specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: CVAT
providerId: cvat
created: '2026-06-21'
modified: '2026-06-21'
reconciled: true
tags:
- Computer Vision
- Data Annotation
- Labeling
- Datasets
- Open Source
- FinOps
- Cost Management
- FOCUS
description: >-
  FinOps view of CVAT spend. CVAT cost has two distinct shapes. Self-hosted
  Community edition (MIT) carries no vendor license fee; the spend is the
  operator's own infrastructure (compute, storage, GPU for auto-annotation,
  egress) and ops effort. CVAT Online (app.cvat.ai) is a subscription SaaS:
  flat monthly/annual for Free and Solo, per-seat for Team, and negotiated for
  Enterprise, with consumption gated by plan quotas on projects, tasks,
  storage, cloud connections, and monthly AI (auto-annotation) calls. Annual
  billing reduces effective per-seat cost by roughly 30%.
notes: >-
  Hosted prices, seat minimums, and quota ceilings change; verify against the
  CVAT pricing pages during reconciliation. For self-hosted, the meaningful
  meters are infrastructure resources rather than vendor charges.
sources:
- https://www.cvat.ai/pricing/cloud
- https://www.cvat.ai/pricing/enterprise
- https://github.com/cvat-ai/cvat
- https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: CVAT.ai
serviceCategory: Machine Learning and Data Annotation
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Subscription
  billingFrequency: Monthly
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
  - Usage
  - Purchase
  - Adjustment
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: CVAT Online
  ServiceCategory: Machine Learning and Data Annotation
  ProviderName: CVAT.ai
  PublisherName: CVAT.ai
  InvoiceIssuerName: CVAT.ai
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Purchase
  PricingCategory: Subscription
meters:
- name: subscription_seats
  description: Billable seats on the Team plan, charged per user per billing cycle (minimum two seats).
  unit: seats
  aggregation: max
  dimensions:
  - account
  - organization
  - plan
- name: subscription_flat
  description: Flat monthly or annual charge for Free and Solo hosted plans.
  unit: subscription
  aggregation: max
  dimensions:
  - account
  - plan
- name: ai_calls
  description: Automatic-annotation (AI) calls consumed against the monthly plan allowance.
  unit: invocations
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - organization
  - plan
- name: internal_storage_gb
  description: Internal storage consumed against the plan storage quota.
  unit: gigabytes
  aggregation: max
  dimensions:
  - account
  - organization
  - plan
- name: project_count
  description: Projects created against the plan project quota.
  unit: projects
  aggregation: max
  dimensions:
  - account
  - organization
  - plan
- name: task_count
  description: Tasks created against the plan task quota.
  unit: tasks
  aggregation: max
  dimensions:
  - account
  - organization
  - plan
- name: self_hosted_infrastructure
  description: Operator-owned compute, storage, GPU, and egress for self-hosted Community CVAT (no vendor charge).
  unit: resource_hours
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - environment
  - resource
principles:
- name: Visibility
  description: Track seat count, AI-call burn, and storage/task/project quota usage in the CVAT Online org dashboard; for self-hosted, track underlying cloud infrastructure spend.
- name: Allocation
  description: Map organizations and seats to teams and cost centers; tag self-hosted infrastructure per environment.
- name: Optimization
  description: Choose self-hosted Community (MIT, $0 license) when ops capacity exists and data residency matters; on hosted, right-size the plan to quota usage, prefer annual billing (~30% off), and reclaim idle seats.
- name: Accountability
  description: Assign an owner per organization; review seat count, AI-call consumption, and quota headroom monthly against budget.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com