Cut out, upscale or regenerate: which fix costs less on Sume

On Sume, background removal costs $0.0225 per image, image upscale costs $0.20 per image and video upscale costs $0.009 per second of input video. Whether to use them or regenerate depends on whether you must keep the exact image you have. For a new image, regenerating is usually cheaper than upscaling, and for a transparent background it can be cheaper than cutting one out.

The fix rates

These three media tools are listed on the Sume API pricing page. Each is the provider list times 1.25: $0.018 list for background removal, $0.16 list for image upscale and $0.0072 per input second list for video upscale. The video upscaler accepts up to 30 seconds, and if you omit the duration it reserves 5 seconds.

Background removal against a transparent regeneration

GPT Image 2.5 takes a background option of auto, transparent or opaque, according to the image docs. At 1024x1024 its list prices come from fal's token rates ($30 per million output tokens), and Sume bills them times 1.25. A medium-quality transparent image is about $0.0165, below the $0.0225 for removing a background from an image you already have.

That does not make it a substitute. Cutting out a real product photo keeps the real product. Regenerating makes a new image, which for a product shot is usually not what you need. The saving applies to illustrations, stickers and icons where any good output will do.

Upscaling against a larger regeneration

Image upscale at $0.20 is more than regenerating at nearly every price on the image router except the most expensive tiers. Ideogram 4.5 does not charge more for 2K than 1K, so a medium image at 2K is $0.075 and a high one is $0.275. If the image is a draft you are still iterating on, ask for the larger size on the next generation and skip the upscale step.

If the image is a final you cannot recreate, such as a photograph you were handed, the $0.20 is the price of keeping it. And if you need both a larger size and a cutout, order matters: pay for the cutout once, at the size you will deliver, instead of cutting out a small image and then upscaling the result.

• Keep the exact pixels: upscale at $0.20.
• Any good new image will do: regenerate at the larger size.
• Need both a cutout and a larger size: do the larger regeneration first, then remove the background.

Video: upscale against regenerating

A 10-second clip upscales for $0.09 and a 30-second clip for $0.27. Generating the same 10 seconds again on Wan 3.0 costs $1.25 at 720p and $2.50 at 1080p, at Sume's $0.125 and $0.25 per second. Even a 5-second Wan clip at 1080p is $1.25, nearly fourteen times the $0.09 upscale price of a clip twice as long.

A regeneration gives you a new take, which may be better or worse, and the upscale keeps the take you approved. When the take is the one you want, the $0.009 per second is a small price to keep it.

A quick decision rule

Ask whether you need this exact image or video. If yes, use the tool. If no, price the regeneration at the target size and compare. Confirm live rates on the pricing page before you commit to a batch, since this post reads them as of 2026-10-05. A ten-image batch is a cheap way to test: ten cutouts are $0.225, ten upscales are $2.00, and ten medium regenerations are about $0.17 on GPT Image 2.5 or $0.75 on Ideogram 4.5.