pricing
Video meeting API pricing explained: per minute vs per plan
September 19, 2026 · 7 min read
How real-time video APIs bill you, what a participant-minute is, and how to estimate your monthly cost before writing any code.
What you are actually buying
Real-time video vendors do not bill per meeting. They bill per participant-minute: one person in a room for one minute. A 30-minute call with 10 people is 300 participant-minutes, not 30.
That is why a demo that looks cheap can get expensive the moment you run classrooms or webinars.
Quality changes the price
Sending Full HD costs a platform far more bandwidth than voice. Most vendors, including Moyan SEE, price per 1,000 participant-minutes by quality:
| Stream | Moyan SEE per 1,000 minutes | Typical market rate |
|---|---|---|
| Audio only | $0.79 | about $0.99 |
| HD | $2.99 | about $3.99 |
| Full HD | $6.49 | about $8.99 |
| 2K | $12.49 | rarely offered |
Recording adds a separate per-minute rate, because the platform has to compose and store the stream.
Estimate your bill in one line
participants × minutes per meeting × meetings per month = participant-minutes
A tutoring product with 200 lessons a month, 2 people each, 50 minutes, in HD: 200 × 2 × 50 = 20,000 participant-minutes, about $60 at $2.99 per 1,000.
A webinar product with 4 events a month, 300 attendees, 60 minutes, in HD: 4 × 300 × 60 = 72,000 participant-minutes. Same code, very different invoice — which is exactly why per-call pricing misleads.
Plans vs pay per minute
Prepaid plans are cheaper per minute because the vendor can predict capacity:
- Developer — free, 10,000 participant-minutes in your first month
- Growth — $58 a month for 25,000 participant-minutes, about $2.32 per 1,000
- Scale — $298 a month for 150,000 participant-minutes, about $1.99 per 1,000
- Extra minutes — $25 per 10,000
Pay per minute with no plan is the right choice while your traffic is unpredictable. Move to a plan once your monthly minutes stop swinging.
Questions to ask any vendor
- Is there a minimum monthly fee? (Moyan SEE has none. Several competitors charge one for premium routing.)
- Are recording minutes billed separately?
- Do volume discounts exist, and at what threshold?
- What happens when you exceed the allowance — a hard stop, or a surprise invoice?
- Is the free tier monthly or one-time?
On Moyan SEE, usage hard-stops instead of silently billing you, volume discounts start at 100,000 minutes, and the free 10,000 minutes are a one-time welcome grant for your first month.
Next step
Report real usage from day one. One call after each meeting keeps your allowance and your cost estimate accurate, and the developer dashboard shows both as the month runs.
Try Moyan SEE free
Start an HD meeting in your browser, invite anyone with a link, and download the recording as an MP4. No install, no card for the free tier.
Keep reading
- Moyan SEE vs Webex: A Meeting Plan Buying Checklist
Compare Moyan SEE with Webex on meeting costs, time limits, capacity, recording control and guest access, with a practical checklist for choosing a plan.
- How to join a video meeting without creating an account
What guests can and cannot do when they join with just a display name, and how hosts can make joining effortless for clients and students.
- How to embed video calls in your app with the Moyan SEE SDK
Add a branded video room to your product with a few lines of JavaScript: create meetings from your server, embed the room, and match your own design.
- How to record a video meeting and download it as MP4
A step-by-step guide to recording a meeting in your browser, keeping the audio of everyone in the room, and saving a high-quality MP4 you own.