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bitHuman
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Build apps with character

A real-time, lip-synced avatar for your iPhone, Android, Mac, web or Python app.
Get an API secret

Pick your platform

Shipping an app? Keep the secret off the device

Running fully offline? The offline license starts at Business. Upgrade to Business

Examples you can clone

All examples

Before you build

What it costs

What it costs to run an avatar in your app
ItemOn the device (Essence 2, Expression 2)bitHuman cloud avatarManaged voice chat (all-inclusive)
Credits per minute of active session time2410
At top-up rates ($1 = 100 credits)about $0.02about $0.04about $0.10
Minutes in a Creator month (2,000 credits)1,000500200
Speech, language model and voiceYou pay your providersYou pay your providersIncluded
Concurrent sessionsLimited by creditsPer plan (Creator 3 … Enterprise 200)Per plan (Creator 3 … Enterprise 200)
  • From 12 October 2026, API and SDK use requires the Creator plan or higher. On a paid plan you can top up at any time.
  • Idle is billed. A companion that stays on screen bills for its whole active session, talking or idle. End the session when the user leaves, and show a still frame instead of an idle loop when nobody is talking.
  • Worked example. A user whose on-device sessions add up to 20 minutes a day uses about 1,200 credits in 30 days.
  • Your own avatar. Creating one costs 500 credits for Essence 2 or 2,000 credits for Expression 2. A Creator month is 2,000 credits.

Rates from GET https://api.bithuman.ai/v1/pricing, as published on docs.bithuman.ai/pricing.

What reaches bitHuman

When the avatar renders in your app on the device and you use your own voice and language services, bitHuman receives usage metering only, never audio, video or conversation text. With the web embed, the conversation runs on bitHuman's servers, even when the avatar renders in the tab.

Security & privacy

Before you ship

Plan. From 12 October 2026, API and SDK use requires the Creator plan or higher. Plans and top-ups

Credential. The Apple and Android SDKs authenticate with your account's API secret today, so a shipped app carries it. Fetch it from your backend at startup, never compile it in, use a separate secret for each app, and rotate it if it leaks. What a shipped app holds (docs)

AI disclosure. Tell your users they are talking to an AI. Acceptable use

How an app fits together

The Swift and Android SDKs only render: your app passes in 16 kHz speech and draws the frames. The conversation is your own voice stack, or bitHuman's managed agent through the web embed. There is no native Windows SDK. On Windows 10/11 the CLI installs with PowerShell and runs cloud sessions and MCP; rendering on the machine and the Python SDK need WSL2, and the web embed runs in the browser.

Companion app guideLiveKitPerformance

For AI coding agents

llms.txtllms-full.txtOpenAPIMCP server

Questions developers ask

Is there an iOS and Android SDK for bitHuman avatars?
Yes. The Swift package renders Essence 2 and Expression 2 on iPhone, iPad and Mac. essence2-android and expression2-android, from bitHuman's Maven repository (maven.bithuman.ai), render them on arm64 Android phones. Measured results for each device are published at docs.bithuman.ai/performance.
Does the avatar render on the phone or in the cloud?
With the Swift and Android SDKs, on the phone. With the web embed, in the bitHuman cloud by default, or in the browser tab with WebGPU (render=local), falling back to cloud rendering. With a LiveKit cloud avatar, in the bitHuman cloud.
Does the SDK include the voice and the AI conversation?
The Swift and Android SDKs only render: your app passes in 16 kHz speech and draws the frames. Use any speech recognition, language model and voice, or use bitHuman's managed agent through the web embed. On a Mac or a Linux PC, the bitHuman CLI's local conversation brain can run the whole conversation on the machine.
Can I use my own language model and persona?
Yes. Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint works. Set the persona in your model's system prompt or, for a managed agent, in its system_prompt.
Can I build an AI companion app with bitHuman?
Yes. bitHuman provides the companion's face, rendered in real time on the phone, on the Mac or in the browser, and you choose the voice, the language model and the persona. The companion guide in the docs walks through adding the SDK, the API secret, resampling speech, replies, interruption and closing the avatar with the screen.
What does it cost?
From 12 October 2026, API and SDK use requires the Creator plan or higher. Rendering on the device uses 2 credits per minute of active session time, talking or idle, which is about $0.02 at top-up rates. A bitHuman cloud avatar uses 4 credits per minute, and the all-inclusive managed voice chat uses 10.
Does it work offline on a phone?
No. Apps on phones and Macs need a connection to start a session, and they keep rendering through a network drop of up to 5 minutes. The web embed needs a connection throughout. Offline license is only available to Business and Enterprise clients who want to run realtime avatars completely locally, off the internet — e.g. kiosks, trade shows, ATM machines, embedded screens. Linux and macOS computers (Apple silicon); bought in the console or through sales.
What data does the SDK send to bitHuman?
Usage reports for metering, such as which session ran and for how long. They never contain audio, video, images or conversation text. The SDK also checks your API secret when a session starts. With the web embed, the conversation itself runs on bitHuman's servers.
Can I use bitHuman in a React or Next.js app?
Yes, with the iframe embed or the floating website widget. There is no npm package: the embed is an iframe in any framework, and the docs web page has a React snippet.

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