RMBG costs the same for a 24 MP photo and a 0.5 MP thumbnail

Sume charges $0.0225 for every background removal, whether the input is a 6000 x 4000 camera original (24 megapixels) or an 800 x 625 thumbnail (0.5 megapixels). The price is per image, so shrinking files before you submit does not lower the bill. It only changes how long the upload and fetch take.

Same price, different inputs

The catalog lists the remove-background tool with one fixed price and the unit "per image". There is no megapixel tier and no resolution multiplier. That makes budgeting a count problem. 600 images cost 600 x $0.0225 = $13.50 whether they are all originals or all thumbnails.

When size still matters

Size does not change the price, but it changes two other things. First, the result has the same pixel grid as what you sent, so a cutout of a 0.5 MP thumbnail is a 0.5 MP PNG. If you plan a print or a large banner, send the largest clean source and cut that out once.

Second, the input must be a public HTTPS URL that Sume can fetch. A 24 MP file on a slow host takes longer to fetch than a small one, and a fetch failure returns an error such as image_not_fetchable instead of a result. Hosting originals on a fast bucket is cheaper than debugging timeouts.

Image upscale is different in kind: it is a flat $0.20, but it only makes sense when the source is small. The 16 megapixel reserve explainer covers why that price does not move either.

A practical rule

Send the highest-resolution file you have for any image that might later be printed or placed in a hero slot. Send a web-size copy for images that will only ever appear in a grid. Do not spend engineering time creating third and fourth sizes to save cutout money, because there is none to save.

If the file already has transparency, read the note on re-cutting a PNG that already has alpha. It is still one billed removal, and Sume flattens the transparent areas onto mid-gray before cutting.

Cost of the wrong assumption

Teams often add a resize step ahead of a cutout API to cut cost. On a flat per-image price, that step adds code, a place to fail, and a second copy of every file, and it returns $0. At 6,000 images a month the cutout bill is 6,000 x $0.0225 = $135 whatever the sizes are.

The step can still be justified for other reasons, such as upload bandwidth from a mobile app. Just do not count it as a saving on the Sume invoice.

• Price check: images x $0.0225, nothing else.
• Quality check: send the largest file you will ever need back.
• Reliability check: host files on a URL that stays public until the job is complete.