12 team avatars plus one 20-second clip each: $11.40 + $58.80 = $70.20

Giving twelve people on a team their own avatar and one 20-second video each costs $70.20 at the plus tier on Sume: 12 avatars at $0.95 is $11.40, and 12 clips at 20 x $0.245 = $4.90 is $58.80 (catalog prices, read 2026-10-09). At standard the clips are 20 x $0.184 = $3.68 each, $44.16 in all, for a total of $55.56.

The cost table

Avatar creation is a one-time charge per avatar. Videos are billed per output second at the tier you choose.

Making twelve avatars without a mess

Avatar creation takes a top-level avatar_handle and an input union with three forms: a text prompt, a props profile (ethnicity, sex, age) or a photo with a public HTTPS image_url. For real team members, use photo. Sume stores the handle without a leading @, so use something like anna_k, not @anna_k, and keep a table of handle to person.

Send each creation with its own Idempotency-Key, for example team-avatar-anna_k. If a request times out, retrying with the same key does not create or charge a second avatar. Poll GET /v1/jobs/:id/status until each completes, then use the returned handle in the video request.

Consent and review

Making an avatar from a colleague's photo is a likeness decision, not just an API call. Get their agreement before you create it, and before you publish a clip. Preview the first frame of each video first with an avatar video preview: stills are tier-independent, so you can approve a look at one tier and render at another.

Budget in two stages. Create all twelve ($11.40), check the results, then render. If three people are not happy with their avatar, you have spent $2.85 learning that, not $70.20.

• Creation: $0.95 per avatar, once.
• Clip: $3.68 (standard) or $4.90 (plus) per 20 seconds.
• Use one idempotency key per avatar and per clip.

If the budget is tighter

Cutting the clip to 15 seconds at standard drops each video to 15 x $0.184 = $2.76, so twelve cost $33.12 and the whole project $44.52 with the $11.40 for avatars. That is $25.68 less than the plus plan above. If one person, such as the team lead, needs a max-tier hero clip at 20 x $0.55 = $11.00, add $11.00 and subtract that person's $4.90 plus clip, a net of $6.10.

Write the budget as a small table in your project notes and update it from real job costs. The catalog gives estimates; your balance history gives the truth.