Every animation in Yeşilçam Studios is priced in tokens before you start, with an itemised estimate on the form. The estimate includes a disclosed 40% service fee and is a ceiling, not a guess: when the job finishes, the real usage is measured and the difference is refunded to your balance automatically. Failed jobs are refunded in full.

This guide explains how to read the estimate, what the 40% note means, how settlement and refunds work, how rendering is billed, and how to make the same idea for fewer tokens.

Reading the Estimated cost

Below the form you see Estimated cost in tokens, next to your Balance. Open it and the price is broken down line by line into the parts of the production that actually cost something. Depending on the style you will see lines such as:

  • Director: the language model that writes the scenes and, where relevant, the narration and dialogue.
  • Images: keyframes, character sheets or illustrations, shown with the number of pieces.
  • Narration: the voice recording by a speech model.
  • Music: the soundtrack.
  • Animation: video-model clips in the Cinemation styles that use one (all except Shadowmation and Pixelmation).
  • Frame review: the automatic clip review at Premium quality.

The total changes live as you change the form. Length, tier, number of characters, speech mode and style all move it, so you can find a version that fits your budget before spending anything. If your balance is too low, the form says so and offers Buy tokens.

What the 40% note means

The note under the estimate says, in the app’s words: “The price is the providers’ real cost plus a 40% service fee. It is an upper bound: when the job finishes we measure actual usage and refund the difference if it costs less.” In other words, the price is built from what each step really costs us from the providers, plus a disclosed margin that pays for the studio itself: the pipeline, storage, review, retries and support. We state the margin openly so you can see how the number is made.

How settlement and refunds work

  1. Before the job: you see the ceiling and confirm it by pressing Create. That amount is reserved from your balance.
  2. During the job: real usage is recorded step by step: how long the director wrote, how many images were really made, how many seconds of voice and video.
  3. After the job: the real cost is measured and, if it is lower than the estimate, the difference goes back to your balance automatically. You never pay more than the estimate you accepted.
  4. If the job fails: the status reads “It did not work” and the full amount is refunded.

Automatic reliability measures do not raise your price. If a video provider is unavailable, production switches to a backup provider so the film still completes. At Premium quality, only major defects trigger a regeneration, capped at 30% of clips, and that review is already part of the ceiling you saw.

Render cost: billed by real server time

The preview plays in your browser. When you press Get video to produce an MP4, WebP or GIF, the file is rendered on our servers. The note reads: “Videos are priced at the real server-time cost plus a 40% service fee; if rendering takes less time, the difference is refunded.” So rendering follows the same principle: a ceiling up front, settled against the real time afterwards.

Cheaper styles and other ways to save

The single biggest factor is whether a style generates images or video. Papercraft, Typemation, Fluxmation and Dioramation generate no images, so they cost less than painted or video styles. They are ideal for backgrounds, ambient loops, text-driven ads and intros; see choosing an animation style.

  • Test short. Make a 15–20 second version first. Length drives most costs, and a short test tells you whether the idea works.
  • Test on Professional. Professional is fast and economical; move to Premium for the version you publish.
  • Use only the characters you need. Every character adds design work and, in dialogue, voice.
  • Choose Silent where voice adds nothing. Background loops rarely need narration.
  • Preview before rendering. Render only the version you will use, in the format you need.
  • Write your own dialogue if you know it. Write dialogue with Sam costs a small number of tokens, shown afterwards; writing lines yourself costs nothing extra.

How plans affect the price

On the Pro plan every generation uses 20% fewer tokens (a 0.8× multiplier). Monthly plan tokens renew each billing cycle and do not roll over; tokens from one-off packs are not reset at renewal. Details are in plans, watermark and PRO features. The styles themselves are described on the Animation page.

Frequently asked questions

Can an animation cost more than the estimate? No. The estimate is a ceiling; after the job, real usage is measured and any difference is refunded.

What is the 40% service fee? The price is the providers’ real cost plus a disclosed 40% service fee that covers the studio’s own work and infrastructure.

What happens to my tokens if a job fails? The full amount is refunded to your balance automatically.

Which animation styles are cheapest? Papercraft, Typemation, Fluxmation and Dioramation, because they generate no images.

How is rendering to MP4 charged? By real server time plus the 40% service fee, as a ceiling that is settled after the render.