Why Facelet runs on your ChatGPT subscription and charges nothing per minute
Every real-time avatar we could find bills by the minute or asks for an API key. Facelet does neither. Here is why that was possible, and what it means for the price.
When we started Facelet we went looking for a real-time avatar we could recommend to a friend who already pays for ChatGPT. Every one we found did one of two things. Either it asked for an OpenAI API key, which means a developer dashboard, a second credit card and a per-token bill, or it charged by the minute for the face itself, because the face was being rendered on a server and streamed back. The managed platforms publish rates of roughly ten to thirty-seven cents per active minute in 2026. Talk for twenty minutes a day and that is hundreds to thousands of dollars a year, on top of the model.
The two costs, and why we have neither
The model. ChatGPT Voice is included with paid ChatGPT plans, and OpenAI’s own login lets an app open a voice conversation on your account. So Facelet signs in with your account and uses the conversation you already pay for, with your plan’s limits. No key, no tokens, no second AI bill.
The face. Apple silicon can render a lifelike human at a steady frame rate on a laptop. So Facelet renders the character on your Mac, and analyses the voice on your Mac to move its mouth. No server, no stream, no minutes.
With nothing metered on our side, there was nothing honest to meter you for. Facelet became a one-time purchase because that is what the costs said it should be.
What it costs
An early beta seat is $24.99, for one of 200. The launch price is $49.99. Both include every version 1 update, the first collection of ten characters, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Your ChatGPT subscription is separate, required, and yours already. More character collections will follow after launch, sold separately, and nothing you have bought expires.
The trade
The trade is that Facelet needs an Apple silicon Mac, M2 or newer, because the face is rendered there rather than in a browser tab. We think that is the right trade for a person, if not for a company. The yearly arithmetic is on the one payment page.