Cost explainer · Prices checked 2026-10-22
Are AI videos cheap? Per second, yes. Per keeper, it depends on you.
Generated footage is priced by the second or by the credit, and at list prices a second of AI video costs cents. What you actually pay is that price multiplied by every take you generate and throw away. Below are the per-second numbers from the vendors' own pricing pages, then the one multiplier that decides your real cost.
Yes, per second of footage. Google's Gemini API pricing page lists Gemini Omni Flash (gemini-omni-1.1-flash) at about $0.10 per second of 720p video. Runway's Standard plan works out to roughly $0.29 per second of Gen-4.5 when billed monthly.
Not automatically, per finished video. Both services bill for every clip they successfully generate, including the ones you reject. If it takes you four generations to get one usable shot, your real price per kept second is four times the list price.
| Option | How it is priced | Per generated second | Per generated minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini Omni Flash (Gemini API, paid tier) | $17.50 per 1M video output tokens, at 5,792 tokens per second of 720p | About $0.10 at 720p (Google's own figure) | About $6 at 720p |
| Runway Standard, Gen-4.5 | $15/month billed monthly ($12 billed yearly), 625 credits, Gen-4.5 uses 12 credits per second | About $0.29 monthly, about $0.23 yearly | About $17 monthly, about $14 yearly |
| Runway Pro, Gen-4.5 | $35/month billed monthly ($28 billed yearly), 2,250 credits = 187s of Gen-4.5 per Runway | About $0.19 monthly, about $0.15 yearly | About $11 monthly, about $9 yearly |
Read from ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing and runwayml.com/pricing on October 22, 2026. Per-second and per-minute figures are our arithmetic on those list prices, rounded. Google does not state a per-second Omni figure for 1080p or 4K. Prices change; check the vendor page before you budget.
real cost per kept second = list price per second × generations per kept shot
Here is how that plays out on one 60-second finished video, using Gemini Omni Flash at 720p. The keep rates are examples to show the arithmetic, not measurements:
- ▸Every take usable: about $6.
- ▸One in two usable: about $12.
- ▸One in four usable: about $24.
- ▸One in ten usable: about $60.
The same multiplier applies on Runway, starting from about $17 per generated minute on the monthly Standard plan. Your keep rate depends on the shot: text in frame, hands, fast motion and multi-person dialogue tend to need more retries than a slow product turn. Our failure library lists the common ways clips come out wrong, and the prompt structure guide covers what reduces retries.
Successful but unusable still bills. Google's pricing page says you are only charged if a video is successfully generated, so a request that errors out is free. A clip that renders but has warped hands is a successful generation and is billed. On Runway, credits are spent per generation, so a take you discard costs the same as a take you keep.
Unused credits can expire. Runway says Standard and Pro monthly credits do not roll over and reset within 24 hours of the billing date. Only the Max plan rolls over up to one month of unused credits. A plan larger than your output raises your effective price per second every month you underuse it.
Clip length caps. Gemini Omni Flash produces 3 to 10 second clips per Google's guide, so a 60-second video is at least six generations plus editing. Longer videos mean more stitching, and every re-generated shot is billed again.
Model shutdowns force re-tests. Hosted models retire on short notice. The Veo 3.1 preview IDs in the Gemini API are listed for shutdown on October 22, 2026. See the Veo 3.1 Preview shutdown record for how per-second prices moved for each tier.
Before you decide AI video is cheap for you
- →Generate ten takes of one real shot you need and count how many you would publish. That is your keep rate.
- →Divide the list price per second by that keep rate. That is your real price per second.
- →If you are on a credit plan, size it to the seconds you actually generate, since Standard and Pro credits on Runway do not roll over.
- →For finished, narrated videos rather than raw clips, compare tools on cost per finished video in our cheapest AI video generator guide.
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