What does a live AI avatar actually cost to run?

Headline rates hide session caps, concurrency ceilings, watermarks, resolution limits, and overages up to 40× the base rate. Enter your workload and compare Spatius, Simli, LiveAvatar, Anam, Beyond Presence, Tavus, and Runway on true monthly cost.

Published pricing verified July 4, 2026 · 7 services
Input · 01

Your workload

Requirements
Service scope

Added to rendering-only services. Typical STT + LLM + TTS: $0.02–0.06/min.

Applied to Beyond Presence (EUR pricing).

Result · 02

The most affordable qualifying plan per service

Result · 03

Monthly cost at your workload

Detail · 04

Restriction detail — selected plans

Service / planMonthly totalEffective $/minIncluded minOverageConcurrencySession capCustom avatarsWatermarkMax resolution
Sources · 05

Every number has a public source

Simli

simli.com

Plan-level numbers come from the self-serve pricing screen; re-verify there.

LiveAvatar

liveavatar.com

Credit mechanics: docs.liveavatar.com/docs/faq/credits (Lite 1 credit/min, Full 2 credits/min).

Anam

anam.ai/pricing

Starter watermark inferred from the "remove watermark" feature listed on the Explorer tier.

Beyond Presence

beyondpresence.ai/pricing

Prices published in EUR; converted at the editable rate above.

Runway

docs.dev.runwayml.com/guides/pricing

Realtime avatar API (gwm1_avatars), $0.01/credit; adjacent generated-video platform, shown for reference.

Verified July 4, 2026, as compiled in our July 2026 pricing survey. HeyGen and D-ID are omitted: no comparable public real-time pricing at verification time. Public pricing changes often — verify with the vendor before you buy.

How this calculator works

How is each monthly total computed?

Every published plan is tested against your workload — concurrency, session length, custom avatars, watermark, resolution, and commercial-use terms. Among qualifying plans we pick the lowest-cost option of base price + overage × minutes beyond the included allowance. If a vendor publishes an allowance but no overage rate, the plan only qualifies when it covers your volume outright.

Why do some services drop out of the results?

A service is excluded when even its highest published tier fails one of your requirements — for example a session cap shorter than your typical session, or a maximum resolution below 1080p. Excluded services are listed below the ranking with the exact reason. Enterprise and custom tiers may still fit — ask the vendor.

Is comparing rendering-only and bundled services fair?

Not directly. Bundled platforms include the LLM, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech, while rendering-only services expect you to bring your own AI stack. Use the "My AI stack cost" field to add your per-minute stack cost to rendering-only services for an apples-to-apples total.

What does "not published" mean on a badge?

The vendor does not state that limit on its public pricing page. We don’t guess — a missing number is not "no limit". Dashed badges mark these unknowns so you can verify directly with the vendor before committing.

Where does the data come from, and how fresh is it?

From each vendor’s public pricing page — every source is linked in the Sources section — compiled in our July 2026 pricing survey and verified on July 4, 2026. Beyond Presence prices convert from EUR at an editable rate. Public pricing changes often; verify with the vendor before you buy.

Who built this — isn’t it biased?

Spatius built it — and yes, we sell one of the services listed. The math and restriction flags are applied identically to everyone, including our own session caps and our Free tier’s non-commercial limit. If Spatius doesn’t fit your workload, the tool says so at the top of the exclusion notes. Spot an error? Tell us and we’ll correct it.

Try Playground →Read the full pricing survey