To start this off, I'm not planning on buying a model right away. I already have one that I made (albeit it's pretty shitty) and that I'm using to improve myself.

My current plan is to focus on actually being entertaining and enjoyable to watch. However, at some point I'll need to upgrade to a good model. It's still far off, but I'd rather make plans now to prepare for it. Afterall, it doesn't matter how good a show is if there's no advertisements. Nor does it matter how good the advertisements are if the show is shit.

And as far as my autism can sort it, there's two main points when selecting a model:

1) Style - How well does the artist match the vibe I'm going with? Does their expertise match with what I do, for example someone who's very expressive would care more about their emotions being captured than how well they're moving their hands.

2) Clout - Like it or not, some artists have better clout than others. When choosing an artist I'd have to also understand their clout and position. Tying myself to a sinking ship is a bad call, or tying myself to someone I wouldn't agree with would make any further dealings hard and ruining any social credit I'd accrue with them.

So, all of this aside, how much would it generally cost? Obviously exact specifics are impossible, but what's the general range you guys have seen?

My range at minimum would be $5,000 but I could swing up to $15,000 if need be.

Tl:dr; How much would it cost for a high-ish end vtuber model?