VoidSource Media Cost IndexRoutes and subscriptions checked Oct 9, 2026–Nov 4, 2026 · Quality ratings Nov 4, 2026

What AI video actually costs.

Video tools price by second, clip, credit wallet, subscription tier, and sometimes by route. This hub normalizes the moving parts into comparable prices, then pairs them with quality signals so the cheap option and the useful option are not confused. For agents and automated filmmaking, price is only half the question; the sweet spot is a route that is both cheap and callable without a human in the loop, so metered API routes and human-first credit plans stay separate here.

The short answer

We track 561 USD-metered video API routes. Among offers eligible for comparison, the recorded price of a 10-second clip ranges from $0.115 (Seedance 1 5 Pro via OpenRouter) to $20.80 (Seedance 2.5 via OpenRouter). The table below previews the cheapest rows; credit subscriptions can beat API pricing at high utilization, but at the default 40% usage assumption, unused credits make the sticker rate materially too low.

16
pricing sources
846
comparable route prices
$0.012-$2.08
USD per-second API range
172
credit plans decoded

The verdict

Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash is the highest-rated text-to-video model we track on Arena (Nov 4, 2026).

01

Quality vs. cost, measured

Blind human-preference Elo is useful by itself, but the real decision starts when it is joined to price. Up and left is better; the frontier marks models where nothing stronger costs less.

Arena Elo Nov 4, 2026 · USD per second where tracked
Open weightsClosed / APIValue frontierReference price: no eligible offer at the rated resolution

Every rated model, joined to every tracked route and sortable by Elo or price, lives in the board below.

Rated on this board, no eligible offer matched to the rating

Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash Elo 1516Gemini Omni Flash Elo 1513FLUX 3 Video Elo 1493Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Elo 1492Wan 3.0 Elo 1476Dreamina Seedance 2.5 Elo 1474MiniMax H3 Elo 1460Muse Video Elo 1456Happyhorse 1.0 Elo 1427Sora 2 Pro Elo 1368Veo 3.1 Audio 1080p Elo 1362Veo 3.1 Fast Audio 1080p Elo 1358

These models hold an Arena rating, but no eligible offer matches the operation and resolution they were rated at. Some have public prices in the route table below; we show the gap instead of pairing a score with another configuration's price.

Quality leader

Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash leads the models we track on this board at Elo 1516, but no eligible offer is matched to this rating.

Priced quality

No rated model has an eligible offer at its rated resolution yet.

Efficiency corner

No rated model has an eligible offer at its rated resolution yet.

02

Same recorded settings. Different provider prices.

Compare published per-second rates for the same canonical model, operation, resolution, tier, audio mode, input mode, region, currency, and execution mode. These are rate comparisons; duration limits and other job charges can still affect the final bill. Every seller in the group is marked on the bar.

Seedance V1.5 Pro
video · 480p · pro · no audio · mixed · global · API
$0.012 · OpenRouter$0.013 · Replicate
1.13xspread
Seedance V1.5 Pro
video · 480p · pro · with audio · mixed · global · API
$0.023 · OpenRouter$0.025 · Replicate
1.08xspread

The useful signal is not only the largest markup. A near-1.0x row is just as valuable: it means the marketplace is effectively pegged, so convenience may be worth taking. A high-spread row is where teams should check the direct API first. Groups with unknown settings or conflicting prices for the same provider are omitted; their observations remain in the route tables. Across all 6 comparable multi-provider groups we track right now, Replicate is the sole most expensive seller in 6 of them.

03

The board: every model, every route

109 video models joined to all 561 tracked USD-metered API routes. Sort by Arena Elo or price; expand a model to inspect provider observations and their recorded settings. Conflicting or incomplete observations stay flagged. Credit-plan economics are handled separately below.

Gemini Omni 1.1 FlashGoogle
15161488untracked—
Gemini Omni FlashGoogle
15131465untracked—
FLUX 3 VideoBlack Forest Labs
14931449untracked
Grok Imagine Video 1.5xAI
14921456720p
$0.14referencefal.ai · arena chart price
Dreamina Seedance 2.0Bytedancefrom $0.067/sec
1479720p1475720p
$0.067480p · video · no audio · OpenRouter
Wan 3.0Alibaba
14761480untracked
Dreamina Seedance 2.5Bytedance
1474720p1477720puntracked
MiniMax H3MiniMax
14601495untracked—
Muse VideoMeta
1456—untracked—
Happyhorse 1.0Alibaba-ATH
14271442untracked
Sora 2 ProOpenAI
1368—
$0.3unverifiedReplicate
Veo 3.1 AudioGooglefrom $0.2/sec
13641398
$0.21080p · video · no audio · OpenRouter
Veo 3.1 Fast AudioGooglefrom $0.08/sec
13621385
$0.08720p · video · no audio · OpenRouter
Veo 3 Fast AudioGoogle
13481326
$0.15referencefal.ai · arena chart price
Sora 2OpenAI
1343—
$0.1unverifiedReplicate
Grok Imagine VideoxAI
1342720p1415720p
$0.05referencefal.ai · arena chart price
Veo 3 AudioGoogle
13401331
$0.4referencefal.ai · arena chart price
Wan2.7 T2VAlibaba
1337—untracked
Wan2.6 T2VAlibaba
1327—untracked
Seedance V1.5 ProBytedancefrom $0.012/sec
12561307
$0.012480p · video · no audio · OpenRouter
Veo 3Google
12541258
$0.2unverifiedfal.ai
Veo 3 FastGoogle
12481257
$0.1unverifiedfal.ai
Wan2.5 T2V PreviewAlibaba
1245—untracked
Pixverse V5.6Pixversefrom $0.07/sec
12401299
$0.07540p · text to video · no audio · fal.ai
Runway Gen 4.5Runway
1225—
$0.12referenceReplicate · arena chart price
Kling 2.5 TurboKlingAIfrom $0.042/sec
12201080p12761080p
$0.042720p · video · no audio · Kling
Kling 2.6 ProKlingAI
12161294
$0.07unverifiedfal.ai
P-VideoPruna
12071244untracked
Hailuo 2.3MiniMax
12061262
$0.047unverifiedfal.ai
Ray 3Luma AI
12061226untracked
Kling O1 ProKlingAI
1205—
$0.084unverifiedReplicate
Hailuo 02 ProMiniMax
11981229
$0.08referencefal.ai · arena chart price
Seedance V1 ProBytedance
11911273untracked
Hailuo 02 StandardMiniMax
11811224
$0.045referencefal.ai · arena chart price
Kandinsky 5.0 T2V ProKandinsky
1175—untracked—
Hunyuan Video 1.5Tencent
11691198
$0.075referencefal.ai · arena chart price
Veo 2Google
11641166
$0.5referenceReplicate · arena chart price
Kling V2.1 MasterKlingAI
11631235
$0.28referencefal.ai · arena chart price
LTX 2 19blightricks
11541159untracked—
Wan V2.2 A14bAlibaba
11321170
$0.06unverifiedfal.ai
Seedance V1 LiteBytedance
11131185untracked
Kandinsky 5.0 T2V LiteKandinsky
1113—untracked—
SoraOpenAI
1069—untracked—
Ray2Luma AI
10651108untracked—
Pika V2.2Pika
1009997untracked—
Mochi V1Genmo AI
1007—untracked—
HiDream O1 Video 1.0HiDream
—1456untracked—
Vidu Q3 ProShengshu
—1363untracked
Kling V3 ProKlingAI
—1354
$0.112unverifiedfal.ai
Wan2.5 I2V PreviewAlibabafrom $0.043/sec
—1321
$0.043480p · image to video · with audio · Alibaba
Wan2.6 I2VAlibabafrom $0.1/sec
—1310
$0.1720p · image to video · with audio · Alibaba
Vidu Q2 TurboShengshu
—1244untracked—
Kling V2.1 StandardKlingAI
—1229
$0.056referencefal.ai · arena chart price
Vidu Q2 ProShengshu
—1223untracked—
Hailuo 02 FastMiniMax
—1194untracked
Runway Gen4 TurboRunway
—1052untracked—
Wan2.2 I2V Flash (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.015/sec
——
$0.015480p · image to video · no audio · Alibaba
Wan2.2 I2V Plus (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.02/sec
——
$0.02480p · image to video · no audio · Alibaba
Wan2.6 I2V Flash (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.022/sec
——
$0.022720p · image to video · no audio · Alibaba
Wan2.6 R2V Flash (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.022/sec
——
$0.022720p · reference to video · no audio · Alibaba
Veo 3.1 Lite (OpenRouter)no public Elo—from $0.03/sec
——
$0.03720p · video · no audio · OpenRouter
Dreamina Seedance 2.0 Minino public EloBytedancefrom $0.034/sec
——
$0.034480p · video · with audio · OpenRouter
Wanx2.1 T2V Turbo (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.034/sec
——
$0.034480p · text to video · no audio · Alibaba
Wan2.1 T2V Turbo (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.036/sec
——
$0.036720p · text to video · no audio · Alibaba
Dreamina Seedance 2.0 Fastno public EloBytedancefrom $0.04/sec
——
$0.04480p · video · no audio · OpenRouter
Kling 2.6 (Kling API)no public Elo—from $0.042/sec
——
$0.042720p · video · no audio · Kling
Kling 3.0 (Kling API)no public Elo—from $0.084/sec
——
$0.084720p · video · no audio · Kling
Kling 3.0 Omni (Kling API)no public Elo—from $0.084/sec
——
$0.084720p · video · no audio · Kling
Wan2.7 I2V (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.086/sec
——
$0.086720p · image to video · with audio · Alibaba
Wan2.7 R2V (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.086/sec
——
$0.086720p · reference to video · with audio · Alibaba
Wan2.1 T2V Plus (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.1/sec
——
$0.1720p · text to video · no audio · Alibaba
Wan2.6 R2V (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.1/sec
——
$0.1720p · reference to video · with audio · Alibaba
Wanx2.1 T2V Plus (Alibaba)no public Elo—from $0.1/sec
——
$0.1720p · text to video · no audio · Alibaba
Seedance 2.5 (OpenRouter)no public Elo—from $0.103/sec
——
$0.103480p · video · no audio · OpenRouter
Kling 3.0 Turbo (Kling API)no public Elo—from $0.112/sec
——
$0.112720p · video · with audio · Kling
Kling 4.0KlingAI
——untracked—
Grok Imagine Video 1.5 PreviewxAI
——untracked—
Seedance V1 Pro FastBytedance
——untracked
Happyhorse 1.0 Video Edit (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Happyhorse 1.1 I2V (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Happyhorse 1.1 R2V (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Happyhorse 1.1 T2V (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Wan2.1 KF2V Plus (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Wan2.1 Vace Plus (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Wan2.2 KF2V Flash (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Wan2.2 S2v (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Wan2.2 T2V Plus (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Wan2.7 Videoedit (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Wanx2.1 KF2V Plus (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Wanx2.1 Vace Plus (Alibaba)—
——untracked
Kling 4.0 (Kling API)—
——untracked
Kling 4.0 Flash (Kling API)—
——untracked
Kling O1 (Kling API)—
——untracked
Aleph 2 (OpenRouter)no public Elo—
——
$0.28unverifiedOpenRouter
Avatar Iv (OpenRouter)no public Elo—
——
$0.05unverifiedOpenRouter
Flux Video Edit (OpenRouter)no public Elo—
——
$0.03unverifiedOpenRouter
Gen 4.5 (OpenRouter)no public Elo—
——
$0.12unverifiedOpenRouter
Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite (OpenRouter)—
——untracked
Hailuo 3 (OpenRouter)no public Elo—
——
$0.13unverifiedOpenRouter
Hailuo 3 Max (OpenRouter)—
——untracked
Happyhorse 1.1 (OpenRouter)—
——untracked
Heygen Video 1 (OpenRouter)—
——untracked
Kling V3.0 Std (OpenRouter)no public Elo—
——
$0.084unverifiedOpenRouter
Kling Video O1 (OpenRouter)no public Elo—
——
$0.112unverifiedOpenRouter
Mischief 1 (OpenRouter)—
——untracked
Wan 2.6 (OpenRouter)—
——untracked
Wan 2.7 (OpenRouter)no public Elo—
——
$0.1unverifiedOpenRouter
Wan 3.0 Prime (OpenRouter)—
——untracked
Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite (xAI)—
——untracked

Model rows show each family's lowest eligible documented metered rate; click a row to see every tracked route with operation, tier, audio, and the provider's own pricing page as evidence. Models with an Arena rating but no clean tracked route show their board-level price instead, labeled by source; prices from flagged extractions are tagged unverified and never pose as clean data. Subscription and credit routes are intentionally separated below because utilization and credit expiry change the effective cost.

Eligible recorded rates · $/sec by resolution

log scale · ▲ median

360P2 observations
$0.07 · $0.07 · $0.07
480P19 observations
$0.012 · $0.034 · $0.103
540P2 observations
$0.07 · $0.07 · $0.07
720P51 observations
$0.022 · $0.086 · $0.231
1080P51 observations
$0.036 · $0.143 · $0.52
4K26 observations
$0.233 · $0.42 · $2.08

Every tracked route counts here, including flagged extractions: min · median · max per resolution. Same model families appear at several points; expand a model above to see why.

Official model weights

Repository links for the exact model version. Check the source for access terms and setup requirements.

Model history

What changed in AI video?

Releases, downloadable weights and new API access. These milestones add context to the comparisons above; they are not quality or value rankings.

Sources checked . Selected historical changes; not comprehensive.

  1. fal releases H3 Max

    A post-trained variant of MiniMax H3 with a hosted API.

    Sources and limitations

    fal’s speed and quality claims are not our benchmark. Later livestream demonstrations are grouped separately.

  2. Wan 3 is documented as available on fal

    Alibaba’s video model, offered through hosted generation endpoints.

    Sources and limitations

    Date is documented availability on fal, not proof of Alibaba’s first model release. The reported earlier beta and financial news are not part of this event.

  3. LTX-2.5 weights and ComfyUI support documented

    A downloadable audio-video model with distilled and trainable checkpoints.

    Sources and limitations

    Date is documented availability and ComfyUI support, not an assertion of the earliest release. No 16 GB runtime claim is adopted.

  4. FLUX 3 Video becomes available through the BFL API

    Text/image-to-video generation with native audio.

    Sources and limitations

    This is the API availability event, separate from July early access. No independent quality ranking is inferred.

  5. MiniMax releases H3 weights

    Downloadable weights for the H3 video model.

    Sources and limitations

    Weight availability does not establish usable local hardware, licensing suitability or cost savings. Those need separate checks.

04

Workload rate estimates

Select operation and audio, then multiply recorded rates by your volume and retry assumptions. Only matching, eligible rates participate; other recorded settings are shown per result. Billing support is unverified; these are rate illustrations, not job quotations.

487 routes excluded for unverified configuration or incomplete evidence; 60 have different operation/audio settings. A mismatch does not establish that a provider cannot support the job.

Clip length
Gens per kept clip
Resolution
ModelRoute$ / kept clip100 clips
360p
Pixverse V5.6Text-to-video Elo 1240fal.ai · 360p · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$0.35$35
480p
Wanx2.1 T2V Turbo (Alibaba)Alibaba · 480p · turbo · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$0.172$17
Wan2.1 T2V Turbo (Alibaba)Alibaba · 480p · turbo · no audio · text to video · text · instant · international · API$0.18$18
540p
Pixverse V5.6Text-to-video Elo 1240fal.ai · 540p · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$0.35$35
720p
Wanx2.1 T2V Turbo (Alibaba)Alibaba · 720p · turbo · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$0.172$17
Wan2.1 T2V Turbo (Alibaba)Alibaba · 720p · turbo · no audio · text to video · text · instant · international · API$0.18$18
Pixverse V5.6Text-to-video Elo 1240fal.ai · 720p · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$0.45$45
Wan2.1 T2V Plus (Alibaba)Alibaba · 720p · plus · no audio · text to video · text · instant · international · API$0.5$50
Wanx2.1 T2V Plus (Alibaba)Alibaba · 720p · plus · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$0.502$50
1080p
Pixverse V5.6Text-to-video Elo 1240fal.ai · 1080p · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$0.75$75
4k
Veo 3.1 Fast AudioText-to-video Elo 1362fal.ai · 4K · fast · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$1.50$150
Veo 3.1 AudioText-to-video Elo 1364fal.ai · 4K · no audio · text to video · text · instant · global · API$2.00$200

Ranked within each resolution only: a price at one resolution is not an answer at another.

Billing incomplete: duration limits, minimum charges, billing blocks and input/reference-media charges are not collected here. Rate × seconds × generations × clips can differ from the bill. Check the linked provider terms. Estimates exclude taxes and volume discounts.

05

Prototyping economics: pay draft prices for draft work

Iteration is where video budgets actually go: you generate ten clips to keep one. ByteDance's ModelArk terms include three levers that cut what a draft costs, none of which show up on a per-second comparison chart.

Draft mode

Seedance 1.5 Pro generates low-quality test drafts at a reduced token rate: 480p only, and currently the only model that supports it.

Offline inference

50% offthe token rate

Batch jobs that can wait pay half: Seedance 1.5 Pro, 1.0 Pro, and 1.0 Pro Fast all list an offline rate at exactly 50% of instant. The catch: the whole Seedance 2.0 line is “not supported yet”, so if you prototype on 2.0 you pay full rate.

Failure billing

$0for failed generations

ModelArk only charges for successfully generated videos; failures and content-moderation blocks cost nothing. For an agent pipeline that retries, this changes the effective cost per accepted clip.

Cheapest drafting route we trackSeedance 1.0 Pro Fast≈ $0.05 per 5s 480p clip

These are the vendor’s own estimates at standard specs (16:9); actual billing follows the token meter. We have not verified that Google’s batch-inference discount covers Veo, so we don’t claim it here. BytePlus ModelArk pricing

06

The subscription illusion

Credit plans are not wrong, but their sticker price assumes every credit gets used. Pick how much of a monthly allowance you would realistically burn; unused credits raise the effective price per credit before any model-specific burn rate is applied.

advertisedeffective at 40% use
Higgsfield · Ultra
$209/mo, billed annually · 7,200 cr
$0.029
$0.073 · 2.5x
Hailuo · Max
$184/mo, billed annually · 27,000 cr
$0.0068
$0.017 · 2.5x
Dreamina · Advanced
€132/mo, billed annually · 15,234 cr
€0.0086
€0.022 · 2.5x
Adobe Firefly · Premium
€220/mo · 50,000 cr
€0.0044
€0.011 · 2.5x
Freepik · Pro Starter
$110/mo, billed annually · 125,000 cr
$0.0009
$0.0022 · 2.5x

The API question and the subscription question are different. APIs win when you need automation, repeatability, auditability, or agent integration. Credit plans can win when a wrapper provides workflow value, API access is missing, or you reliably burn the monthly allowance.

The flip point is utilization: a plan that looks cheaper at 100% usage can become materially more expensive once credits expire.

Automation access matters

For an automated pipeline, the sweet spot is the cheapest route an agent can actually drive: a metered API with async jobs, retries, and usage accounting, which is most of the route board above. Credit subscriptions are mostly human-first by design: plan credits buy clicks in a web UI, not API calls. A wrapper can still be the right choice when its product layer is the workflow, and the line is blurring: Higgsfield exposes agent access via MCP and CLI billed in plan credits, and Kling now does too (first-party MCP server and CLI at the same credit prices as its apps, but agents get no off-peak free generations and cannot spend bonus credits, so an agent's credit buys less than a human's). The economics above apply either way: when the meter is credits, utilization and expiry set your real price; when it is a per-second API, the listed rate is what you pay.

Compare language models too
07

Where these numbers come from

Prices are captured from provider pricing pages or APIs, then normalized to per-second or per-credit terms. The route table links each listed API price to its source. Comparisons keep operation, resolution, tier, audio, currency, and region separate, so a near miss is never passed off as the same route.

Route and subscription prices were last confirmed between Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 4, 2026. The route table links each listed API price to its source.

How much does AI video cost?+

This page reports USD metered API costs per second, converts them into 10-second clip costs, and separates subscription pricing so unused credits do not get hidden inside one number. The route table links each listed API price to its source.

Why can the same model have different prices?+

Wrappers and marketplaces can resell the same model with their own margins, convenience layers, or plan economics. We only publish a spread when the model, operation, resolution, tier, audio mode, currency, and execution mode match.

Is a subscription cheaper than an API?+

Sometimes. A subscription can win when you use most of the monthly credits or need the wrapper workflow. APIs usually win when you need automation, agent access, repeatable jobs, and no use-it-or-lose-it credit decay.

Can AI agents generate videos?+

Yes, through two doors. Metered APIs are the agent-native door: a key, an async job queue, and a per-second or per-generation price (BytePlus, Google Veo, Kling's developer platform, MiniMax, fal, Replicate). MCP is the second door: an agent drives the tool through a standard protocol instead of custom integration code. What an agent cannot use is a human-first credit subscription: plan credits that only buy clicks in a web UI.

Which AI video tools support MCP?+

First-party MCP support is still rare but growing. MiniMax publishes an official MCP server for its video, image, and speech models, billed like normal API usage. Higgsfield exposes MCP and CLI access billed in the same credits as its subscription plans. Kling now ships both a first-party MCP server (kling.ai/mcp) and a CLI, billed in the same credits as its consumer plans, with two agent-specific catches: off-peak free generation is not available through assistants, and bonus credits cannot be spent there, so an agent's credit buys strictly less than a human's. Most other providers are reachable by agents only through their metered APIs, or through third-party MCP wrappers that put someone else's code and margin between you and the meter.

Are AI video credit plans usable for automation?+

Mostly no, by design. Consumer credit plans bill a human clicking a web UI; where the same company sells developer access, it is a separate metered product with separate pricing (Kling membership vs. Kling's Open Platform, Dreamina vs. ByteDance's ModelArk). The exceptions among the credit platforms tracked here are Higgsfield and, since mid-2026, Kling; both expose agent access via MCP and CLI on plan credits. Neither hands agents the full plan value: Higgsfield's Unlimited mode stays website-only, and Kling excludes off-peak free generation and bonus credits from assistant use. Agent-billed credits inherit the same utilization and expiry economics measured on this page.

Is MCP better than an API for AI video generation?+

They solve different problems. A metered API is the cleaner primitive for production pipelines: queues, retries, webhooks, exact usage accounting. MCP removes integration code so an agent can drive the tool directly. The economics matter more than the protocol: MCP calls billed against an API cost the listed rate, while MCP calls billed in subscription credits inherit utilization and expiry, the credit breakage quantified above.

Why are some top video models missing from the price table?+

Quality boards and pricing sources do not update on the same cadence, and some high-quality systems do not expose clean public API pricing. Those gaps should stay visible rather than being filled with estimates.