Golpo’s AI video API lets your application turn a prompt, script, audio file, or document into a finished, narrated, animated explainer video. The API itself is small — one generate endpoint, one status endpoint, one upload endpoint — but before you can call any of it, you need an API key, and the key is gated behind specific plans.
There are three ways to unlock it. Pick whichever matches how you plan to use Golpo — alongside the platform, mostly through your own code, or pure programmatic.
If you would rather watch this article live, this video should be enough (Golpo created it from this guide after all)
Where the API key lives in the dashboard
The Create API Key button shows up in a different place depending on your plan:
- Scale plan and Business plan + API add-on: green Create API Key button in the top-right of the playground header at video.golpoai.com/playground, right next to Voice Clone, Library, and Upgrade.
- API-Only plan: blue + Create API Key button under the API Documentation section of the dedicated API dashboard at video.golpoai.com/api-dashboard.
Either way, clicking it generates a key you can copy and use as the x-api-key header on every API call.
If you don’t see this button, your current plan doesn’t include API access yet. Here are the three plans that do.
Path 1: Scale plan — platform + API for one price
- Price: $999.99 per month (or $9999.90 per year)
- Included video: 800 minutes of video generation per month (or 9600 minutes upfront for the year)
- Access: Platform (dashboard, playground, voice clone, library) and API — both included by default
- Best for: Teams who want one bill that covers manual creation in the dashboard and programmatic generation from their own product, with predictable monthly capacity
Scale is the simplest path if you want both the UI and the API at meaningful volume. There’s no add-on to enable — the moment your account is on Scale, the Create API Key button shows up in the playground header and you can mint a key.
Path 2: Business plan + API add-on
- API add-on price: $200 per month on top of the Business plan base price of $499.99 per month.
- Access: Full Business plan platform features, plus API generation against your Business plan’s included video minutes
If you’re on Business and ready to start hitting the API, you don’t need to migrate plans — just turn on the $200/month API add-on from billing. The same Create API Key button appears in the playground header once the add-on is active.
Path 3: API-Only plan — usage-based, no dashboard creation
The API-Only tier exists for developers and businesses that want to use Golpo entirely inside their own program or application. The tradeoff: you don’t get manual dashboard creation. From the plan description:
This plan is for using Golpo within your program or application. You won’t be able to generate videos manually via the Golpo dashboard.
Usage-based, with a minimum commitment of $200. Built for developers and businesses that need programmatic access at scale.
Platform access isn’t included. For both platform and API access, consider a Scale plan or a Business plan with the API add-on.
- Pricing model: Pure usage-based — you pay only for the video minutes you generate
- Minimum commitment: $200/month
- Platform access: Not included — no manual generation via the dashboard
- Best for: Using Claude Code Skill, Claude, or Cursor or any AI program assistant, Pipelines, agencies, and applications where humans never log into Golpo and every video is produced by code
Getting your API key on the API-Only plan
API-Only subscribers don’t use the playground header — they get a purpose-built dashboard at video.golpoai.com/api-dashboard. From there you can see your subscription status, monthly usage, current per-minute rate, top-up payments, and the + Create API Key button under the API Documentation section.
The dashboard surfaces everything you need to operate without ever leaving the page:
- Subscription Details: plan, status, usage-based billing cycle, and the current top-up payment amount.
- Usage This Month: how much you’ve purchased in credits, credits remaining, the month start date, and credits used so far.
- Current Rate: which volume tier you’re in (e.g., 0–1,000 credits) and the rate per minute it implies (e.g., 2.00 Credits).
- Top-Up Payments and Add Credits buttons to refill manually whenever you want.
Automatic top-up: uninterrupted generation
API-Only is usage-based, so an empty balance halts generation mid-pipeline. To prevent that, Golpo runs an automatic top-up: when your remaining balance drops below $25, your account is automatically topped up so your application keeps running without you noticing. This is the recommended default for production workloads where any interruption would break user-facing flows.
You stay in control: auto top-up can be paused from the API dashboard at any time. If you pause it, you’ll need to use the Top-Up Payments or Add Credits buttons manually to refill before your balance hits zero — otherwise API requests will fail until credits are added.
API-Only monthly volume pricing
Per-minute price on the API-Only tier drops as your monthly spend grows. The tiers stack across a calendar month — spend more, pay less per minute on the next bracket:
- $0 – $1,000 per month: $2.00 per minute of video (about 30 seconds of video for every $1)
- $1,001 – $5,000 per month: $1.50 per minute of video (about 40 seconds of video for every $1)
- $5,001 and above per month: $1.20 per minute of video (about 50 seconds of video for every $1)
Which path is right for you?
- Choose Scale if your team will use both the dashboard and the API, and 800 minutes per month is roughly your need. Flat $999.99 covers everything.
- Choose Business + API add-on if you’re already on Business and the API is a secondary use case — this is the cheapest path that keeps both platform and API in play.
- Choose API-Only if the dashboard is irrelevant to you and every video will be triggered by your code. The $2.00/min starting rate makes the math easy at low volumes, and the $1.20/min top tier rewards scale.
After you have a key
Once you generate the key from the Create API Key button, you’re ready to call the API. Set x-api-key: YOUR_KEY as a header, POST a JSON payload to https://api.golpoai.com/api/v1/videos/generate, and poll the status endpoint until the video is ready.
Full endpoint reference lives at video.golpoai.com/api-docs/endpoints/v1.
Helpful articles
- How the Golpo API Works — the end-to-end mental model: submit a job, poll for status, download the finished video, and where uploads fit in.
- How to Use the Golpo AI Video API in Python: 6 Working Payload Examples — six real payloads (simple prompt, custom script, your own narration, PDF document, Hindi voice with English text, Spanish) with the exact Python submit/poll/download code.
- Generate AI Videos from Claude Code: The Golpo Skill Plugin — trigger Golpo video generation directly from Claude Code using the official skill plugin, no manual API wiring required.
FAQ
Which Golpo plans include API access?
Scale ($999.99/month) includes it. Business can add it for $200/month. The API-Only tier is usage-based and is API-only by definition.
Where do I get my API key after purchasing?
On the Scale plan and Business plan + API add-on, click the green Create API Key button in the top-right header of the playground at video.golpoai.com/playground. On the API-Only plan, click the blue + Create API Key button on the dedicated dashboard at video.golpoai.com/api-dashboard under the API Documentation section.
How much does each video cost on the API-Only plan?
$2.00 per minute up to $1,000 in monthly spend, $1.50 per minute from $1,001 to $5,000, and $1.20 per minute beyond $5,001. The minimum monthly commitment is $200.
Can I generate videos in the dashboard on the API-Only plan?
No. The API-Only tier is programmatic-only. If you need both the dashboard and the API, use the Scale plan or add the $200/month API add-on to a Business plan.
Does the API-Only plan top up automatically when my balance runs low?
Yes. When your remaining balance drops below $25, your account is automatically topped up so generation never gets interrupted mid-pipeline. You can pause auto top-up at any time from the API dashboard — just remember to refill manually with the Top-Up Payments or Add Credits buttons before the balance hits zero, or API requests will start failing.
