AI video generator pricing compared: what a usable clip costs on Runway, Veo, Kling

What do AI video price lists actually measure?

Not the same thing. Runway, Luma, Pika and Kling’s app sell credits that each model converts into seconds at its own rate; Google’s and Kling’s APIs sell seconds; BytePlus, which runs Seedance, sells tokens. Read the unit first.

What does a second of video cost when you pay per second?

Pay-as-you-go prices compare most easily: a price per second.

One model, different sellers: Seedance 2.5 at 720p for 5 seconds, worked out from each page.

How much does one usable clip cost once rejected takes are counted?

A page prices attempts; you keep only some. A usable clip costs the price of an attempt divided by the share you keep. No vendor publishes that share, so this guide assumes one attempt in four and also shows one in two and one in eight.

A 30-second ad needs 30 usable seconds; at one in four you generate 120.

The keep rate outweighs the choice between cheap models: on Veo 3.1 Fast, 30 seconds cost $7.20 at one in two, $14.40 at one in four, $28.80 at one in eight.

Subscriptions are the same arithmetic in a fixed pot. Runway Standard’s 625 credits are 52 seconds of Gen-4.5, about 13 usable seconds a month; our ad needs 1,440 credits, two-thirds of Pro’s 2,250. Google AI Pro’s 1,000 credits buy 50 Veo 3.1 Fast generations, about 12 keepers.

None of this includes the person who reviews takes, adds text and sound and edits. To find your rate, run 20 attempts of your real brief, count those you would publish, divide 20 by that count and replace the 4.

Which plan fits which job?

• Testing ideas: free credits, not client work. Google Flow gives 50 a day (two Veo 3.1 Fast generations) but may block free video from about 2 to 5 pm UTC; Runway’s Free plan is 125 one-time credits.
• Ten to thirty social clips a month: one mid-range plan on the tool that suits your shots, not three stacked plans.
• Clips with sound: Veo 3.1 always generates audio; Kling’s API charges 1.2 units a second with native audio against 0.8 without.
• Hundreds of clips or automation: pay-as-you-go APIs; Kling’s smallest prepaid pack is $700.
• “Unlimited”: Higgsfield says it covers named models on its own site only, with speed adjusted in busy periods.

Can you use the clips commercially, and what about watermarks?

Several pages tie commercial use to a paid plan.

Runway’s terms add that inputs and outputs may train its models and may not be unique. Commercial use of outputs does not clear what you upload: a face, logo or song needs its own permission. Keep a dated copy of the page on the day you buy.

What are the audio, length and resolution limits?

• Veo 3.1 makes 4-, 6- or 8-second clips; 1080p and 4K come only at 8 seconds, sound is always on and a request returns one video. Extensions at 720p reach 148 seconds in total.
• Luma prices Ray3.2 at 1080p at 400 credits for 5 seconds but 1,200 for 10: one long clip can cost three short ones.
• 4K is a premium: Kling’s costs $0.42 a second against $0.112 at 1080p without audio, 3.75 times more.
• Sound can be extra: Kling’s API adds 50% for native audio; Runway prices speech and music separately.

Why do faces, products and text drift from shot to shot?

Each generation starts fresh. Runway’s Gen-4.5 page admits limits common to AI video: objects may vanish or appear between frames, and effects can precede causes. Veo accepts reference images; Kling lets paid members save reusable “elements”, capped at 50 on Standard and 150 on Pro. No page promises an exact copy of your product.

• A face or product held across ten shots takes more attempts than one shot, so a sequence has a lower keep rate.
• Where a label must be exact, use the real photo inside the scene.
• We set words, prices and logos in design rather than generating them, so a new price is an edit, not new attempts.

Which labels and rules apply to AI-generated video?

• EU: Article 50 of the AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026. The Commission says deployers must disclose a deepfake (realistic AI content resembling real people, objects, places or events that would falsely look authentic) clearly, at first exposure at the latest; a provider’s hidden mark is not enough, and artistic or fictional work may disclose more lightly. Fines reach €15 million or 3% of turnover.
• YouTube: disclose realistic content that makes a real person seem to say or do what they did not, alters a real event or place, or shows a realistic scene that never happened.
• Meta: requires its disclosure tool for organic posts with photorealistic video or realistic audio made or altered digitally, and may penalise omissions.
• TikTok: asks for labels on realistic AI content and automatically labels anything carrying C2PA Content Credentials.

When is a tool subscription the wrong purchase?

• You need a finished ad by a date and nobody will review every frame: the cost is hours.
• The video must show a real person, a real result or exact packaging. Shoot it.
• You have not measured a keep rate: buy one month of one mid plan, run 20 attempts, then decide.
• You plan three subscriptions: their credits expire separately.

For finished clips instead of credits, VITON¹³ AI video starts from $53, creator-style variants from $53 and a labelled presenter video from $53. Credits on your own tool accounts are not included.