I built my first VTuber model on Live2D Cubism’s free version, which is legal for paid work. That is why most people start there and only look up the price later. Usually the day the file stops saving.
The numbers themselves are simple. Three tiers, published prices, no sales call. The awkward part is that FREE is capped by mesh count and by revenue, and neither limit announces itself until it is already a problem.
Where FREE actually stops you
A FREE model gets one texture file at 2048 pixels. That sounds fine until you open a real PSD. Most full-body characters need two or three atlases. Eyes and mouth shapes eat the space fast.
Two atlases is the realistic minimum for a half-body model with expressive eyes. A full body in a detailed outfit usually wants three.
Every other ceiling lands in roughly the same place. ArtMesh tops out at 100, motion parameters at 30, deformers at 50, parts at 30. Warp deformers divide no finer than a 9×9 grid. PRO has none of those caps. The full table sits on Live2D’s comparison page.
Cross one of those lines and the editor stops letting you save — not export, save.
So keep a copy of the .cmo3 before you push a rig. A project that opened fine yesterday can refuse to close today.
There is no undo for that.
The revenue line, not the skill line
Commercial use runs on a separate rule. It has nothing to do with whether you charge money. General users and small businesses under ¥10 million in annual sales may use FREE for paid work.
But above that line, paid work needs PRO. The line is revenue, not skill, and not follower count. If the idea of paying for an editor at all is what bothers you, the free-alternative route has its own trade-offs.
What PRO costs, and who has to pay it
Indie PRO is ¥14,280 for the first year, ¥11,760 for the second, and ¥10,680 from year three onward. Monthly is ¥2,080. A one-off three-year plan costs ¥36,720 and cannot be renewed after that.
Twelve months of monthly billing comes to ¥24,960. The annual plan charges ¥14,280 for the same year. That is a ¥10,680 penalty for wanting the exit door.
Business PRO is the same software at a different price: ¥66,000 for year one, ¥9,620 a month, or ¥54,960 once you reach year three. And nothing in the feature list changes between the two. Every figure is on the official store.
It is the same upgrade question as Clip Studio Paint EX versus PRO, except this one gets settled by revenue instead of by features.
That gap is the whole decision, and revenue settles it, not ambition. A hobbyist under the line can stay on FREE. The savings buy a tablet. A studio past it has no choice at all.
So the tier is not a quality ladder — it is a paperwork boundary with a feature gap stuck to it.
Three rules that sit outside the price list
None of this matters while you are learning. FREE will carry a beginner through the first stretch of rigging, and the caps only appear once a model gets ambitious.
Two things sit outside the price list. The 42-day trial is for evaluation only and cannot be used for commercial work. Publishing anything built with the SDK also needs a release license signed at least a month before launch, though individuals and small businesses are exempt from the fee.
But that exemption covers people shipping content, not tools other people build on. Anything classed as an expandable application gets reviewed case by case, which matters if you are shipping a rigging tool rather than a model.
VTubers get a third rule stacked on top. Streaming with Live2D needs a separate agreement once annual revenue passes ¥20 million, under conditions the company spells out separately. Most people reading this will never touch that line.
Modelers who sell rigs to agencies might.
What to buy if you are not sure
If you rig for yourself and sell the odd commission, FREE is probably enough. If you are building models for other VTubers, count the atlases before you commit.
One texture file is not much room.
