Ideogram background remover at $0.01 vs Sume RMBG

fal lists Ideogram Remove Background at $0.01 per image, producing crisp transparent PNG cutouts. On Sume, the background-removal route is the rmbg_create tool in hosted MCP; the docs do not publish a per-image price for it, so read the live price from the catalog before you compare.

What fal says

The fal guide to background remover APIs lists Ideogram Remove Background at $0.01 per image and reports that it handed back a transparent PNG with the subject isolated.

What Sume documents

The hosted MCP docs list rmbg_create among the paid tools, which require an idempotency_key. They also say that cutouts are rmbg_create, and that the Higgsfield-only name remove_background is not a Sume tool. The MCP overview groups it with image_upscale_create and video_upscale_create.

Check before you submit

Hosted MCP lets you inspect a tool and preview a paid call without spending. Fetch the contract with tools_schema for rmbg_create, then send the call with dry_run=true to see the admission and cost preview. Submit for real only after that, with a fresh idempotency_key and an optional max_spend_usd cap.

{
  "name": "tools_schema",
  "arguments": { "name": "rmbg_create" }
}

A second path for transparent stills

If the goal is a new image with a transparent background rather than a cutout of an existing one, the Image API documents background: auto|transparent|opaque for ChatGPT Image 2.5. Models only accept the parameters their catalog descriptors list, so confirm with GET /v1/images/models first.

Takeaway

A price of one cent per image is a fal figure. For Sume, the number to use is whatever the catalog and a dry_run preview return on the day you submit.