Helium AI Pricing Strategy
and Profitability Analysis
A full-stack cost model for he2.ai: API cost research, user behavior assumptions, profitability scenarios, and strategic pricing validation.
Individual Price
Avg API Cost
Gross Margin
Worst Case
The verdict: your $35/month price point is well-calibrated. Even in the worst-case scenario where 50% of users hit maximum token usage, Helium maintains a healthy 58% gross margin on API costs alone. After typical SaaS overhead, net margins will be lower, but the foundation is solid.
Current API Pricing Breakdown
Verified rates for all five services in Helium's orchestration stack, as of March 2026.
| Service | Provider | Role | Input Cost | Output Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen Max | Alibaba Cloud | Primary LLM | $1.20 | $6.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Anthropic | Fallback | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Gemini 2.0 Flash | Media | $0.10 | $0.40 | |
| Deepgram Nova-3 | Deepgram | Voice | $0.0077 | — |
| Tavily | Tavily | Search | $0.008 | — |
Qwen Max: (0.35 × $1.20) + (0.65 × $6.00) = $4.32 / 1M tokens
Claude 4.6: (0.35 × $3.00) + (0.65 × $15.00) = $10.80 / 1M tokens
Blended (90/10 split): (0.9 × $4.32) + (0.1 × $10.80) = $4.97 / 1M tokens
What Does Each User Type Cost?
Fully-loaded monthly cost per user type, including all five API services.
90K tokens/day, 22 active days
35K tokens/day, 19 active days
10K tokens/day, 15 active days
Your $35 Price Point is Correct
The numbers validate your instinct. At expected user behavior (35% heavy), Helium generates a 64.7% gross margin on API costs, which is well above the 50% minimum threshold for sustainable SaaS.