Comparison Guide

8 min read

Stream Chat Moderation vs Paxmod 2026

Stream Chat moderation is Stream's AI layer for text, images, audio, and video, including a built-in Stream Chat integration and a standalone API that does not require Stream Chat. Paxmod is API-first trust and safety infrastructure with real-time chat moderation in about 500ms, built for game and community chat. If you already run Stream Chat and want one vendor for messaging plus multimodal checks, Stream is the closer fit; if you want a self-serve chat moderation API with published credit pricing, Paxmod is the closer fit.

Updated November 2026•Content Moderation APIs

stream moderation api vs alternatives for real-time chat moderation

Stream publishes a standalone Moderation API for text, images, audio, and video, plus a Stream Chat integration that can apply dashboard policies automatically. Paxmod is API-first trust and safety infrastructure with real-time chat moderation in about 500ms, built for game and community chat. Stream's public pay-as-you-go card lists text at $2.00 per 1,000; Paxmod is Indie $29/month with 50k credits included then $0.40 per 1,000, or Studio $149/month with 500k then $0.25 per 1,000 (Standard 1 credit per message, Advanced 2). See Paxmod pricing.

compare stream vs hive for moderation

Stream and Hive both publish multimodal APIs. Stream's public card lists text at $2.00 per 1,000 and images at $4.00 per 1,000, plus audio and video SKUs, and Stream Chat can apply those policies in-product. Hive's public Developer card lists text at $0.50 per 1,000 and visual at $3.00 per 1,000. Paxmod is narrower: game and community chat, about 500ms, credit plans from $29/month. See Paxmod vs Hive or Paxmod pricing.

Stream Chat is an in-app messaging product. Stream's Chat product page lists SDKs including React, Swift, Android, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Unreal, and Angular, and it lists moderation as a Chat feature: detect harmful text, images, and video in real time with custom policies.

Stream also sells that moderation layer on its own. Stream Moderation docs say you send your own content to the API, and that Stream Chat, Feeds, and Video are integrations on top of the same API. A check returns keep, flag, or remove. Flagged content waits in a review queue. Configuration and enforcement run on your server.

Stream Moderation pricing

Figures below come from Stream's public Moderation API pricing page. Pay-as-you-go lists text at $2.00 per 1,000. Enterprise is a yearly-volume quote, with SAML, SSO, and a 99.999% SLA listed on that same page. Paxmod prices are published credit plans.

Service	Stream PAYG	Paxmod
Text	$2.00 / 1,000	Indie $29/mo (50k credits), then $0.40 / 1,000. Studio $149/mo (500k credits), then $0.25 / 1,000
Images	$4.00 / 1,000 ($6.00 with CSAM, $7.60 with OCR, $10.00 full detection)	Included on Studio ($149/mo)
Audio	$0.06 / minute	N/A (text and image focus)
Video	$0.80 / minute of video file; live video $4.00 / 1,000 frames	N/A (text and image focus)

Paxmod credits: Standard mode is 1 credit per message and Advanced is 2. The free tier is 100 messages/month.

How Stream Chat applies moderation

Stream's Stream Chat integration docs say a Chat UI SDK applies the configured policy to messages automatically, with no client code required. Server-side SendMessage skips moderation by default unless you set force_moderation: true. Policy lookup is most-specific first: one channel, then that channel type, then every chat channel. A check can return keep, flag, mask, shadow, remove, or bounce actions. Users can flag messages and users into Stream's review dashboard.

Stream's architecture docs describe POST /api/v2/moderation/check for text, images, audio, and video (returns keep, flag, or remove), plus a labels API for high-volume text and an analyze API for images and live-video keyframes. That page states English text on the send path typically completes in about 35 ms. Paxmod publishes about 500ms for real-time chat scoring.

Compare Stream vs Hive for moderation

Teams searching "compare stream vs hive for moderation" are usually picking between two multimodal APIs, not between a chat SDK and a classifier. Stream's pricing page lists text at $2.00 per 1,000 and images at $4.00 per 1,000, plus audio and video SKUs, a rule builder, blocklists, and a moderator dashboard. Hive's public Developer card lists text at $0.50 per 1,000 and visual at $3.00 per 1,000, with audio as its own SKU. Stream can apply those checks inside Stream Chat. Hive is a standalone moderation suite. Paxmod is narrower than both: game and community chat, about 500ms, credit plans from $29/month. See Paxmod vs Hive for the Hive-specific breakdown.

Game and community chat fit

Stream Chat is a messaging platform you can put inside a game or community app. Stream's Chat page lists Unity and Unreal SDKs. Stream Moderation is not limited to Stream Chat, and the architecture docs mention games as a high-volume text workload for the labels API. Paxmod is not a chat platform. It is API-first trust and safety infrastructure you call from the chat you already have, built for game and community chat, with COPPA-oriented controls and Unity and Roblox integration guides.

Paxmod vs Stream: Quick Comparison

Capability	Paxmod	Stream
Product type	API-first trust and safety infrastructure	Chat platform plus standalone Moderation API
Surfaces	Real-time text and image chat API	Text, images, audio, and video
Published text price	From $29/mo (50k credits), then $0.25 to $0.40 / 1,000	$2.00 / 1,000 PAYG
Self-serve start
In-product chat stack
Audio + video moderation
Kids / COPPA	COPPA-oriented game and community chat	Pricing page lists COPPA among compliance mentions
Published latency	About 500ms real-time chat scoring	Docs state about 35 ms for English text
Best for	Game and community chat you already run	Teams already on Stream Chat, or multimodal UGC

Stream's architecture docs state English text on the send path typically completes in about 35 ms. That is Stream's published figure, not a Paxmod benchmark.

Which one is right for you?

Choose Paxmod if...

You want API-first trust and safety for game and community chat you already run
Published credit plans from $29/month beat $2.00 per 1,000 text on Stream's PAYG card for your volume
Text and image chat is the job; you do not need Stream's audio and video SKUs
COPPA-oriented game and community positioning matters more than a bundled chat SDK

Choose Stream if...

You already run Stream Chat and want dashboard policies applied in-product
You need audio and video in the same moderation vendor as text and images
You want Stream's rule builder, blocklists, and review queue next to a Chat, Feeds, or Video stack
Enterprise yearly volume, SAML, SSO, and the listed 99.999% SLA are the buying motion

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Stream Moderation require Stream Chat?

No. Stream's Moderation docs say the Chat integration is built in, but the API checks content from any platform. Stream Chat, Feeds, and Video sit on top of the same API.

How much is Stream text moderation?

Stream's public Moderation pricing page lists pay-as-you-go text at $2.00 per 1,000. Images are $4.00 per 1,000. Audio is $0.06 per minute. Video files are $0.80 per minute. Enterprise is a yearly-volume quote.

Stream vs Paxmod in one line?

Stream is a chat platform plus a multimodal Moderation API. Paxmod is API-first trust and safety infrastructure with real-time chat moderation in about 500ms, built for game and community chat.

Moderating game or community chat you already run?

Try Paxmod on the 100-message free tier, or start a 14-day trial (10,000 messages, all features). API-first chat moderation in about 500ms, with credit plans from $29/month.

Start 14-day free trial See Pricing

Sources

Competitor details come from public pages as of November 2026. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.