# How does Agora calculate service minutes? (/en/api-reference/faq/account/billing_basis)

> For AI agents: see the complete documentation index at [llms.txt](/llms.txt).

In Real-time Communication(Video SDK), 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**.

## Approach 1: calculate by the number of users [#approach-1-calculate-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.

## Approach 2: calculate by the number of streams [#approach-2-calculate-by-the-number-of-streams]

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.

## Difference between the two approaches [#difference-between-the-two-approaches]

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.

## Calculation approach by Agora [#calculation-approach-by-agora]

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

## Reference [#reference]

[Billing for Real-time Communication](/en/video-calling/reference/billing-policies)