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What are Labelbox (LBUs)?

A Labelbox Unit (LBU) is a normalized unit of data in the Labelbox platform. Think of it as a credit that you consume as you use Labelbox’s products. Each LBU represents a specific amount of work done, which can involve one or more data rows (e.g., images, text files, videos). Since each of Labelbox’s products—Catalog, Annotate, and Model—is designed for different tasks, the way you consume LBUs will vary depending on the product you’re using, the type and amount of data you’re working with, and the specific actions you take.

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How LBU consumption is calculated

The table below shows how many LBUs are consumed for different types of data across the three Labelbox products.
Data row asset typeCatalog (monthly)Annotate (one-time)Model (one-time)
Image1 LBU per 60 data rows1 LBU per data row1 LBU per 5 data rows
Text1 LBU per 60 data rows1 LBU per data row1 LBU per 5 data rows
Chat (Conversation) & Offline Multi Modal1 LBU per 60 data rows1 LBU per data row1 LBU per 5 data rows
Audio1 LBU per 60 data rows1 LBU per data row1 LBU per 5 data rows
Document (PDF), per page1 LBU per 60 data rows + 1 LBU per 60 pages1 LBU per page1 LBU per 5 pages
Video1 LBU per 60 data rows + 1 LBU per 5,000 frames1 LBU per data row + 1 LBU per 150 frames1 LBU per 5 data rows + 1 LBU per 1,500 frames
Geospatial & Medical Tiled Imagery1 LBU per 6 data rows4 LBU per data row1 LBU per data row
Live Multi Modal/LLM1 LBU per 60 data rows20 LBU per data row1 LBU per 5 data rows
Free accounts have 500 free LBU credits each month. If you reach this limit, you can access and export your data. However, you cannot add data rows, labels, or predictions until the next billing period. (You can upgrade your account at any time.)

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How LBUs are consumed by each product

Different actions within Labelbox consume LBUs. Here’s how consumption works for each Labelbox product:

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Catalog consumption

In Catalog, you consume LBUs when you upload and store data, regardless of the data type. To help you avoid accidental charges, there is a seven-day grace period that starts when you first upload data. If you remove any unused data rows before this grace period ends, you won’t be charged any LBUs for them. However, if you take any action that adds a label to a data row (like annotating it), that row will consume LBUs, even if it’s within the grace period. Once the seven-day grace period is over, all data rows in your Catalog will start consuming LBUs. Here’s an example:
  • You upload 600 images to a dataset.
  • For the first 7 days, no LBUs are consumed. You can delete any of these images without being charged.
  • If you label 60 of those images during the grace period, you will consume 1 Catalog LBU for the current billing period, even if you delete them later.
  • Once the grace period ends, the remaining 540 data rows will consume 9 LBUs for the current billing period.
  • If you then decide to delete 300 rows after the grace period, you will still be charged a total of 10 Catalog LBUs for the current billing period. In the next billing period, your LBU consumption will drop to 5 LBUs to reflect the new data row count.

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Annotate consumption

In Annotate, you consume LBUs when you submit labels to a project. These are one-time charges. For videos, LBUs are consumed for the entire video as a single unit, no matter how many frames you label. If you label just one frame, the entire video is charged once. If you go back and label more frames in the same video later, you won’t be charged any additional LBUs.
Skipped data rowsFor Annotate projects, “skipped” data rows are considered labeled and will contribute to LBU consumption.

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Model consumption

In Model, you consume LBUs when you do any of the following:
  • Add data rows to a model run.
  • Use Foundry to create and submit model predictions.
  • Use data rows for model-assisted labeling (MAL), either through the app or the SDK.
These are one-time charges for each data row. Once a data row has been used in Model and consumed LBUs, you can use it again for other Model tasks without incurring additional LBU charges. However, new data rows will consume more Model LBUs. Be aware that Foundry may incur additional inference costs based on the number of rows processed, the complexity of the task, the model used, and other factors. To learn more, see the Add-on charges section below.

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Examples of LBU consumption

Here are a couple of examples to illustrate how LBU consumption works in common workflows. Example 1: Data labeling with model assisted pre-labels Let’s say you need to label 1,000 images, and you use Foundry to generate pre-labels for half of them (500 images). Here’s how you would be charged:
  • Catalog: 17 LBUs per month to store the 1,000 data rows.
  • Model: 100 LBUs (one-time charge) for generating predictions on 500 of the data rows.
  • Annotate: 1,000 LBUs (one-time charge) for the 1,000 labeled data rows.
If this activity occurred within a single billing period, you would be charged 1,117 LBU once and 1.67 LBU each month the data rows remain in Catalog. Example 2: Data curation and labeling with enrichment Now, imagine you have 60,000 images that all have Foundry predictions, and you end up labeling 10,000 of them. Here’s the breakdown:
  • Catalog: 1,000 LBUs per month to store the 60,000 data rows (or 12,000 LBU annually).
  • Model: 12,000 LBUs (one-time charge) for the 60,000 data rows with predictions.
  • Annotate: 10,000 LBUs (one-time charge) for the 10,000 labeled data rows.
If this activity occurred within the same billing period, you would be charged 23,000 LBU once and 1,000 LBU each month the data remains in Catalog.

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Charges for add-on services

Your account may also be billed for add-on services. These charges are billed separately from your subscriptions and may require you to add a credit card to your account. Available add-ons include:
  • Foundry: This service uses foundational models to predict labels and enrich your data. When you use Foundry, you will incur inference costs, which are based on the amount of data processed, the model used, and the complexity of the task.
  • Labeling services: You can connect with a team of professional labelers with specialized knowledge to annotate and review large amounts of data for you.
  • Single sign-on (SSO): This allows Enterprise teams to use their company’s single sign-on service to sign in to Labelbox.
  • HIPAA compliance: This helps Enterprise subscribers comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
If you are an Enterprise customer, you should contact your technical account manager to verify the terms, payment details, and other information about your add-ons.

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Where can I find more information?

See Plans and pricing for current pricing, an LBU estimate calculator, and frequently asked questions.