Billing & credits
Usage on Lookalike is metered in credits. Credits are the single unit that covers everything you do through the API — onboarding an identity and running live sessions both draw from the same balance. You buy credits up front and spend them as you go. Credits are priced at $1 = 1,000 credits.
How billing is scoped
Credits belong to an account, and each API key is scoped to one account. Every identity you onboard and every session you run is billed to the account behind the key on the request — there's nothing to attach to individual calls. Manage your balance, top up, and view usage in the Console.
What draws on credits
| Activity | When it's charged | Billed on |
|---|---|---|
| Identity onboarding | Once, when a new identity is created and processed to ready | Per identity |
| Realtime session | While a session is live and the avatar is streaming | Per minute of avatar streaming |
A few implications worth calling out:
- Onboarding is a one-time cost per identity. Once an identity reaches
ready, reusing it across as many sessions as you like costs nothing extra to keep around — you only pay again if you onboard a new identity. - Realtime usage is time-based. A live session accrues cost for as long as the avatar is streaming, so end the session as soon as the conversation is over rather than leaving it open: disconnect from the LiveKit room, or call
POST /v1/sessions/{session_id}/end.
Rates
Credits are priced at $1 = 1,000 credits.
| Item | Unit | Credits | Approx. USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity onboarding | per identity | 200 | $0.20 |
| Realtime session | per minute | 150 | $0.15 |
Any volume discounts are shown at purchase time in the Console.
Running out of credits
Requests that would spend credits you don't have return 402 Insufficient credits:
{ "detail": "Insufficient credits" }
- Onboarding. Creating an identity fails with
402before any processing starts, so you're never charged for a partial onboard. - Realtime. If a live session exhausts your balance mid-conversation, the session ends on its own with an
insufficient_creditsnotice. Top up in the Console and start a new session to continue.
Related
- Core concepts — identities and sessions.
- Create an Identity — onboard an avatar.
- Realtime API — start a live session.