Pricing

Orion agents are priced in US dollars. Every response includes the run cost.

What makes up your cost

Fixed-price tools: GPU and API actions charged at a flat rate per unit.
- Examples: image generation and editing, OCR and layout, and video generation and editing.
Token-billed model usage: Orion reasoning and LLM-backed tools charged by input and output tokens.
- Examples: image captioning, document extraction, and video analysis.

How a run adds up

run cost   = token-billed usage + fixed-price tools
total cost = run cost × service-tier multiplier

The service tier sets the multiplier.

The per-span cost ledger

Every Orion 2 run returns a per-span cost ledger. Each line is one billable action. Each action is a fixed-price tool or token-billed usage.

Span Type	Priced By	Example
`mllm`	Model tokens (input + cached + output)	One LLM reasoning turn
`execute_code`	Fixed price ($0.001/call)	One sandbox code execution
`tool` (fixed-price)	Fixed dollar price	`vlmrun.image.generate`, `vlmrun.image.segment`
`tool` (token-billed)	Model tokens consumed	`vlmrun.document.extract`, `vlmrun.video.caption`

The multiplier applies once, at the run level (effective_cost = SUM(span.cost) × multiplier).

Response Field	What It Tells You
`cost_dollars`	What you actually pay, after the service-tier multiplier
`standard_cost_dollars`	Baseline cost at the standard tier
`savings_dollars`	Amount saved versus standard (positive on `flex`)
`service_tier`	Which delivery tier ran the request

An example ledger

Illustrative ballpark for one document on Orion 2 Auto in program mode. Actual token usage and cost vary with the document and the requested output.

Span	Billed Usage	Cost
`execute_code`	Fixed price	$0.0010
`vlmrun.document.extract`	6,000 input + 1,000 output tokens	$0.0020
`vlmrun.document.grounding`	Fixed price	$0.0010
Total	2 fixed-price spans, 7,000 tokens	$0.0040

Choose your tiers

Model quality and the service tier are independent. Quality selects the models. The service tier scales the bill.

Model quality

Use Fast, Auto, or Pro as a curated default. Token rates vary by model.

Tier	Model ID	When to Use
Fast	`vlmrun-orion-2:fast`	Speed and cost-efficiency. Lighter models, fastest processing.
Auto	`vlmrun-orion-2:auto`	Recommended default. Uses Fast tools, upgrades to Pro for complex tasks.
Pro	`vlmrun-orion-2:pro`	Maximum quality. More powerful models, higher cost, longer processing.

VLM Run hosts additional Orion-2 backbones, open-weight and frontier models, beyond these three tiers. Pass any supported model ID on chat completions or agent execute to pin a backbone.

Service tiers

The service tier uses the same models, tools, and output. It changes how quickly the result comes back.

Tier	Multiplier	Cost Effect	Best For
`standard` (default)	1.0×	Base USD price	Most production workloads.
`flex`	0.5×	50% of standard	Background jobs with no one waiting: overnight batches, backfills.
`priority`	1.8×	180% of standard	Interactive or blocking workflows where latency is user-visible.

A $1.00 standard run costs $0.50 at flex and $1.80 at priority. Set service_tier per request:

# Flex tier: 50% discount on total agent cost
response = client.agent.execute(
    name="my-orion-agent",
    inputs={...},
    service_tier="flex",
)
# response.usage.cost_dollars   → effective cost
# response.usage.savings_dollars → amount saved

// Priority tier: 1.8x premium, lowest latency
const response = await client.agent.execute({
  name: "my-orion-agent",
  inputs: {...},
  serviceTier: "priority",
});

curl -X POST https://api.vlm.run/v1/agent/execute \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VLMRUN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "my-orion-agent",
    "inputs": {...},
    "service_tier": "flex"
  }'

What a run actually costs

cost_dollars in the response is the exact figure.

Image segmentation + generation

Component	Type	Auto
Segment objects in 1 image	Fixed-price (1×)	$0.01
Generate 1 image	Fixed-price (1×)	$0.04
LLM orchestration	Tokens (approx.)	~$0.01
Estimated total		~$0.06

50-page document: OCR + extraction with Flex

Component	Type	Standard Cost
OCR & layout (50 pp)	Fixed-price: $0.01/page	$0.50
Parse / extract data	Token-billed	Varies by complexity
LLM orchestration	Tokens (approx.)	~$0.02–$0.05
Estimated standard subtotal		~$0.52–$0.55
Flex service tier	0.5× multiplier	× 0.5
Estimated total with Flex		~$0.26–$0.28

Gateway

Gateway pricing

How a Gateway request is billed. Live model rates are on the catalog.

Overview

Orion

Input & Outputs

Skills

Platform

Observability

Frameworks

Integrations

What makes up your cost

How a run adds up

The per-span cost ledger

An example ledger

Choose your tiers

Model quality

Service tiers

What a run actually costs

Gateway

Gateway pricing

​What makes up your cost

​How a run adds up

​The per-span cost ledger

​An example ledger

​Choose your tiers

​Model quality

​Service tiers

​What a run actually costs

​Gateway

Gateway pricing

What makes up your cost

How a run adds up

The per-span cost ledger

An example ledger

Choose your tiers

Model quality

Service tiers

What a run actually costs

Gateway