Timeline 3:00 vs 3:01: why a Reel costs $0.30 or $0.40
Timeline 1.0 bills $0.10 per output minute, rounded up. A 180-second Reel reserves 3 minutes; 181 seconds reserves 4. Table from 15 s to 3:01.
Instagram Reels can run to 3 minutes, as NapoleonCat reports. On Sume that boundary is also a price step. Timeline 1.0 charges $0.10 per output minute, rounded up, and the reserve at submit is ceil(seconds / 60) minutes.
Reserve by length
Capture happens when the render is computed and never goes above the reserve. So the reserve is the ceiling you plan against.
| Output length | Billed minutes | Reserve |
|---|---|---|
| 15 s | 1 | $0.10 |
| 60 s | 1 | $0.10 |
| 61 s | 2 | $0.20 |
| 90 s | 2 | $0.20 |
| 180 s (3:00) | 3 | $0.30 |
| 181 s (3:01) | 4 | $0.40 |
What to do about it
Trim one second and the reserve drops by $0.10. At 181 seconds that is a third more than at 180. The same step appears at 60 and 61 seconds, which matters if you cut a minute-long Reel.
Check before you pay
Your spine (the audio duration) sets the output length, from 1 to 1800 seconds. If the voice-over runs 181.4 seconds, tighten it before you render rather than after. /plan is unbilled, so you can check the duration first.
Sources
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