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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lemondata.cc/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Overview

LemonData uses pay-as-you-go pricing. You only pay for what you use, with no subscriptions or minimum commitments.

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How Billing Works

  1. Add credits to your account
  2. Use the API - costs are deducted per request
  3. Monitor usage in your dashboard
  4. Top up when your balance is low

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Pricing Models

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Per-Token Pricing

Most text generation models are priced per million tokens:
ModelInput (per 1M tokens)Output (per 1M tokens)
GPT-4o$1.75$7.00
GPT-4o-mini$0.105$0.42
Claude Opus 4.5$3.50$17.50
Claude Sonnet 4.5$2.10$10.50
Claude Haiku 4.5$0.70$3.50
Gemini 2.5 Pro$0.875$7.00
Gemini 2.5 Flash$0.1225$0.525
DeepSeek R1$0.385$1.533
DeepSeek V3.2$0.196$0.294
Prices shown are discounted platform prices. Actual prices may vary. Check the pricing page for current rates.

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Per-Request Pricing

Image, video, and audio models are priced per request:
ModelPrice per Request
DALL-E 3 (1024x1024)$0.04
Midjourney$0.05
Sora Video (5s)$0.20
Whisper (per minute)$0.006
TTS-1$0.015

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Async Task Billing (Video/Music/3D and Some Image Models)

For task-based generation, creating the task may reserve or pre-deduct the estimated cost. Final settlement happens only after the async task reaches a terminal success state during polling or finalization.
For task-based generation flows (video, music, 3D, and some image models):
  1. Submit the task. LemonData may place an estimated pre-deduction or reservation to verify balance and spending limits.
  2. Follow the returned poll_url, or call GET /v1/tasks/{id}, until the task reaches a terminal status.
  3. When the task completes successfully, final settlement records the usage and the task response includes billing_transaction_id.
  4. If creation fails or the terminal status is failed, the pending amount is refunded or released and the request is marked non-billable.
If the dashboard does not reflect a completed settlement or refund after terminal status is visible, contact [email protected] for assistance. 
# Example: Video generation billing
response = client.post("/v1/videos/generations", json={
    "model": "sora-2",
    "prompt": "A sunset over the ocean"
})
# Estimated cost may be reserved now; final billing appears after success.

poll_url = response.json()["poll_url"]
task_id = response.json()["task_id"]
# Poll poll_url for status; billing_transaction_id appears after settlement.

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Billing Transaction IDs

Successful billable OpenAI-compatible non-streaming JSON responses include billing_transaction_id when settlement has completed before the response is finalized. The same value is also exposed as the X-Billing-Transaction-ID response header for browser and server integrations. Native compatibility routes, such as Gemini /v1beta, may expose the value via the header only to preserve the provider-native response shape. For async media tasks, poll the returned poll_url or GET /v1/tasks/{id}; the task response includes billing_transaction_id once settlement is complete. Streaming responses may settle after the stream has already been sent, so use the dashboard usage logs for reconciliation when the header is absent.

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Token Counting

Tokens are the basic units of text processing:
  • ~4 characters = 1 token (English)
  • ~1-2 characters = 1 token (Chinese)
  • 1 image = varies by size and detail

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Estimating Tokens

# Rough estimation
def estimate_tokens(text):
    return len(text) / 4  # Approximate for English

# Actual count (for OpenAI models)
import tiktoken
encoder = tiktoken.encoding_for_model("gpt-4o")
tokens = encoder.encode("Your text here")
print(f"Token count: {len(tokens)}")

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Usage Tracking

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Dashboard

Monitor your usage in the Dashboard:
  • Real-time balance
  • Usage history by model
  • Cost breakdown
  • API key usage

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API Response

Each response includes usage information: 
{
  "usage": {
    "prompt_tokens": 50,
    "completion_tokens": 100,
    "total_tokens": 150
  }
}

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Cost Optimization

Use smaller models (GPT-4o-mini, Gemini Flash) for simple tasks.
Cache responses for repeated identical requests.
Keep prompts concise while maintaining clarity.
Limit response length when full responses aren’t needed.
Streaming doesn’t cost extra but improves perceived performance.

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Low Balance Alerts

Configure alerts when your balance drops:
  1. Go to Dashboard → Settings → Notifications
  2. Set your threshold amount
  3. Receive email notifications

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Adding Credits

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Payment Methods

  • Alipay (支付宝)
  • WeChat Pay (微信支付)
  • Stripe (Visa, Mastercard)

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Steps

  1. Log in to Dashboard
  2. Click Add Credits
  3. Select amount and payment method
  4. Complete payment
Credits are added instantly after payment confirmation.

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API Key Limits

You can set spending limits on individual API keys:
  1. Go to Dashboard → API Keys
  2. Click on a key to edit
  3. Set Usage Limit
When the limit is reached, requests with that key will return 402 Payment Required.

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Invoices

For business accounts, invoices are available:
  1. Go to Dashboard → Billing
  2. View transaction history
  3. Download invoices as PDF

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Questions?

Contact [email protected] for billing inquiries.