Cost of 100 AI avatar UGC ads: script to captions on Sume

A 15-second avatar ad from a script costs $2.76 at Standard, $3.675 at Plus and $8.25 at Max, from the per-second rates $0.184, $0.245 and $0.55. Add a $0.20 caption job and 100 ads cost $296.00, $387.50 or $845.00. Creating the avatar is a one-time $0.95. On Plus, Pro's included $40 covers 10 ads, Startup's $140 covers 36 and Scale's $800 covers 206.

The per-ad math

Avatar video is billed per second by tier, with no separate voice line on the rate card I read. Per ad: Plus is 15 x $0.245 = $3.675, plus $0.20 captions = $3.875. For 100 ads that is $387.50. Standard: 15 x $0.184 = $2.76 + $0.20 = $2.96; 100 ads = $296.00. Max: 15 x $0.55 = $8.25 + $0.20 = $8.45; 100 ads = $845.00.

How many ads a plan covers

Divide included usage by $3.875 for Plus ads: floor(40 / 3.875) = 10 on Pro, floor(140 / 3.875) = 36 on Startup, floor(800 / 3.875) = 206 on Scale. A 100-ad batch therefore needs $387.50 of usage: $347.50 beyond Pro's included amount, $247.50 beyond Startup's, and fits inside Scale's.

Time and queue

100 ads means 100 jobs. Pro's 4 slots mean 25 waves; Startup's 8 mean 13; Scale's 20 mean 5. Accepted capacity is 24, 48 and 120, so on Pro and Startup you must submit in batches, and on Scale the whole 100 fit in one go. The generation admission docs describe the queue and the 429 queue_full behavior.

What to leave out of the estimate

A product image adds a few thousandths per second ($0.258 against $0.245 on Plus, which is $0.195 more per 15-second ad). Re-rolls are the larger risk: if one ad in four needs a second attempt, the Plus batch is 125 generations, not 100. I did not read any other avatar vendor's prices, so this post makes no vendor comparison; the point is to know your cost before you commit.

A test-then-scale plan

Spend small before you spend big. Create 3 avatars ($2.85), render 10 ads each at Standard for 30 ads x $2.96 = $88.80, and look at which angle performs. Then render the winning angle at Plus: 70 ads x $3.875 = $271.25. The whole programme is $2.85 + $88.80 + $271.25 = $362.90, for 100 ads, below the $387.50 all-Plus price.

The test-first structure is about the same cost as going all-in but gives you data before the larger spend. It also fits inside Scale's included usage with $437.10 to spare. On Pro it would mean topping up the wallet by $322.90 beyond the $40 included.