How the free tier works
The AI technology behind our tools
One-click filters, prompt-based editing, and dedicated tools each built for one job — every one of those runs on an AI model behind the scenes. We can keep a free tier and free credits on signup anyway, because we don't lock our costs to a single AI provider. We use Verna One, a routing layer built by our parent company, to send every AI call to whichever provider is cheapest for the job. Here's how that works, and why it's public.
What AI actually does in the app
AI turns a plain instruction like "remove the background" into a finished image, whether it came from a filter you tapped, a prompt you typed yourself, or a tool built for that one job. That adds up to a huge number of model calls, spread across many providers.
If we'd picked one provider on day one and stuck with it, our margins would erode every time prices shifted. So we route instead of picking.
The models index
The Verna One models index — refreshed every week
Verna Labs publishes a public, live index of every major AI model and its price across every provider that hosts it, refreshed directly from primary provider sources. The same model can cost very different amounts depending on where it's hosted — the widest gaps on the index run past 10x, for identical weights. Every week we recheck the index and route to whichever host is cheapest for the same model quality. Anyone can look up the same numbers we use, at verna.one/models.
How this translates into cost control for us — and for you
Most of the savings come from provider-agnostic routing: we can move a filter or a prompt from one model host to a cheaper one running the same model, without touching product code. Verna One handles the swap and the fallback if a provider is down or rate-limits.
We track what each feature costs us. It's why we haven't had to put the basics behind a paywall.
Why any of this matters if you just want to edit a photo
A photo-editing app can only give its tools away without charging for every click because someone did the unglamorous work of keeping AI costs down. That's Verna One's job, and the weekly index is how you can check it.
Curious how we keep this free?
Poke around the price index behind every call we make. No account needed.
Prefer to just get back to editing?
Open the app →