● Start · Who pays for what
Costs not included in the price.
You pay each provider directly.
The item is the source code. Running a live service uses outside services on your own accounts, and you pay each provider for what you use. This page lists every kind of cost the code can cause, so nothing is a surprise. Prices are set by the providers and change, so check their pricing pages.
01Who pays
You do, directly to each provider. None of the costs below is included in the price of the item, and the author takes no share of your sales or your traffic. Reelora runs without any of the optional services: with every money switch off and no AI keys, the only costs are your server and domain.
02Always needed for a live service
| Cost | What it pays for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Server or container hosting | The Node.js process, the API, the web player, the console | A VPS or container host with a persistent disk (requirements). |
| Disk / storage | SQLite databases, uploads and HLS files | Grows with your catalogue; one minute of the default 540p + 720p ladder is roughly 25 MB. |
| Bandwidth | Video traffic to viewers | Usually the largest running cost of a video service; it grows with watch time. |
| Domain and TLS certificate | Your https address | Let's Encrypt certificates (for example through Caddy) cost nothing. |
| Backups | Copies of server/data/ and .env | Off-server storage of your choice. |
03App stores
| Cost | When |
|---|---|
| Apple Developer Program membership | To publish the iOS app, sell in-app purchases and use push (yearly fee set by Apple) |
| Google Play developer account | To publish the Android app (one-time registration fee set by Google) |
| Store commission on in-app purchases | On every coin pack and VIP pass sold through the App Store or Google Play; the rate depends on the programme you are in |
04Optional services, only if you turn them on
| Service | Cost type | Turned on in |
|---|---|---|
| CDN (for example BunnyCDN, Cloudflare, CloudFront) | Traffic and storage billed by the CDN | Media & CDN |
| Stripe | Payment processing fee per web sale | Payments |
| PayPal | Payment processing fee per web sale | Payments |
| Manual top-up | Your bank's or mobile-money provider's fees | Payments |
| AdMob | No fee to use; Google pays you, after its own share, once your balance reaches Google's payment threshold | Rewarded ads |
| Firebase Cloud Messaging | Push messages; check Firebase's current plan limits | Push notifications |
| Speech-to-text and translation API (OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic) | Usage billed per audio minute or per token | AI subtitles & dubbing |
| Character chat | Usage on the same translation API, per message; capped by the daily limits you set | Character chat |
| ElevenLabs | Dubbing usage, per minute of audio | AI subtitles & dubbing |
05Your own costs outside the software
- Content: producing or licensing the series you publish (content rights).
- Creator payouts, if you switch on a creator revenue share (creator studio).
- Legal texts (terms, privacy policy) and taxes under your local rules.
To see how these costs relate to sales with your own numbers, use the revenue calculator.