Hi Zoom Developer Support Team,
We are currently using a Zoom Video SDK | Pay As You Go account.
As shown in the attached screenshot, our current account includes:
10,000 Video SDK session minutes per month.
We are already using the Video SDK successfully for video calls in our application.
We are now planning to add the following two features:
- Video SDK Cloud Recording
- Post-session transcription from the recorded Video SDK session
Our primary plan is to store the recorded videos in Zoom Cloud and allow users to watch the recordings later from our own web application.
The conversations are mainly in Japanese, so we also need to generate Japanese text transcripts after the recording/session has ended.
In our Zoom Billing portal, we can currently see:
- Video SDK Recording – From ¥15,000/month
- Video SDK Transcription and Translation – Contact Us
We would like to clarify the required plans and especially the total costs related to recording, storage, playback/streaming, bandwidth, and transcription.
- Upgrade from our current Video SDK PAYG account
Our current account is:
Video SDK | Pay As You Go
10,000 free Video SDK session minutes per month
We would like to add:
Video SDK Session
→ Cloud Recording
→ Store Recording in Zoom Cloud
→ Post-session Japanese Transcription
→ Playback Recording from our Web Application
What plan/add-ons do we need to purchase for this use case?
Should we:
- Keep our current Video SDK PAYG plan and add the Video SDK Recording plan?
- Purchase a separate plan/service for post-session transcription?
- Or upgrade to the Zoom Build Platform / Universal Credit plan?
We would like to understand the minimum required plan combination for this workflow.
- Can we keep our current 10,000 free Video SDK session minutes?
This is an important point for us.
If we add Cloud Recording and post-session Transcription to our current account, will we continue to receive the existing 10,000 free Video SDK session minutes every month?
If we need to upgrade to Zoom Build Platform / Universal Credit, will the current 10,000 free session minutes remain available, or will they be replaced by the new plan?
Ideally, we would like to continue using the existing 10,000 free session minutes for Video SDK calls and pay separately for Recording, Storage, and Transcription.
- Video SDK Recording – ¥15,000/month
Our Billing portal shows:
Video SDK Recording
From ¥15,000/month
“Additional storage to store, stream, share, and download meetings”
Could you please clarify exactly what is included in this ¥15,000/month plan?
For example:
- How many Cloud Recording minutes are included per month?
- How much Zoom Cloud storage is included?
- What is the recording overage rate?
- What is the storage overage rate?
- Is there a maximum storage limit?
- How long can recordings remain stored in Zoom Cloud?
- Do recordings remain stored across billing months until we delete them?
For example, if our total recordings stored in Zoom Cloud reach approximately 100 GB, we would like to understand how the monthly storage cost would be calculated.
- How are Cloud Recording minutes calculated?
Our Video SDK sessions normally have 2 participants.
For example:
2 participants
30-minute Video SDK session
30-minute composed Cloud Recording
How many recording minutes would be charged in this case?
Would it be:
30 recording minutes
or
30 minutes × 2 participants = 60 recording minutes?
We would like to clearly distinguish between Video SDK Session Minutes and Cloud Recording Minutes for cost estimation.
- Zoom Cloud Storage cost
Our primary option is to keep recordings in Zoom Cloud.
Could you please explain how Cloud Recording Storage is billed?
For example, suppose we have:
Month 1: 50 GB stored
Month 2: 80 GB stored
Month 3: 100 GB stored
If we do not delete the previous recordings, how will storage be charged each month?
Is the storage charge based on:
- Average storage during the month?
- Storage at the end of the billing period?
- Peak/highest storage usage during the billing period?
- Another calculation method?
We would also like to know whether storage from previous months continues to generate charges until the recordings are deleted.
- Playback, streaming and bandwidth costs
This is one of the most important questions for our cost estimation.
Our users will access our web application and watch recordings that are stored in Zoom Cloud.
Could you please clarify whether Zoom charges any additional fees for:
- Streaming/playback
- Bandwidth
- Data transfer
- Downloading recordings
- Repeated playback of the same recording
For example:
A recording file is 500 MB.
If 10 users watch the same recording:
500 MB × 10 = approximately 5 GB of data transferred.
Would Zoom charge us for this 5 GB of playback/data transfer?
Or is playback/streaming included in the Video SDK Recording/Cloud Storage plan?
If there is a bandwidth or streaming charge, could you please provide the pricing or explain how it is calculated?
- Accessing Zoom Cloud Recordings from our application
We plan to display the recorded videos in our own web application.
Could you please confirm the recommended implementation?
For example:
Video SDK Session
→ Zoom Cloud Recording
→ Recording completed
→ Webhook notification
→ Our backend retrieves recording information
→ User opens our web application
→ User watches the recording stored on Zoom Cloud
For playback, should our application:
- Use a Zoom-provided playback URL?
- Use a temporary/signed download URL?
- Download the video to our server first?
- Or use another recommended Video SDK API?
We would also like to know whether the playback method affects bandwidth or other Zoom charges.
- Post-session Japanese Transcription
Our requirement is NOT primarily real-time transcription/translation.
Our required workflow is:
Video SDK Session
→ Cloud Recording
→ Session ends
→ Recording processing completes
→ Generate Japanese transcript from the recording
→ Retrieve transcript through API/Webhook
→ Store/display transcript in our application
Could you please clarify:
- Which Zoom service/plan is required for post-session Video SDK recording transcription?
- Is this “Video SDK Cloud Recording Transcript” rather than “Video SDK Live Transcription and Translation”?
- Is Japanese supported?
- How is post-session transcription priced?
- Is the price calculated per recording minute?
- Can transcription be generated automatically after the session ends?
- What transcript format is generated (for example, VTT)?
- Can the transcript be retrieved/downloaded through the Video SDK REST API?
- Is there a webhook notification when the transcript is ready?
- Cost example
To help us understand the pricing, could you please provide a cost example for the following scenario?
Per month:
- Current Video SDK PAYG account
- 10,000 free Video SDK session minutes
- Approximately 30 hours of actual video calls
- Normally 2 participants per session
- Approximately 30 hours of composed Cloud Recording
- Approximately 30 hours of post-session Japanese transcription
- Approximately 100 GB of recordings stored in Zoom Cloud
- Recordings are played multiple times by users from our web application
We would like to understand the estimated monthly costs for:
Video SDK Session
- Cloud Recording
- Zoom Cloud Storage
- Post-session Transcription
- Playback/Streaming/Bandwidth (if applicable)
This would help us determine the actual monthly cost of operating these features.
- BYOS / Amazon S3 as an alternative option
Our primary plan is to use Zoom Cloud Storage.
However, our application already uses Amazon S3, so we would also like to understand BYOS as an alternative option.
Could you please clarify:
- Does Video SDK Cloud Recording support BYOS with Amazon S3?
- Can we use an existing S3 bucket?
- How do we configure BYOS for a Video SDK account?
- Are recordings transferred directly to S3 automatically after recording?
- Does Zoom temporarily store the recording before transferring it to S3?
- When BYOS is enabled, do Zoom Cloud Storage charges still apply?
- Do Cloud Recording minute charges still apply?
- Does Zoom charge any additional data-transfer fee for transferring recordings to our S3 bucket?
- Are there any additional Zoom fees specifically for using BYOS?
- Can post-session transcription still be generated by Zoom when the recording is stored using BYOS?
- If we use BYOS, which costs are charged by Zoom and which costs would instead be charged by AWS?
If possible, please also provide the documentation or recommended implementation steps for enabling BYOS for Video SDK Cloud Recording.
Summary
Our preferred architecture is:
Video SDK Session
→ Zoom Cloud Recording
→ Zoom Cloud Storage
→ Post-session Japanese Transcription
→ Playback from our Web Application
We mainly need clarification on:
- Which plan(s) we need to purchase
- Whether we can keep our current 10,000 free Video SDK session minutes
- Cloud Recording pricing
- Cloud Storage pricing
- Storage retention/cumulative storage costs
- Playback/streaming/bandwidth costs
- Post-session transcription pricing
- The expected total monthly cost
BYOS with Amazon S3 is currently an alternative option that we would also like to understand in terms of implementation and cost.
We have attached screenshots of our current Video SDK PAYG plan and the Video SDK Recording / Transcription products shown in our Billing portal for reference.
Thank you very much for your support.
Best regards,
Thi Ngo