Dating apps
Photo checks pass while the bio and first messages read like a romance scam. One reviewer needs to see all three. See dating app moderation.
Sightengine alternative with human review and Sightengine pricing compared
Sightengine is a fast, well priced detection API. Teams start looking for an alternative when the models flag more items than anyone has time to check, when the bill grows with every upload, or when an app store or payment processor asks who reviewed a decision.
We sell the part an API leaves out: a review queue with appeals and an audit log for your own team, or trained moderators who work that queue on your policy. Build your plan to see the team and a monthly estimate.
Estimate in two minutes. Keep your Sightengine integration running while we shadow it.
The short answer
Keep Sightengine if you need cheap, accurate scores on a few thousand images a month and your team has time to look at what gets flagged. Switch when the gap is people, not models. Our moderation software scores up to 1,000,000 items a month on a flat $599 plan and gives your reviewers a queue, appeals and a log. Our managed service adds trained moderators who make the calls for you, on your rules, on every shift you need.
Sightengine pricing next to flat plans
Sightengine figures are from its public pricing page, checked in October 2026. Prices change, so confirm on their site before you decide. One call can use more than one operation when you run several models, so count operations the way your integration actually calls the API.
| Plan | Monthly price | Included each month | Beyond the limit | People who review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sightengine Starter | $29 | 10,000 operations | $0.002 per operation | your team, no review tool included |
| Sightengine Pro | $99 | 40,000 operations, plus audio, live stream and age estimation models | $0.002 per operation | your team, no review tool included |
| Moderators Starter | $199, or $99 billed yearly | 100,000 AI scored items, 3 reviewer seats, 1 policy | move up a plan, no per item charge | your team, in our queue |
| Moderators Growth | $599, or $299 billed yearly | 1,000,000 items, 15 seats, 5 policies, appeals and QA sampling | move up a plan, no per item charge | your team, in our queue |
| Managed moderation | monthly retainer | dedicated moderators by shift and language, Platform Scale included | volume agreed before each period | our trained moderators |
What the bill looks like at your volume
Per operation pricing is the right deal at low volume. At 10,000 checks a month, $29 is hard to beat and we would not ask you to move.
The lines cross around 100,000 checks. On Sightengine Pro that month costs $99 plus 60,000 extra operations at $0.002, about $219. At 500,000 it is about $1,019, and at 1,000,000 it is about $2,019, before anyone has reviewed a single flagged item. Our Growth plan covers that million for $599 month to month, and the price does not move when a marketing push doubles your uploads.
The bigger cost is usually people. If 3 percent of a million uploads need a human look, that is 30,000 decisions a month, about 1,000 a day, every day. Someone has to staff that. Our content moderation outsourcing cost breakdown shows how a team per shift is priced, and the plan builder at the top of this page does the math for your volume, languages and hours.
An API gives you scores, not decisions
A score of 0.71 for suggestive content does not tell you whether a swimsuit photo breaks the rules of your dating app, or whether a listing photo of a knife belongs in a kitchenware category. Your policy decides that, and your policy is not a model class.
That is why the usual Sightengine setup ends with an engineer building an internal admin page and a support lead clearing it between other jobs. It works until volume or a complaint makes it not work. We replace that homegrown layer with a proper queue: items arrive from our moderation API or by webhook from your current stack, AI scoring clears the obvious ones, and people decide the rest with the user's history in view.
- Your thresholds decide what goes to a person
- Decision tree built from your written policy
- Appeals handled by a second reviewer
- Every action logged with reviewer and reason
Sightengine vs Moderators feature by feature
Where each one is the better pick, including where Sightengine wins.
| What matters | Sightengine | Moderators |
|---|---|---|
| Detection models | wide range, including AI generated image, deepfake, liveness and age estimation models | AI scoring of text, images and video against your policy thresholds |
| Free testing | free plan with 2,000 operations a month | plan builder estimate and a shadow period on your real traffic |
| Review queue for people | not part of the plans | included on every plan, with case management and reviewer assignment |
| Appeals and user reports | built in your own tools | appeals workflow from Growth up; reports routed to the same queue |
| Trained moderators | no | yes, on the managed service, by language and shift |
| Audit log | API logs on your side | 30 days on Starter, 1 year on Growth, 3 years on Scale |
| Pricing model | per operation after the monthly allowance | flat monthly plans or a monthly retainer |
| Best for | developers who need many detection types at low or uneven volume | platforms with daily human review, several content types and audit needs |
How switching from Sightengine works
You do not have to rip anything out. Many teams keep Sightengine for one specialist check, AI generated image detection for example, and send everything that needs judgment to us.
The move takes about 30 days. Coverage never drops, because your current setup keeps running until each content type has passed its shadow period and you have signed off on our calls.
- 1
Policy and thresholds
Send your rules and 50 to 100 past decisions. We turn them into a decision tree and set the score thresholds that route items to people.
- 2
Connect and shadow
Point a copy of traffic at our API for one to two weeks. Compare our calls with what you do today and correct any you disagree with.
- 3
Staff the shifts
If you chose the managed service, moderators start on the hours your users are online, with escalation to your on call staff by name.
- 4
Cut over by content type
Images first, then profiles, chat or listings. A weekly report shows volumes, response times, appeals and the QA score.
Teams that outgrow a detection API on its own
Marketplaces
Counterfeits and prohibited items rarely look wrong in the photo. Price, text and seller history give them away. More on marketplace moderation.
Creator and adult platforms
Explicit content is allowed, so a nudity score is not a decision. Consent, age and banned categories need trained eyes. Read about NSFW detection with human review.
Apps with user uploads
Avatars, galleries and short video grow faster than the team. Our image moderation API and service covers the queue end to end.
Sightengine alternative questions
What is the best Sightengine alternative?
If you only need another detection API, Hive is the closest swap, and our Hive moderation alternatives comparison covers that group. If the real gap is people to review what the API flags, pick software with a review queue for your staff, or a managed team that works the queue on your policy.
How much does Sightengine cost?
Sightengine lists Starter at $29 a month for 10,000 operations and Pro at $99 a month for 40,000, with extra operations at $0.002 each. Enterprise is quoted. A free plan covers 2,000 operations a month for testing. Check their pricing page for current figures.
Does Sightengine offer human moderation?
Its plans are automated detection models, and the pricing page does not list a human review option. Items the models mark as uncertain still need a person, so teams add their own reviewers, a review tool, or an outsourced moderation team.
When is a flat plan cheaper than paying per operation?
Once volume passes roughly 100,000 checks a month. At 1,000,000 operations, Sightengine Pro with overage comes to about $2,019 a month. Our Growth plan includes 1,000,000 AI scored items plus 15 reviewer seats for $599 month to month, or $299 a month billed yearly.
Can we keep Sightengine and add human review?
Yes. Send the items Sightengine flags, or everything above your threshold, to our queue by API or webhook. Your reviewers or ours make the call and the decision goes back to your app. Many teams keep one specialist model and move the rest.
How fast can a managed team start?
Most platforms go live within 30 days. The first week turns your policy into a decision tree, the next one to two weeks run in shadow on real traffic, and then each content type moves over in turn. Compare options on our WebPurify alternative page if you also use per image human review.
Get your moderation plan in two minutes
Tell us your platform type, content, volume, languages and SLA. The plan shows your team per shift, the AI and human split and a monthly estimate.
Get my moderation plan