Pricing a custom song is harder than pricing a physical product because the real cost isn't the generation itself — it's your time. Writing a prompt that captures someone's specific story, reviewing the output, handling a revision request, and packaging a final delivery all take longer than buyers assume, and it's easy to price as if generation were the only step.
Start from your time, not your tools
If you're using your own Suno account manually, SongHQ does not add a song-generation charge — the meter that matters is your time and whatever you already pay Suno. A realistic accounting of a single order includes reading the brief, refining a prompt, generating and choosing versions, handling feedback, and producing delivery assets. Add these up in minutes, multiply by what your time is worth per hour, and you have a floor price.
What to include in your base price
A clean base price should cover: one lyric draft, one song version, standard turnaround (whatever you commit to — 48–72 hours is common), and one round of revisions. Anything beyond that — rush delivery, extra revisions, cover art, a printable lyric card, a longer or more complex arrangement — is a reasonable add-on, not something to fold into your base rate for free.
Revisions are where pricing breaks down
The most common pricing mistake is treating "unlimited revisions" as a selling point. It sounds generous in a listing, but in practice it removes your ability to say no to a customer who wants a fourth or fifth pass on something subjective like vocal tone. State a specific number of included revisions (one is standard, two if you want to differentiate on service), and price additional rounds separately. This isn't about nickel-and-diming customers — it's about making sure a small number of high-maintenance orders don't quietly erase the margin on your other twenty.
BYO Suno and built-in generation have different costs
With BYO, you copy the prompt into your own Suno account and upload the result, so SongHQ records neither credits nor platform-song usage. With built-in generation, a successful song is metered separately at $1.00/$0.80/$0.60 on Starter/Pro/Studio. It still consumes zero SongHQ credits. Add the applicable successful-song rate to your cost model just as you would any other fulfillment expense.
Look at what's already working
Before finalizing a number, check what established sellers in your specific niche (not custom songs broadly — anniversary songs specifically, or memorial songs specifically) are charging. Niches with more emotional weight — memorial and tribute songs in particular — often support higher prices because buyers are less price-sensitive for something they view as irreplaceable, not because the underlying work is more complex.
A starting framework
- Base price: covers 1 lyric draft + 1 song version + 1 revision round + standard turnaround
- Add-ons: rush delivery, extra revision rounds, cover art, lyric card, longer format
- Niche premium: memorial/tribute and wedding orders can typically bear a higher base price than birthday or "just because" orders
- Re-check quarterly: your price should track your actual time-per-order, not stay fixed just because it's what you started with
