Tavus Starter 10 video minutes at $59 vs Sume Avatar cost per minute

Tavus Starter costs $59 and includes 10 video-generation minutes, so a fully used plan works out to $5.90 per minute. Sume Avatar 1.0 has no plan fee and bills $11.04 per minute at the standard tier (60 x $0.184). The two are not the same product, so the cheaper figure depends on how many minutes you use and what else you need.

The numbers

Tavus lists plan prices and included minutes on its pricing page. Sume bills per second. The table puts both on a per-minute basis. Tavus figures are from its own page; Sume figures are from the Sume catalog.

Where the lines cross

If you generate fewer than 10 minutes in a month, the plan fee is spread across fewer minutes. At 3 minutes, Starter works out to $19.6667 per minute, against $11.04 on Sume standard. At 5 minutes it is $11.80, which is still above Sume's standard rate. Starter is cheaper per minute than Sume standard once you use at least 6 minutes ($59 / 6 = $9.8333).

A month with 4 minutes of video would cost $44.16 on Sume standard, against $59 on Tavus Starter. A month with 10 minutes would cost $110.40 on Sume standard, against $59.

What the comparison leaves out

Pick by the shape of the work: steady high volume with conversation favors a plan; occasional clips favor pay per use.

• Tavus plans also include conversational minutes (100 on Starter), which Sume Avatar 1.0 does not offer as a product.
• Sume bills at least 4 seconds and at most 60 seconds per talking video.
• Sume has no monthly plan, so an idle month costs nothing.
• Tavus Growth adds 7 custom replicas, while Sume avatar creation is $0.95 per avatar.

A worked example

Say you make 8 videos of 45 seconds in a month. That is 360 seconds, or 6 minutes. On Tavus Starter you pay $59 and use 6 of the 10 included video-generation minutes, leaving 4 unused. On Sume standard the same 360 seconds is $66.24. At plus it is $88.20 and at max $198.00.

So at 6 minutes the plan beats Sume standard by $7.24, and Sume plus is above the plan fee by $29.20. Below 5 minutes of video, Sume standard is the cheaper of the two on price alone. The answer flips with your usage, so run your own number.