> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tornadoapi.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Billing & Metering

> Understand delivered volume, billable volume, and account-specific billing settings.

## How jobs are billed

Job billing is based on data volume. Each job's delivered files are measured at finalization, and your account's billing rules determine the billable volume. The applicable price per GB and any included allowance are shown in your dashboard and plan terms.

| Job type                                                        | Billable volume when the 720p floor is enabled                 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Complete video actually delivered at 720p or higher             | Delivered size, with a 1 MB minimum                            |
| Complete video below 720p, or with unknown delivered resolution | Greater of delivered size, full-source 720p reference and 1 MB |
| Audio extraction from a non-exempt source                       | Greater of delivered size, full-source 720p reference and 1 MB |
| Clip, at any resolution                                         | Greater of delivered size, full-source 720p reference and 1 MB |
| Spotify or live capture                                         | Delivered size; exempt from the 720p floor                     |

When the floor is disabled for your account, the usage basis is the delivered size. The rules below explain how the reference is calculated and how multiple outputs are counted.

## Delivered volume and billable volume

Delivered volume is the size of the files delivered to your storage. Billable volume may be higher when your organization's billing floor is enabled. Check your dashboard and your plan terms for the basis that applies to your account; do not estimate a bill from downloaded file sizes alone.

## The 720p floor

For eligible jobs with the floor enabled, the base calculation is:

```text theme={null}
max(delivered bytes, full-source 720p reference, 1,000,000 bytes)
```

The reference uses the size of the full source at 720p when available. Otherwise, it is estimated as the full source duration in seconds × 144,490 bytes. If neither is available, the calculation uses the delivered size with the 1 MB minimum. An estimate is not a guarantee that a particular video weighs that much.

A complete download actually delivered at 720p or above is billed on its delivered size, subject to the 1 MB minimum, when the reference would otherwise exceed it. This correction does not apply to clips. Requesting high quality alone does not add a separate full-source requested-quality charge.

Spotify and live-capture modes are exempt from this floor. Do not assume another source is exempt solely because it is audio or a social-media URL; confirm the applicable basis for your account and workload.

## Clips and audio

With the floor enabled, a short clip or an audio extraction can be much smaller than its billable reference. Each job is measured separately. Clips submitted as separate jobs can therefore count the full-source reference multiple times. A single job using the `clips` array is finalized once using the sum of its delivered files, with one reference calculation for that job.

For example, if an eligible source has a 500 MB reference and your clip delivers 4 MB, its floor-based volume is 500 MB. This illustrates volume, not a quoted price: multiply by your account's applicable rate.

## Organization-specific 360p floor

Some accounts have an agreed 360p floor instead of the default 720p floor.
For these accounts, the same rules apply using the full-source 360p reference:
known video and audio size first, otherwise full-source duration × 42,876 bytes
per second. A complete download actually delivered at 360p or higher uses its
delivered size, with the 1 MB minimum. Clips and audio extraction retain the
full-source reference; Spotify and live-capture exemptions are unchanged.
Your dashboard shows which floor applies to your account. A change applies to
future job finalizations and does not recalculate previous usage.

## Worked examples

These examples assume the 720p floor is enabled and the full-source reference is 500 MB. MB and GB are decimal units.

| Request                                      | Delivered volume | Billable volume |
| -------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | --------------- |
| Complete video delivered at 1080p            | 300 MB           | 300 MB          |
| Complete video delivered at 360p             | 100 MB           | 500 MB          |
| Audio-only extraction                        | 20 MB            | 500 MB          |
| One 1080p clip                               | 4 MB             | 500 MB          |
| Three clips submitted as three separate jobs | 12 MB total      | 1,500 MB total  |
| Three clips in one job using `clips`         | 12 MB total      | 500 MB total    |

A non-exempt job with no source reference that delivers 0.4 MB counts as 1 MB when the floor is enabled. A job delivering more than its reference counts at least its delivered size.

Bulk requests and playlist/show batches contain separate jobs: each child job has its own calculation. Grouping jobs into a batch does not combine their billing references.

## Plans and pay-as-you-go

Your dashboard and accepted plan terms show your rate, included volume, free allowance and payment settings. Free-trial quotas, PAYG allowances and subscription inclusions are different account states; do not infer one from another.

PAYG uses decimal units: 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes and 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes, with invoice usage rounded to MB. Settlement is evaluated periodically. Invoice timing depends on cadence, minimum charge and exposure settings. There is no universal rule that invoices wait until \$10.

Once a PAYG allowance is exhausted, paid usage may continue if the account is eligible. An unpaid or paused account may be refused new jobs. Use the account settings and plan terms to determine what happens at your boundary.

## Reading usage

Use delivered and billable usage for their respective purposes. Per-job measurement updates during finalization; dashboard aggregation and caching may introduce a delay. A quota counter is not necessarily the invoice base.

If accounting differs, retain the job IDs, time period, delivered sizes and the dashboard figures so support can identify which basis was applied.

## Alerts and monthly budgets

Volume alerts and a monetary budget are separate settings. Where available for PAYG, a monthly budget can notify you at a threshold or pause eligible API keys at a cap. The month is measured in UTC.

A budget check is periodic, not an atomic spending limit on every byte. Jobs already in progress, cache propagation and temporary service delays can cause overshoot. Raising or removing the cap, or a new month, can allow budget-paused keys to resume, subject to other account restrictions.

Consult the dashboard for the notification destinations and current configuration. Existing delivered files are separate from admission of new jobs.

## Commercial terms

Prices, contractual commitments and change-notice terms are those accepted for your account. Contact support before running a large clipping or audio workload if its billable basis is unclear.