OpenAI Moderation API Pricing vs Hive, Sightengine (2026)
What the leading content moderation APIs actually cost in 2026, from free options to per-1,000 pricing, so you can pick on real numbers instead of marketing.
Key takeaways
- • Free for text: OpenAI Moderation and Google Perspective (shutting down Dec 31, 2026), but fixed categories and no custom policy.
- • Cheapest paid, custom-policy option: Paxmod, with plans from $29/month (50,000 messages included) and a 14-day free trial.
- • Higher-end transparent pricing: Sightengine at $2/1K operations for visual-first moderation; Azure at $0.375/1K text for enterprise teams.
- • Watch for: minimums, seat fees, annual contracts, and per-human-review charges.
Pricing at a glance
| Provider | Approx. price | Free tier | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paxmod | From $29/mo incl. 50K msgs, then $0.40/1K; Studio $149/mo incl. 500K, then $0.25/1K | 14-day free trial | Affordable custom-policy moderation |
| OpenAI Moderation | Free | Free | Baseline text + image on a budget |
| Google Perspective | Free (shutting down Dec 31, 2026) | Free | Toxicity scoring; service ends 2026 |
| Sightengine | ~$0.002 / operation (~$2 / 1K); from ~$29/mo | Trial | Visual / AI-image detection |
| Hive | $0.50 / 1K text; $3 / 1K image; $0.03 / min audio | 100 req/day dev | Multimodal incl. audio/video |
| WebPurify | Volume packages; ~$0.02 per human review | Trial | Hybrid AI + human review |
| Azure AI Content Safety | $0.375 / 1K text; $0.75 / 1K images | 5K+5K free/mo | Azure-native enterprises |
| AWS Rekognition | ~$1 / 1K images | Free tier | AWS-native teams |
Prices verified October 2026. Vendors change pricing often, so confirm on each provider's site before deciding.
OpenAI Moderation API pricing: is it free?
Yes. OpenAI's moderation endpoint is free to use per their official docs. It covers text and images with fixed harm categories (hate, sexual, violence, self-harm, harassment). Usage is capped by OpenAI rate limits by tier, not by a per-call dollar charge. The endpoint does not classify audio and has a 20 MB image limit. OpenAI docs state: do not send CSAM.
Studios move to a paid alternative when they need custom policies, gaming slang handling, PII detection, or EU/UK data residency that OpenAI does not offer. See our OpenAI Moderation API alternative guide.
Hive Moderation pricing
Hive's public Developer card lists Text Moderation at $0.50 per 1,000 requests, Visual at $3.00 per 1,000, and Audio at $0.03 per minute. Default rate limits are ~100 req/day on the Developer tier. Higher limits, dashboard access, and many SKUs are sales or annual-contract gated. Hive offers $50+ free credits after adding a card.
Hive docs say sync text typically returns within 100ms for short strings and within 500ms at max length. Production concurrency may still need Enterprise limits. See our Hive vs Paxmod comparison.
Sightengine pricing
Sightengine uses operation-based pricing with monthly plans. Free tier: 2,000 operations/month (max 500/day). Starter: $29/month for 10,000 ops. Pro: $99/month for 40,000 ops. Overage: $0.002 per operation ($2 per 1,000) on paid plans. Enterprise pricing is custom.
Sightengine is visual-first with strong image, video, deepfake, and AI-generated media detection. It can moderate text, but high-volume live game chat is not its primary positioning. See our Sightengine alternative guide.
Cost at scale: 100K, 1M, and 10M messages/month
Here is what each vendor with public per-unit pricing costs at typical chat volumes. This table shows text moderation only; add image costs separately where needed.
| Provider | 100K msgs/mo | 1M msgs/mo | 10M msgs/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paxmod (Standard) | $49*** | $274*** | $2,524*** |
| OpenAI Moderation | $0 (free) | $0 (free) | $0 (free) |
| Hive (Text) | $50* | $500* | $5,000* |
| Azure AI Content Safety (Text) | $35.63** | $373.13** | $3,748.13** |
| Sightengine (overage) | $200 | $2,000 | $20,000 |
* Hive Developer tier default rate limits (~100 req/day) may not support these volumes without Enterprise upgrade. ** Azure includes 5K free text records/month deducted first. *** Paxmod uses the cheaper plan at each volume, Standard mode (1 credit per message): 100K on Indie ($29 + 50K x $0.40/1K = $49); 1M on Studio ($149 + 500K x $0.25/1K = $274); 10M on Studio ($149 + 9.5M x $0.25/1K = $2,524). Very high volumes may fit an Enterprise contract.
How to think about moderation cost
Estimate your monthly volume of messages or images, then multiply by the per-1,000 rate. For most chat and community apps, moderation runs from cents to a few dollars per thousand items, so the headline rate matters less than the hidden costs:
- Minimums and seat fees that make small volume expensive.
- Annual contracts that lock you in before you know your volume.
- Per-human-review charges on hybrid services.
- Enterprise gating, where real throughput needs a sales call.
For early or variable volume, a low monthly entry price with no annual contract is safest. That is where Paxmod sits: plans from $29/month with 50,000 messages included, a 14-day free trial, and no lock-in, while still offering custom policies and image moderation that the free options do not.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest content moderation API?
OpenAI Moderation and Perspective (shutting down Dec 31, 2026) are free for text. Among paid, custom-policy options, Paxmod is among the most affordable, with plans from $29/month including 50,000 messages. Sightengine is at the higher end of transparent pricing for visual-first moderation.
Are there free content moderation APIs?
Yes, OpenAI and Perspective are free for text with fixed categories. See our free content moderation API guide for when free is enough and when it is not.
How should I estimate my cost?
Monthly item volume times the per-1,000 rate, plus any minimums or human-review fees. A low monthly entry plan with no annual contract is safest for early volume.
The affordable, custom-policy option
Paxmod plans start at $29/month with 50,000 messages included and no annual contract. Try every feature free for 14 days.