24/7 AI live stream cost estimator
Running a channel is not one clip — it's thousands of clips a day. Tune the three levers below to see what your format actually costs per month. Rates last updated: 2026-09-04.
| Generated video / day | Cost / day | Cost / month (30d) |
|---|---|---|
| — | — | — |
Preset scenarios
| Scenario | Cost / day | Cost / month |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby test — 2h/day, Turbo 480p, promo | $45 | $1,350 |
| Full 24/7 — Turbo 768p, promo (thru Sep 7) | $864 | $25,920 |
| Full 24/7 — Turbo 768p, list price | $3,456 | $103,680 |
| Full 24/7 — Turbo 768p, list, 50% replay | $1,728 | $51,840 |
How the math works
- Generated seconds/day = hours × 3,600 × new-content ratio. Replayed or looped footage costs nothing after the first generation.
- Cost/day = generated seconds × the per-second rate. A full 24/7 channel at 100% new content is 86,400 seconds — 17,280 five-second clips — every day.
- Promo vs list: the 75%-off H3 Max promo ends 2026-09-07. Budget at list; treat promo as runway. Seedance/Kling rates are community estimates and identical in both modes.
- Want per-clip pricing instead? Use the cost calculator. Building the channel itself? Read the 24/7 stream architecture guide.
FAQ
Why is a 24/7 AI live stream so expensive?
A full day of broadcasting is 86,400 seconds of video. Every second has to be generated by a paid API call, so cost scales linearly with airtime: on H3 Max Turbo 768p that is $864/day at promo prices and $3,456/day at list. There is no "flat rate" tier — generation is the entire cost structure.
How do real channels cut the bill?
Three levers: (1) sponsored compute — Infinite Slop runs on credits from fal; (2) replay ratio — looping generated footage means only new segments cost money; (3) dropping to 480p or fewer broadcast hours. A channel at 50% new content halves its API spend with little visible difference.
Should I budget at promo or list prices?
List. The 75%-off promo ends 2026-09-07, and any channel launched under promo economics will face a 4× bill overnight. Treat promo as cheap runway for experiments, and only commit to a format that survives list pricing.