AI video pricing is genuinely confusing because every platform uses its own credit system layered on top of a different underlying per-second cost. Converted to a common unit — dollars per second of generated video — the differences are stark.
Per-second cost, standard resolution
| Platform | Starting price |
|---|---|
| Hailuo (MiniMax) | $0.016/sec |
| Pika 2.5 | $0.014/sec |
| Kling AI 3.0 | $0.015/sec |
| Google Veo 3.1 (Fast) | $0.15/sec |
| Luma Dream Machine | $0.030/sec |
| LTX Studio | $0.020/sec |
| Runway Gen-4 | $0.12/sec |
| Sora 2 (OpenAI) | $0.10/sec |
At first glance, Pika, Kling and Hailuo look dramatically cheaper than Runway or Veo 3 — often by 8-10x. But that comparison alone is misleading.
Why the cheap options aren't always cheap in practice
Lower-priced platforms tend to trade off in ways that don't show up in the per-second number:
- More retries needed — cheaper models often need 2-3 generations to get a usable clip, effectively multiplying the real cost
- Lower native resolution — you may need a separate upscale pass, which has its own cost
- Weaker prompt adherence — more iteration means more spend on discarded generations
Runway and Veo 3 sit at the top of the price range specifically because they're built for professional, one-shot-usable output with native audio (Veo 3) or precise camera control (Runway). For social content where volume matters more than precision, the cheaper platforms are usually the better economic choice.
Google Veo 3.1: Fast vs Standard
Veo 3.1 is worth calling out specifically because it has two tiers with a large price gap: Fast mode runs $0.15/second, while Standard mode costs $0.40/second — nearly 3x more — for meaningfully higher fidelity and better prompt adherence. Both include native synchronized audio, which most competitors charge extra for or don't offer at all.
Subscription vs pay-as-you-go
Most platforms bundle credits into monthly subscriptions rather than pure pay-per-second billing. Runway's Standard plan, for instance, runs $12/month for 625 credits — working out to a lower effective rate than the base per-second price, as long as you use most of the allotment. If you generate video regularly, a subscription tier almost always beats topping up credits ad hoc.
Match the tool to the job: Pika/Kling/Hailuo for high-volume social content where you can tolerate some retries; Runway/Veo 3 Standard for client work or anything that needs to be right the first time; Sora 2 if you're already inside the OpenAI ecosystem.
The upscale and extend trap
Watch for add-on multipliers: 4K upscaling commonly adds 30-100% to the base cost, and "extend video" (generating additional seconds from the last frame) is usually billed as a full additional generation at the same per-second rate, not a discount. A 20-second clip built from two 10-second extends can cost noticeably more than one continuous 20-second generation, where supported.