introduction

Overview

The DCS Cloud (hereinafter referred to as the "Platform") is a cloud-based service platform that cooperates with cloud providers to provide services to you by using the cloud resources they offer. The utilization of such cloud resources will incur costs. In addition, if you use paid tools, processes, etc., on the platform, you will need to pay additional fees to the platform or the creators.

This document will explain in detail the platform's billing function, billing rules, billing methods, and other related information, so you can use the platform's features with confidence and transparency as needed.

Billing scenarios

When you run analysis tasks, store data, download files, and subscribe to tools on the platform, you will incur corresponding expenses. The business scenarios that currently generate expenses or are planned to include, but are not limited to, the following, for your reference:

1. Project:

2. 【Chip】Operations related to data such as downloading ipr files, and various tasks such as run/batch run/re-run/start tasks.

3. 【Data】Download files, etc.

4. 【Workflow】Running tasks.

5. 【Tool】Running tasks.

6. 【Analysis】Operations like creating a notebook, mounting data, quick run, offline tasks, resetting resources, cloning, etc.

7. 【Task】Re-run, start and download tasks, etc.

8. Public：

1）【Project】If you copy a public project (as shown in the figure below), you need to select a billing group. Subsequent cloud resource expenses and tool subscription fees for that project will be deducted from that billing group.

Billing item and Pricing

Billing item

Analysis charge unit price

Instance size	vCPUs	Memory(GiB)	GPU	Price(CNY/hour)	Remark
ecs.c6a.xlarge	4	8		0.797
ecs.g6a.xlarge	4	16		1.09
ecs.c6a.2xlarge	8	16		1.383
ecs.r6a.xlarge	4	32		1.402
ecs.g6a.2xlarge	8	32		1.97
ecs.c6a.4xlarge	16	32		2.557
ecs.r6a.2xlarge	8	64		2.595
ecs.g6a.4xlarge	16	64		3.73
ecs.c6a.8xlarge	32	64		4.903
ecs.r6.4xlarge	16	128		5.51
ecs.g6.6xlarge	24	96		6.21
ecs.g6a.8xlarge	32	128		7.25
ecs.hfr6.6xlarge	24	192		8.96
ecs.hfc6.10xlarge	40	96		9.168
ecs.c6a.16xlarge	64	128		9.597
ecs.r6a.8xlarge	32	256		9.75
ecs.hfg6.10xlarge	40	192		11.21
ecs.g6.13xlarge	52	192		13.21
ecs.g6a.16xlarge	64	256		14.29
ecs.hfc6.20xlarge	80	192		18.126
ecs.r6.13xlarge	52	384		17.44
ecs.c6.26xlarge	104	192		20.47
ecs.hfg6.20xlarge	80	384		22.21
ecs.g6.26xlarge	104	384		26.21
ecs.r7a.16xlarge	64	512		19.29
ecs.r7a.32xlarge	128	1024		38.37	Only for Alibaba Cloud, BGI-Shenzhen
ecs.gn5i-c4g1.xlarge	4	16	1P10-GPU	9.9	Only for Alibaba Cloud
ecs.gn5i-c16g1.4xlarge	16	64	1P10-GPU	15.84	Only for Alibaba Cloud
/	144	1536		46.9051	Only for BGI-Shenzhen
/	144	1920		58.6314	Only for BGI-Shenzhen
/	144	2048		62.5402	Only for BGI-Shenzhen
/	144	3000		91.6116	Only for BGI-Shenzhen
L4GPU	88	320	L4GPU	26.4500	Only for BGI-Shenzhen, BGI-Center
3080Ti	88	320	GPU	26.4500	Only for BGI-Shenzhen, BGI-Center
A100	128	2000	GPU	210.4603	Only for BGI-Chongqing, BGI-Center

Special Note: Except for Alibaba Cloud, if there are no instance sizes matching the resource specifications you requested, the platform will charge based on the unit price of the instance type with the closest specifications. For example: If you request resources with CPU: 2 and Memory: 4, and the closest matching instance size is ecs.c6a.xlarge (CPU: 4, Memory: 8), the task will be billed at the unit price of 0.797 CNY/hour.

Storage charge unit price

Note: Hourly unit price = Monthly unit price/30 (days)/24 (hours)ownload charge unit price

Download charge unit price

Billing example

Analysis Charges

Analysis charges consist of compute charges and subscription charges.

Compute Charges are charged based on the "duration of occupation of a computing node with a certain specific configuration (instance specification)." If a task involves multiple steps, the platform will calculate the compute charges for each step and then sum up the charges of all steps to obtain the total compute charges for the current task. Subscription charges are levied according to the charges specified by the platform or the creator based on the number of task executions.

Currently, only compute charges are collected for analysis online and offline tasks. For other analysis tasks (workflow analysis), depending on the charging method and task status, the analysis charges are calculated as follows:

The definition of official workflow can be found in: Definitions.

• Example 1: Billing for tasks with only compute charges collected

1. Task Success: Suppose you submit a workflow analysis task on the platform, and only compute charges are collected for this task. The task consists of 5 steps. The table below assumes the configurations used and the running durations, and based on these, the task analysis charge is calculated to be 24.95 CNY.

Note：Actual running configuration may differ from your requested configuration. For reference, see: Definitions.

2. Task Cancellation or Failure:

If the task you submitted in the above example is an official platform workflow task, and you cancel the task during the execution of Step 3 or the task ultimately fails, the analysis charge is 0.

If the task you submitted in the above example is a non - official platform workflow task, and you cancel the task during the execution of Step 3 or the task ultimately fails, only the analysis charges for Step 1 and Step 2 are calculated, which is 5.13 CNY.

• Example 2: Billing for tasks with only subscription charges collected

Suppose you submit a workflow analysis task on the platform, and only subscription charges are collected for this task. The pricing of this workflow is 70 yuan and no discount gradient is set. The analysis charges for different task statuses are calculated as follows:

1. Task Completion: The analysis charge is the subscription charge, which is 70 CNY.

2. Task Failure: No analysis charge is charged, so it is 0.

3. Task Cancellation: Suppose when you cancel the task, the compute charges are as shown in the following table. Since the compute charges are less than the subscription charge, the analysis charge is the smaller amount, which is 5.13 CNY. Conversely, if the compute charges are greater than the subscription charge when cancelled, the analysis charge is the subscription charge, which is 70 CNY.

• Example 3: Billing for tasks with compute charges +subscription charges collected

Suppose you submit a workflow analysis task on the platform, and the charging method for this task is to collect both compute charges and subscription charges. Assume the cost conditions are as shown in the following table. Based on this, the analysis charges for different task statuses are calculated as follows:

1）Task Completion: The analysis charge is the sum of the compute charges and the subscription charges, which is 21 + 10.38, that is 31.38 CNY.

2）Task Failure or Cancellation: No analysis charge is collected, so it is 0.

The subscription charge is calculated as follows:

Suppose the workflow price and discount gradient are as follows:

Suppose there are 2 projects under your billing group, and the workflow has been run multiple times before. The subscription charges paid for the 5th, 18th, and 48th runs of the workflow are shown in the following table. This time, the task you submitted is the 79th run of the workflow for the project under this billing group, and the subscription charge to be paid is 21 CNY:

Suppose the compute charges when the task is completed are as follows:

• Example 4: Billing for Analysis tasks

Suppose you submitted a notebook analysis task on the platform. The table below assumes billing conditions and calculates the analysis charge for the task to be 4.14 CNY.

Storage Charges

Computational storage charges are charged based on storage size and duration. Storage size is calculated based on the file size at the time of billing. If multiple files are generated during a task's runtime, the storage size of all files at the billing point is summed to calculate the computational storage size. Data storage charges are charged based on the size of the file and duration.

Storage charges are calculated with a minimum storage duration of 1 hour.

• Example 1：Data storage charges generated by storing files

If you uploaded a 100G file to your Project A on the platform at 8:20 AM on March 1st, 2024, and there are no other data files in that project, then the data storage charges for Project A with different storage durations are as detailed in the following table.

• Example 2: Computational storage charges generated from task submission

Suppose that on March 1st, 2024, at 8:30 AM, you submitted an analysis task for Project B on the platform, and the task ended at 11:30 AM, with no other analysis tasks during that period. The table below assumes billing conditions and accordingly calculates the computational storage charges for Project B during this period to be 0.14 CNY.

• Example 3: Calculation of daily storage charges generated by file storage and task submission

Assuming that you uploaded a 100G file to your Project C on the platform at 8:20 AM on March 1, 2024, and at 8:30 you submitted a standard analysis task based on that file. The two tables below assume billing conditions and accordingly calculate Project C's data storage charges and computational storage charges for that day. Therefore, the total storage charges for Project C for that day would be 0.90 CNY after adding both.

Data storage charge:

Computational Storage charge:

Download Charges

Download charges are charged based on the outgoing traffic of the downloaded files. Multiple downloads of the same file will generate multiple traffic instances, and the download charges will be calculated accordingly.

• Example 1

Suppose you download a file from the platform, and the operation results in a total outgoing traffic of 200G, then the download charge would be 100 CNY, as shown in the table below.

Recharge and Invoice

The platform adopts a prepaid model, which needs to be recharged before use.

Free trial

After you successfully register, the platform will automatically create a default billing group named after your username (i.e., XXX billing group) and award you some trial funds, which you are welcome to use to try out the platform's features. The trial funds have no expiration date and are valid until used up.

The trial funds cannot be transferred or refunded, and the amount is based on the platform's policies. Please refer to the registration success notification email you received.

Recharge

Recharge

In all regions in China, we support self-recharge by the billing group owner using an Alibaba Cloud authorization code. The specific steps are as follows. For more details on billing group members and permissions, please refer to: Definitions.

1. Open the billing group: Click on the billing group under your username and select a billing group to enter.

2. Go to the Alibaba Cloud Market to purchase products.

3. Copy the authorization code to recharge on the platform.

In addition, you can also contact the platform’s official email: cloud@stomics.tech to sign a contract and recharge.

If you need to create a new billing group, please contact cloud@stomics.tech.

Special Instructions for BGI internal project billing group

For details on the scope of BGI internal project billing group, please refer to: Definitions.

• PM billing group

The initial amount in the PM billing group is the IT budget of the project. If you need to recharge, please contact the platform's official email: cloud@stomics.tech.

• Business billing group、CRM billing group

The business billing group and CRM billing groupwill also receive some trial funds from the platform, which can be used for downloading files and experiencing features. To continue recharging, you can:

1）If the contract signed for the project includes bioinformatics analysis fees, please contact the corresponding salesperson. The sales will coordinate with the platform's official email cloud@stomics.tech for recharge.

2）You can also contact the platform's official email cloud@stomics.tech to sign a new analysis contract with the platform and then recharge.

Apply for invoice

The amount you actually recharge on the platform can be applied for an invoice. Please note that the platform trial funds and other amounts given as gifts cannot be applied for an invoice.

For authorized code top-ups, you can apply for an invoice in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace, details of which can be found at:Apply for invoice. For other top-up amounts, please send the billing information to cloud@stomics.tech to apply for an invoice. We will review the information and issue an invoice.

Special note: If you need to issue an enterprise invoice for the authorization code purchased in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace, but you cannot conduct enterprise authentication, you can follow the following steps:

(1) Recharge by using the authorization code on the platform

(2) Apply for personal invoice in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace

(3) Send billing information (Alibaba Cloud market order number, order screenshot, billing amount, billing name, tax number) and invoice recipient's email address to the official email cloud@stomics.tech to apply for a enterprise invoice

We will review the top-up record and billing information, and issue the enterprise invoice to the email address of the invoice recipient.

Refund

If you have owner rights to a billing group (for details on billing group members and their permissions, please see: Definitions), the platform supports refunds for the balance of the billing group.

For authorized code top-ups, you need to request a refund in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace. The refund policy is in accordance with the Aliyun Market policy (see: Refund Policy for Alibaba Cloud) and will be processed after being reviewed and approved by the platform. For any other refund requests or issues, please contact the platform's official email：cloud@stomics.tech.

Special Notes:

(1) When you initiate a refund, the projects associated with the billing group must not have any queued or running tasks. You must wait until all tasks have ended and the bill has been updated before proceeding with the refund operation.

(2) The current platform only supports full refunds based on the fapiao amount and does not support partial refunds. See the table below for examples.

Cost reminder and delinquency handling

Low balance risk reminder

If the balance of a billing group falls below 100, and you have owner rights to this billing group (for details on billing group members and their permissions, please see: Definitions), you will receive a low balance reminder email.

To avoid the risk of accruing debt and being unable to use platform features, which could affect your normal work, it is recommended that you promptly recharge your billing group upon receiving this email, as detailed in: Recharge.

Handling of outstanding charges

When the balance of the billing group is less than 0, the platform will start the delinquency verification. At this time, the project associated with the billing group cannot run analysis tasks, upload/download data and other operations that require payment. At the same time, the data stored by the project will continue to incur storage charges, causing the amount owed by the billing group to continue to increase.

Special Note: For the BGI internal project billing group, mask files (h5 files) for associated projects can still be downloaded during the period of overdue fees. The download will be charged and accounted for normally. The scope of BGI internal projects is as follows: Definitions.

Bill inquiry

Billing group owners can view account balances and expense bills.

In the Account menu, you can view the billing group's balance, recharge/refund, and other operation records.

In the Statement menu, You can view and download monthly bills. You can also switch to viewing trends over the last six months or the last one year.

You can also view the bill details and download them:

Member management

Billing group owners can manage members. For details on billing group members and their permissions, please see: Definitions.

In the Member menu, you can view and manage billing group members.

1）Add Member

• The member being added must be registered on the platform. Add by entering the platform's username, as invitation through email is not supported.

• It is possible to choose whether the added user is an owner.

2）Edit/Delete member

Supports editing member roles.

Please note: If the current billing group has only one owner, you cannot edit the member's role or delete the member.

FAQ

1.Why am I incurring costs every day when I haven't done anything on the platform?

Storage charges are incurred daily for data that you have uploaded/generated on the platform, which are regularly deducted from the billing group associated with the project. It is advisable to promptly clean up project data to avoid unnecessary costs.

2.My task has ended/closed, why do I still incur computational storage costs?

The temporary files generated by the analysis (files in the work and task directories) will continue to incur computational storage charges.

Move data from [Analysis] to [Data] by Save Data, and then mounting the data when needed for analysis can reduce storage charges.

3.Why are my analysis charges so high?

The unit price for analysis on the platform is charged according to the platform's listed prices, and the reasons for high costs may include:

(1) To meet your analysis needs, the cloud provider has allocated instances with higher configurations, leading to a higher price per unit of analysis.

(2) Analysis steps are complex, causing the task to run for a long time. Additionally, if you are running a notebook analysis task and do not promptly close the running page, this period of time will also be included in the running duration of the task. It is advised to close tasks promptly to avoid unnecessary charges.

4.Why is there a discrepancy between the amount calculated after I download the billing details and the amount displayed on the page?

The billing details may be issued 0.5 to 1 hour later than the billing group balance and summary, which may lead to inconsistencies.

5.My project is in arrears, and I want to move the project data to another project for analysis, what should I do?

For projects in arrears, it is recommended that you recharge promptly to avoid affecting your normal work. If you need to move the data to another project for analysis, ensure that the billing group for the new project has sufficient balance, and then proceed with data migration:

Suppose you want to copy data from Project A to Project B, you can use the "Copy from project" function on the [data] page of Project B to select and copy the files from Project A, as shown in the figure below. After completing the data migration, promptly clean up the data in Project A to avoid additional storage charges, as the platform will also periodically clear data for projects that continuously incur arrears.

Please take special note: Files generated from notebook analysis tasks need to be saved before(see: Save Data). If your project is currently in arrears, you will not be able to start a notebook analysis to save data; in this case, you will need to recharge first, see: Recharge.

Update note

The platform will adjust the billing rules from time to time based on actual circumstances. Should there be any changes, we will update this document promptly and notify you.

If you have any questions or needs, please leave your questions or valuable suggestions through the platform's "STOmics SM" feature, or contact the official platform email: cloud@stomics.tech.

Appendix：Definitions

• Billing group: The platform’s recharge and consumption functions are operated and accounted for on a billing group basis.

  • Relationship between billing group and project: A project can only have one billing group associated with it, but a billing group can be associated with multiple projects.

  • Relationship between billing group members and project members: Both a billing group and a project can have multiple members, but the list of members may differ between them.

• Billing group member: Billing group members are divided into two roles: owner and user. The role menus and functional permissions are as follows.

• Project type: There are currently three types of projects on the platform:

  • PM Project: Projects synchronized from the BGI PM project management system. The billing group defaults to the PM project number( (i.e., PM billing group).

  • Business Project: Projects synchronized from the BGI STOmics Business Management System. The billing group defaults to the business project number(i.e., Business billing group). Additionally, some business projects are established based on PM projects in the BGI STOmics Business Management System. Upon user request, the billing group is updated to the corresponding PM billing group.

  • CRM Project：Projects synchronized from the BGI CRM system. The billing group defaults to the CRM project number( (i.e., PM billing group).

  • Personal Project: Projects you create using the platform’s "Create Project" feature.

Among them, PM projects, Business projects and CRM projects are collectively referred to as BGI internal projects.

• Billing cycle: The frequency at which the platform issues billing statements, such as hourly, daily, monthly, etc.

• Instance specification: Server specifications used for running tasks; different specifications represent different CPUs and memory capacities, with varying prices.

• Requested configuration: The instance specification you apply for running tasks.

• Actual running configuration: The actual instance specification used during task execution. Due to factors such as cloud provider supply, differences in task schedulers, etc., the actual running configuration may differ from the requested configuration. The final cost will be calculated based on the actual running configuration.

• Official workflow: Refers to the workflows marked with "DCS," as shown in the diagram below.