How Much Should You Charge for a Custom Live2D VTuber Rig Commission?

A custom Live2D rig commission is priced by scope, not a flat rate. Public rigger commission sheets show half-body rigging starting at $600 on Jirai Ch's sheet and at $5,000 on cillia's, with parameter count, layer separation, and the number of independent physics chains — not the art style — driving the spread between those two numbers. Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.

Brillay's pricing page lays out the same fee structure used in the math below — followers pay the listed price, and Brillay's platform fee is separate from card-processing costs (brillay.com/pricing).

Riggers who take Live2D commissions get asked the same question first: "how much for a rig?" A flat number is a poor answer, because basic head-and-body movement costs far less to build than full physics, custom expressions, and layered outfit toggles. This guide breaks down what moves the price, what live commission sheets actually charge, how to build a tier list with worked example numbers, and how to sell the finished offer from a bio link with Custom Work instead of a marketplace queue or a Discord private message. One link that carries every offer, with nothing to moderate and no community to keep warm.

Sourcing note: the price figures below come from three public Live2D rigger commission sheets that publish their full rate cards (Jirai Ch, cillia, and Xela), plus Live2D Inc.'s own Cubism Editor documentation. Compilation blogs are cited only where they are labelled as such. Three sheets are a sample, not a market survey — treat every range as an anchor for your own quote, not a benchmark.

This page covers pricing a brand-new rig built on top of finished character art. Fixing or debugging a rig that already works is a different, smaller job — see async VTuber rig troubleshooting instead.

What actually drives the price of a Live2D rig commission?

Three variables drive Live2D rig price: parameter count, how cleanly the source art is separated into layers, and how many independent physics chains the model needs. A rig with independent eyebrow control, detailed mouth shapes, and hair plus clothing physics takes materially more setup time than a rig with head turns and blinking alone.

The layered PSD a rigger receives changes the cost directly, and one of the three sheets checked for this page bills separately for a bad one. cillia's Live2D commission sheet lists "Improper PSD Setup (depends on severity)" at $30 and up, plus $50 per page for written PSD correction notes (cillialive2d.carrd.co). Xela's Live2D commission sheet requires a completed character design or reference sheet before any base price applies — a client without one needs an OC reference sheet commissioned first.

Parameter count also has a hard ceiling in the free tooling, which is why heavier rigs assume a paid licence: Live2D Inc.'s official FREE-vs-PRO comparison caps a FREE-version model at 30 motion parameters, 100 ArtMesh objects, 50 deformers, and 30 parts, with no limit on any of those four in PRO (Compare Features - Live2D Cubism FREE vs PRO).

Add-ons are priced separately from the base rig on every sheet checked for this page. Jirai Ch's rate card prices sticker expressions and part toggles at $10–$30 each, an extra arm toggle at $50–$100, an additional outfit at $400 and up, and a VBridger mouth setup at a flat $400 (jirai-live2d.carrd.co).

What is a standard "9-axis" Live2D rig?

A standard baseline rig, commonly called a "9-axis" rig, covers head movement on three axes, body movement on three axes, breathing, and left/right eye opening — the minimum range of motion most streaming setups expect. Anything beyond that baseline (independent eyebrows, detailed mouth shapes, physics chains, outfit toggles) is an upgrade, not part of a default quote.

The rigger guide draw.market defines the term as "setting up the basic parameters: head movement on the XYZ axes, body movement in three directions, breathing, and left and right eye opening". Live commission sheets match that scope in their entry tiers: Jirai Ch's T1 Standard half-body tier includes head tilt, head turn, eyes and eyebrow movement, mouth, body tilt, and body turn at $600 and up (jirai-live2d.carrd.co).

Quoting against the 9-axis baseline gives both sides a shared reference point. A buyer asking why one rig costs more than another can be shown exactly which parameters and physics chains sit above the baseline floor.

How much do Live2D rig commissions cost in 2026?

Published Live2D rigger rate cards put half-body rigging between $600 (Jirai Ch) and $5,000 (cillia) as a starting price, and each sheet lists full-body rigging $200 to $3,000 above its own half-body figure. The spread reflects experience and waitlist as much as scope, so a rigger with no public queue should anchor near the low end.

Jirai Ch's sheet lists a full-body T1 Standard rig at $800 and up and a full-body T2 Advanced rig at $1,200 and up, all prices in USD with commercial usage included (jirai-live2d.carrd.co). cillia's sheet lists half-body rigging at $5,000+ and full-body at $8,000+, with pricing renewed on 24 February 2026 and new inquiries closed at the time of checking (cillialive2d.carrd.co). Xela's sheet separates the halves usefully for rig-only sellers: model art only (half-body) is $800 while art plus Live2D rigging (half-body) is $1,400, implying roughly $600 of rigging value inside that package (xelalive2d.carrd.co).

Compilation guides report a wider, lower entry band than the individual sheets do. The VIVERSE blog's 2026 VTuber model pricing round-up puts basic-tier 2D Live2D rigs at $200–$500, mid-tier at $500–$1,500, and pro-tier at $2,000–$5,000 and up (VTuber Model Pricing in 2026) — a secondary compilation rather than primary listing data, and a reasonable floor for a rigger with no public portfolio yet.

How does physics complexity change the price?

Physics is usually the largest single step between rig tiers, because physics simulates continuous movement — hair sway, clothing drift, accessory bounce — rather than mapping one fixed pose to one parameter. Physics parameter count alone defines the Standard/Advanced split on Jirai Ch's rate card, and moving from Standard to Advanced costs $200 on a half-body rig (jirai-live2d.carrd.co).

"Standard: 1 to 3 parameters only for physics and/or overall movement. Advanced: More than 4 parameters for physics and/or overall movement." — Jirai Ch, Live2D Rigging Commission sheet

Live2D Inc.'s own documentation describes what that setup work produces.

"With Cubism, you can set up and export physics operations that will create hair swinging movements in real time as the face turns around." — Live2D Cubism Editor Manual, Physics Operations

Single physics elements carry their own line items on high-end sheets: cillia prices animal tail physics (or an idle animation) at $300 and up as a standalone add-on (cillialive2d.carrd.co). When a buyer asks for "more physics," ask which specific elements should move — hair, a jacket hem, earrings, a tail — because the count of independent chains changes a quote more than almost any other request.

Should a rig commission be priced by tier or by hour?

Price by tier, not by the hour. All three commission sheets checked for this page — Jirai Ch, cillia, and Xela — publish a fixed base price per scope with individually named add-ons, and none quotes ordinary rigging work hourly. A fixed tier is faster to quote and easier for buyers to compare.

Hourly pricing does appear, but only for genuinely open-ended work: cillia's sheet lists "Experimental Features/Parts" at $50/hour while every standard scope on the same sheet carries a fixed starting price (cillialive2d.carrd.co). Three published sheets are a small sample, so treat tier pricing as the recommendation here rather than a measured property of the whole market.

A workable structure is two tiers plus named add-ons: a Standard tier (9-axis baseline, basic mouth shapes, one hair physics chain) and an Advanced tier (full parameter set, multiple physics chains, extra expressions), with extra outfits, extra expressions, and rush delivery time priced individually on top. Buyers can then see exactly what moves the number instead of receiving one lump quote.

What does a sample Live2D rig price list look like?

Build a rig price list with one formula: base tier price + (extra physics chains × chain rate) + (extra toggles × toggle rate) + a prep fee if the PSD is not rig-ready + an optional rush fee. The worked example below sits under Jirai Ch's $600 half-body floor, because a first-year rigger sells no booked-out queue.

Assumptions behind the example: the client supplies finished character art as a layered PSD; commercial usage is included; the rigger works solo as an independent provider; and prices are in USD. The add-on figures sit inside ranges published on the cited sheets — Jirai Ch lists toggles at $10–$30 and an additional outfit at $400+, cillia lists improper PSD setup at $30+ — and the $75 chain rate is derived from Jirai Ch's $200 Standard-to-Advanced step covering roughly three extra physics parameters.

Run the platform math before publishing the number. On a $450 Standard package sold through Brillay, the 8% platform fee on paid work is $36 (tips and goals carry 5%), and Stripe's standard US online-card rate of 2.9% + $0.30 is about $13.35, leaving roughly $400.65 (brillay.com/pricing and Stripe pricing).

Custom request or Paid Question for a rig commission?

A new-rig commission belongs in Custom Work, not a Paid Question, because a rig job requires receiving the buyer's layered art file and returning a finished rig file — full media in both directions. Paid Questions let a follower pay upfront to ask one private question, and you send one written reply on your own time — no live call or scheduling.

Brillay's how-it-works page describes the delivery model as asynchronous: you reply, record, or deliver on your own time within the delivery time you set, with no live calls or appointments to schedule (brillay.com/how-it-works). The delivery time selector inside Brillay's service editor accepts anywhere from 1 hour to 5 days, a five-day maximum (Brillay creator dashboard) — comfortable for a Standard-tier rig, tight for a full-physics build, so a longer real queue should be stated in the listing rather than promised at the platform maximum. A general, file-free question — "does your Standard tier include eyebrow movement?" — can stay a Paid Question instead.

How do you scope and list a Live2D rig commission on Brillay?

A clear listing states four things before the buyer pays: the input file required, the parameter and physics scope included, the revision policy, and the delivery time. Vague listings ("custom VTuber rigging, DM for quote") generate more back-and-forth than a scoped tier with a fixed price, and they make refund disputes harder to settle later.

A useful listing spells out:

• Input required: a layered PSD (or equivalent) with clean separation of hair, clothing, and facial features.
• Rig scope: which parameters are included — the 9-axis baseline, plus any named upgrades such as extra eyebrow control or detailed mouth shapes.
• Physics scope: how many independent physics chains are included, and what an extra chain costs beyond that count.
• Corrections: how you handle fixes after handover, set out in your own correction and revision policy, which followers see before they pay.
• delivery time: a realistic window inside Brillay's 1-hour-to-5-day selector, or an honest note that a fuller queue means a longer wait arranged directly.
• Exclusions: illustration work, if the rigger only handles rigging, and any allowed file type the rigger cannot accept.

If the file they send needs a full re-rig rather than the scoped tier, or turns out to be a repair on an already-working model rather than a new build, decline the request and point the buyer to the correct listing rather than quietly absorbing a larger job at the smaller price. The follower paid upfront, so a declined order is settled under your own refund policy, which they saw before paying.

What else fits alongside a rig commission on a rigger's page?

A rig commission does not have to be the only offer on a rigger's page. Three lighter formats fit around it: tips for followers who use free tutorials, a Goal for a target such as new software, and personalized videos for adjacent requests that are not rigging deliverables at all.

Tips let a follower support a rigger's free tutorials or process posts without buying a full commission. A Goal can fund a specific target — a Live2D Cubism PRO subscription, a drawing tablet — with a visible progress bar rather than a per-item sale. Personalized Videos fit requests like a congratulations clip for a VTuber's debut, and a rigger who also draws small assets can sell those separately — see pricing custom VTuber badges and icons.

For broader context, see how VTubers make money and how full model costs break down across PNGtuber, Live2D, and 3D formats — useful when a buyer is comparing a rig-only commission against a full art-plus-rig package. Selling async and priced in advance is the same paid request model other visual artists use for commission work.

Frequently asked questions

What is the actual difference between a "budget" and "professional" Live2D rig?

A budget rig covers the 9-axis baseline (head and body movement, breathing, basic eye and mouth motion) with one to three physics parameters, while a professional rig adds a fuller parameter set, four or more physics parameters, and a larger set of expressions or outfit toggles. Jirai Ch's sheet defines the Standard/Advanced split exactly that way and prices it at $600+ versus $800+ for a half-body rig (jirai-live2d.carrd.co).

Should a rigger price the art and the rig separately?

Yes, when the rigger does not also do the illustration. Xela's commission sheet lists half-body model art alone at $800 and half-body art plus Live2D rigging at $1,400, which implies about $600 of rigging value in the bundle (xelalive2d.carrd.co). A rigging-only listing should therefore be priced and described independently from an art-plus-rig package.

How much should a first-ever Live2D rig commission cost?

A first commission with no public portfolio reasonably sits in the $200–$500 basic-tier band that the VIVERSE 2026 pricing round-up reports for 2D Live2D rigs (VTuber Model Pricing in 2026) — below the $600 half-body floor on Jirai Ch's established sheet. Raise the tier price once the queue fills rather than discounting scope.

Is a new rig commission the same as fixing a broken rig?

No. A new-rig commission builds parameters, layers, and physics from finished art for the first time, while fixing a rig that worked and stopped is a smaller, separate job covered in async VTuber rig troubleshooting. Scoping the two identically under-charges the repair and over-scopes the commission.

What does Brillay charge to sell a rig commission?

Brillay's pricing page states it plainly: No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. There is no follower minimum, and Stripe's standard US online-card rate of 2.9% + $0.30 applies on top, separate from Brillay's fee.

Create your free Brillay page and turn "how much for a rig?" into a priced, scoped custom request instead of a DM negotiation.