How GPT-Live-1 voice billing actually splits
two invoices, not one bundle
The voice session is priced per minute. Backend reasoning is billed on tokens. Treat $0.05/min as an all-in phone-call price and the bill jumps the first time the session delegates to Astra or another model. QCode’s 30-day usage table has no gpt-live-1 row, so this page does not claim that voice layer is callable here.
Updated 2026-10-07
One key across Claude, GPT and Chinese models, billed per token.
- Billed per token — live rates on /models
- Pay by card (Visa / Mastercard / AMEX), Apple Pay, Google Pay or crypto
- Self-service: top up and activate instantly
Split the bill into four facts
Per voice minute
The model page says: Voice sessions cost $0.05 per minute, billed per second. That is listen-and-speak, not the whole call.
Not rounded to the next minute
Same page: Session duration is not rounded up to the next whole minute. Cost in seconds, not “1m1s counts as two minutes”.
Reasoning and tools are a second invoice
Backend model and tool usage is billed separately. When Live-1 hands a hard turn to Astra / Luna / a third party, that Responses call uses the delegated model’s list price.
No gpt-live-1 usage row
QCode’s 30-day table has no gpt-live-1 line. gpt-realtime* rows are all 0. Category is default: we do not say this model is already on sale here.
How to split this class of bill
Full-duplex voice APIs fail people who treat “the layer that talks” and “the layer that thinks” as one price list. Order of operations stays the same: read the voice-layer rate and rounding rule on the official model page, list which turns will delegate, then multiply estimated tokens by the backend’s input/output rate. QCode can help with the backend invoice — one key for gpt-5.6-sol / gpt-6-astra. The voice id has no usage row, so it is not an in-sale claim.
What the official pages said on 2026-09-10
On 2026-09-10 the OpenAI model page for gpt-live-1 listed $0.05/min, billed per second, no whole-minute round-up, with backend model and tools billed separately. The developer forum post the same day described full-duplex ChatGPT-style voice in the API and delegation to a backend of your choice. The New Stack that day wrote the two-invoice version: pay the voice layer, then pay the Astra call it hands off.
Timeline
2026-09-10: gpt-live-1 appears on the developer model page. Pricing sentence: Voice sessions cost $0.05 per minute, billed per second. Backend model and tool usage is billed separately.
2026-09-10 forum announcement: full duplex plus backend delegation. Paired with GPT-6 Astra at medium reasoning, Tau3 first-attempt 83.6% versus 45.7% for GPT-Realtime-2.1. That is their eval sentence, not a QCode benchmark.
2026-09-11: the same model page still has the rate and the “backend billed separately” line. QCode CRS that day has no gpt-live-1 row. The openai.com product post is Cloudflare 403; facts are taken from developers.openai.com.
Confirmed versus easy to mis-add
On the model page (2026-09-10)
As of 2026-09-10 you can verify: model id gpt-live-1; voice sessions $0.05/min billed per second; duration not rounded up to the next whole minute; backend Responses calls use normal pricing for the configured model and tools.
What people say that the docs do not bundle
Around 2026-09-10 some posts treat $0.05/min as “three dollars an hour for a whole voice agent”. The model page does not say that. The New Stack writes about $3/hour for the voice layer, then Astra on top. Unconfirmed: when any reseller will list gpt-live-1, and how concurrent-session tiers map. QCode has not published that id.
Two columns, do not mix them
Voice layer only
Use this to estimate listen-and-speak cost: seconds × $0.05/60. Do not use it as a project budget — one delegation blows the column.
Voice layer plus backend
Use this for a tool-using voice agent. If the backend is gpt-5.6-sol or gpt-6-astra, add that model’s token price. Official GPT-5.6 Sol list is $4 / $20 (promo through at least 2026-11-21).
Three steps after a surprise invoice
First: open the official gpt-live-1 page and confirm the voice layer is $0.05/min per second, not a subscription. Second: list which turns delegate; those turns are token-priced on the backend model. Third: do not probe the voice id. Send a tiny text request, confirm the key and the echoed model. If your gateway has no gpt-live-1, do not hard-code it.
What to do on QCode, concretely
QCode’s 30-day table has no gpt-live-1, so this page does not claim the voice layer is callable. Wire the backend first: copy the dashboard key after signup. Claude Code: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL = https://api.qcode.cc/api and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN set to that key. Codex CLI: set base_url in config.toml to https://api.qcode.cc/openai. Probe with gpt-5.6-sol (official $4 / $20, promo through at least 2026-11-21), then switch to gpt-6-astra by task. Next step: one non-streaming tiny request, HTTP 200, matching model id in the body.
FAQ
Does $0.05/min include backend reasoning?
No. The model page splits voice sessions from backend model and tool usage. A delegated Astra (or other) call is billed at that model’s rate.
How is a partial minute billed?
Per second. The docs say duration is not rounded up to the next whole minute. 61 seconds is 61 seconds, not two minutes.
Can I call gpt-live-1 on QCode today?
We do not claim that. There is no usage row. A page that says “already available on QCode” would be false. Trust /models.
Why read this page then?
So the two-invoice math and the backend path are correct before any gateway lists the voice id. The math does not depend on QCode listing gpt-live-1.
Sol or Astra on the backend?
The docs let you choose. Sol’s official list is $4 / $20 (promo through at least 2026-11-21) for a pathfinder; heavier turns can switch to gpt-6-astra. Both have real QCode usage.
Is this the old Realtime price list?
No. gpt-live-1’s voice layer is per minute. Realtime ids are separate rows in the usage table and recently sit at 0. Do not paste old Realtime token rates onto Live-1 minutes.
Sources
Rate, per-second billing, backend separate, model id: developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-live-1 (fetched 2026-09-11). Full duplex and delegation: OpenAI developer forum 2026-09-10. Two-invoice write-up: The New Stack 2026-09-10. Sol promo window: official pricing page, “at least through November 21, 2026”. openai.com product post is 403 and is not the deciding source.
Voice layer not on sale here — wire the backend first
One QCode key for gpt-5.6-sol and gpt-6-astra. No gpt-live-1 claim. Plans from ¥60/month.
Related
Why GPT-6 Astra burns quota so fast
When you delegate to Astra, credits multipliers sit on top of the voice-layer invoice.
Pay for Claude API with Apple Pay / Google Pay
Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards, crypto, Alipay and WeChat Pay: currency, fee labels, amount range and the three top-up steps.
Claude Pro / Max vs an API key
Subscriptions exclude the API: monthly fees, five-hour and weekly limits, Claude Code auth precedence, and when to pick a per-token API key.
This page is a billing split, not an OpenAI statement, and not a claim that QCode lists gpt-live-1. The model page and /models win.