--- name: natural-language-understanding-pricing title: Pricing description: '' last-updated: 2021-07-28 --- > ## Documentation Index > The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/natural-language-understanding?format=markdown > The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt > Use these files to discover more information as needed. {:shortdesc: .shortdesc} {:new_window: target="_blank"} {:tip: .tip} {:pre: .pre} {:codeblock: .codeblock} {:screen: .screen} {:javascript: .ph data-hd-programlang='javascript'} {:java: .ph data-hd-programlang='java'} {:python: .ph data-hd-programlang='python'} {:swift: .ph data-hd-programlang='swift'} # Pricing {: #pricing} Natural Language Understanding has two pricing plans: Lite and Standard. This page contains pricing information in USD. To view pricing information in your local currency, see the [Natural Language Understanding](https://cloud.ibm.com/catalog/natural-language-understanding) page in the IBM Cloud® catalog. {: tip} ## Lite {: #lite} The Lite plan is free for users who are looking to try out Natural Language Understanding or build a proof-of-concept. **Pricing** - Free 30,000 NLU items/month **Custom Model** - 1 free custom model ## Standard {: #standard} A "pay-as-you-go" plan that is recommended once you are ready to move your application from proof-of-concept to production. **Pricing** (billed monthly) - Tier 1: $0.003/NLU item for the first 1-250,000 NLU items - Tier 2: $0.001/NLU item for 250,001 to 5,000,000 NLU items - Tier 3: $0.0002/NLU item for additional NLU items past 5,000,000 **Custom Entities and Relations Models** ($/custom model/month) - $800 for all tiers **Custom Classification Model** ($/custom classification model/month) - $25 for all tiers ## What is an NLU item? {: #nlu-items} API usage is measured in **NLU items**. One NLU item is one **text unit** (up to 10,000 characters of text) that is analyzed for one **feature**, such as sentiment. To keep track of the number of NLU items in your request, you can examine the `usage` object in the response. For example, analyzing 15,000 characters of text for sentiment, emotion, and keywords will return the following usage information. ```json "usage": { "text_units": 2, "text_characters": 15000, "features": 3 } ``` {: code} There are **2** text units and **3** features in the request, so there are **2 × 3 = 6** NLU items. Text units are counted seperately for each request. If one request analyzes 15,000 characters and another request analyzes 3,000 characters, that counts as 3 text units total. The first request has 2 text units and the second request has 1 text unit. ## FAQ {: #faq} ### I want to understand sentiment across 20,000 tweets. How can I estimate what I will pay on the Standard plan? - Step 1: Calculate the number of text units per request
As of November 2018, the maximum number of characters allowed in a tweet are 280.
That translates to one text unit per request. - Step 2: Calculate the number of features per request
One feature, sentiment, is enabled in each request. - Step 3: Calculate the number of NLU items per request
NLU items = (Number of text units) × (Number of features)
NLU items = 1 text unit × 1 feature = 1 NLU item - Step 4: Calculate total number of NLU items
Total number of NLU items = (Number of requests) × (Number of NLU items per request)
Total number of NLU items = 20,000 requests × 1 NLU item per request = 20,000 total NLU items - Step 5: Estimate the price for total number of NLU items
For the Standard pricing plan, the first 250,000 NLU items are charged at $0.003 per item
Estimated price = (Number of NLU items) × (Price per NLU item)
Estimated price = 20,000 NLU items × $0.003 = $60 **Total cost = $60** ### I want to extract Entities, Keywords and Categories for 50,000 documents with an average of 12,000 characters per document. What will be my estimated price on the Standard plan? - Step 1: Calculate number of text units per request
Text units = Number of groups of 10,000 characters or less
12,000 characters per request = 2 text units per request - Step 2: Calculate the number of features per request
Entities, Keywords, Categories = 3 features - Step 3: Calculate number of NLU items per request
NLU items = (Number of text unit) × (Number of features)
NLU items = 2 data units × 3 enrichments = 6 NLU items - Step 4: Calculate total number of NLU items
Total number of NLU items = (Number of requests or documents) × (Number of NLU items)
Total number of NLU items = 50,000 requests × 6 NLU items = 300,000 NLU items - Step 5: Estimate the price for the total number of NLU items
The first 250,000 NLU items are charged at $0.003 per item
Additional NLU items until the 5,000,000th NLU item are charged at $0.001 per item
Estimated price = (250,000 NLU items × $0.003) + (50,000 NLU items × $0.001)
Estimated price = $750 + $50 **Total cost = $800** ### How do I calculate the Standard Plan price for 15,000 NLU items? - Since the first 250,000 NLU items are priced at $0.003/item - your 15,000 NLU items are charged at $0.003 per item (Tier 1). Your estimated price would be $45. ### How do I calculate the Standard Plan price for 6,000,000 NLU items? - Since you have more than 5,000,000 NLU items, your first 250,000 NLU items are charged at $0.003 per item (Tier 1), your next 4,750,000 NLU items are charged at $0.001 per item (Tier 2), and your remaining 1,000,000 NLU items are charged at $0.0002 per item (Tier 3). Your estimated price would be $5,700.