Struggling to calculate costs for a few services for Avatar AI

Question

Struggling to calculate costs for a few services for Avatar AI

It is VMS 270

Hello all

Look at this sample code as it kind of summarizes what I want to do https://github.com/Azure-Samples/cognitive-services-speech-sdk/blob/master/samples/python/web/avatar/README.md

Basically, an A.I. avatar that will use a custom prompt, and a default avatar and a default language that is supported on a valid region. By default, what I mean is something that is already provided by Azure. So, I won't use our own avatar, nor will i use our own voice. Not initially. Nor will we use any AI Search for Cognitive Search yet.

We will use a GPT4.0 or GPT4.1 from Azure AI for the AI responses.

I am struggling with the costs on Azure pricing calculator. Can someone please help let us know how to calculate the costs? We are currently on a sponsorship and it is a mess to analyse the usage as we have several projects running on the same regions as the custom avatar!

Will very much appreciate any tips.

Thanks!

Pavankumar Purilla 11,655 Reputation points Moderator

2025-07-11T16:16:36.33+00:00

Hi It is VMS,
To estimate the cost of using Azure services for your Avatar AI setup, you can begin with the Azure Pricing Calculator. Start by searching for and adding Azure OpenAI to your estimate. Azure OpenAI services, such as GPT-4, are billed based on the number of input and output tokens processed. For accurate estimation, it's important to predict how many interactions (queries and responses) your system will handle each month. For instance, if your model is expected to handle 10,000 queries per month, and each interaction averages 2,000 tokens (e.g., 600 input + 1,400 output), you might use around 20 million input tokens and 40 million output tokens monthly.

For GPT-4 Turbo, which is the most commonly used and cost-effective GPT-4 variant on Azure, the pricing is currently approximately $1.10 per 1 million tokens for input and $4.40 per 1 million tokens for output Azure OpenAI Service pricing. This means your example usage would result in an estimated monthly cost of around $22 for input and $176 for output, totaling approximately $198 per month for OpenAI inference.

In addition, if your solution includes Avatar AI (video-based conversational agents), you should also include Azure Speech Services in your estimate. The Avatar service, which includes real-time video rendering with neural text-to-speech, is priced separately at about $1.44 per 6-minute block of rendered avatar video. Depending on how many minutes of avatar output you generate per month, this can add significantly to your overall cost.

If you're hosting the application on a Virtual Machine (VM) or using Storage Accounts for media or logs, those services should also be included in the calculator for a complete picture.

2 answers

Your answer

Pavankumar Purilla 11,655 Reputation points Moderator

2025-07-11T16:16:36.33+00:00

Hi It is VMS,
To estimate the cost of using Azure services for your Avatar AI setup, you can begin with the Azure Pricing Calculator. Start by searching for and adding Azure OpenAI to your estimate. Azure OpenAI services, such as GPT-4, are billed based on the number of input and output tokens processed. For accurate estimation, it's important to predict how many interactions (queries and responses) your system will handle each month. For instance, if your model is expected to handle 10,000 queries per month, and each interaction averages 2,000 tokens (e.g., 600 input + 1,400 output), you might use around 20 million input tokens and 40 million output tokens monthly.

For GPT-4 Turbo, which is the most commonly used and cost-effective GPT-4 variant on Azure, the pricing is currently approximately $1.10 per 1 million tokens for input and $4.40 per 1 million tokens for output Azure OpenAI Service pricing. This means your example usage would result in an estimated monthly cost of around $22 for input and $176 for output, totaling approximately $198 per month for OpenAI inference.

In addition, if your solution includes Avatar AI (video-based conversational agents), you should also include Azure Speech Services in your estimate. The Avatar service, which includes real-time video rendering with neural text-to-speech, is priced separately at about $1.44 per 6-minute block of rendered avatar video. Depending on how many minutes of avatar output you generate per month, this can add significantly to your overall cost.

If you're hosting the application on a Virtual Machine (VM) or using Storage Accounts for media or logs, those services should also be included in the calculator for a complete picture.

Answer 1

Hi It is VMS,

Yes, you're right when using an existing Azure-provided avatar like Lisa along with a built-in neural voice, the pricing falls under Azure Speech Services, specifically covering two components: Text-to-Speech (TTS) and the Avatar service. The Avatar service is billed at approximately $1.44 per 6-minute block of generated video output, while the neural TTS is billed separately at around $4.00 per 1 million characters of synthesized speech. So, both services contribute to the total cost: TTS for generating the speech, and the Avatar service for rendering the video with lip-sync and facial expressions. If you later choose to use your own avatar meaning your own video and voice there will be additional charges.
Custom avatars typically require a training and onboarding process, which may involve one-time custom model training fees and must go through Microsoft’s approval as part of their Limited Access Program. After deployment, usage of a custom avatar would still be billed under the Avatar rendering service, and the Custom Neural Voice would have its own separate and typically higher pricing tier than standard voices. These custom capabilities are subject to ethical review and approval processes, which are documented in detail on the Microsoft Learn portal.

Answer 2

It is VMS 270

Thanks @Pavankumar Purilla

GPT pricing is straight forward. It is the A.I. avatar pricing that is confusing

If I use an existing avatar on Azure, like Lisa & use an existing voice as well, what are the pricing that I should take into account? If I understood you correctly, in this case, it is Azure speech services (for both text to speech & vice-versa, plus the Avatar service, right?

And, later, if I have the Avatar with my own video & voice, for example, will there be additional pricing for training and for the speech service & for the avatar service?

Thanks again!

Pavankumar Purilla 11,655 Reputation points Moderator

2025-07-15T06:25:32.2233333+00:00

Hi It is VMS,
Did you get any chance to check the response. Thank you!
Pavankumar Purilla 11,655 Reputation points Moderator

2025-07-16T13:03:18.79+00:00

Hi It is VMS,
Just following up to see if you had a chance to review the above response. Thank you!