| The honest unit | Dollars per second of generated video — convert every credit system to this before comparing |
| Range in 2026 | $0.055–$0.41 per second depending on tool and plan |
| Biggest pricing trap | Credit top-up packs — the same tool can cost 40–50% more per second than on a subscription |
| Subscription winners | Plugsky Studio $0.055–0.075/s · Runway ≈$0.23/s · Pika ≈$0.27/s (annual plans) |
| What drives cost | Resolution, clip length, retries and failed renders — not just seconds |
| Free tiers | Good for testing; check watermarks and commercial licenses |
The credit illusion
Credits exist to make comparison hard. "900 credits" tells you nothing until you know that 5 seconds of the model you want costs 122 credits — and that top-ups sell at a different rate than plans. Three rules cut through it:
- Convert to dollars per second. Plan price ÷ seconds the plan actually buys for your model of choice.
- Use the plan rate, not the top-up rate — but know both, because you will top up eventually.
- Count retries. A tool that needs 2 attempts per usable clip costs double the sticker price. Automatic rescue lanes (retrying failed renders on alternative capacity) directly cut this hidden tax.
The cost-per-second math (October 2026)
| Tool / plan | Published price | What it buys | <b>$/second</b> |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plugsky Studio · Business | $99/mo | 1800 seconds (≈360 clips of 5s) | $0.055 |
| Plugsky Studio · Pro | $29/mo | 480 seconds (≈96 clips) | $0.060 |
| Plugsky Studio · Starter | $9/mo | 120 seconds (≈24 clips) | $0.075 |
| Plugsky credits · 2000s pack | $129 one-time | 2000 seconds | $0.065 |
| Plugsky credits · 100s pack | $9 one-time | 100 seconds | $0.090 |
| Runway · Standard (annual) | $12/mo | 625 credits = 52s Gen-4.5 | ≈$0.23 |
| Runway · Standard (monthly) | $15/mo | 625 credits = 52s Gen-4.5 | ≈$0.29 |
| Pika · Starter (annual) | $8/mo | 900 credits ≈ 37s Seedance 2.5 | ≈$0.22 |
| Pika · Starter (monthly) | $10/mo | 900 credits ≈ 37s Seedance 2.5 | ≈$0.27 |
| Pika · credit top-up rate | $1 = 60 credits | 122 credits = 5s Seedance 2.5 | ≈$0.41 |
Notes: Runway's Gen-4.5 costs 60 credits per 5-second clip; Pika's Seedance 2.5 costs 122 credits per 5-second 720p clip (vendor-published conversion rates). Plugsky packages are priced in seconds directly — no credits involved. All figures from vendor pricing pages, October 2026.
Real monthly scenarios
| Monthly need | Plugsky Studio | Runway (Gen-4.5) | Pika (Seedance 2.5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 videos × 30s = 300s | $29 (Pro, 480s) | ≈$69 (575 credits ≈ 300s) | ≈$66–123 |
| 30 videos × 30s = 900s | $99 (Business, 1800s) | ≈$207 (1,725 credits) | ≈$198–369 |
| 4 videos × 15s = 60s (test month) | $9 (Starter, 120s) | ≈$14–17 | ≈$13–25 |
| Free exploration | $0 (Director + 10 images/day) | $0 (125 one-time credits) | $0 (no commercial license) |
The pattern: at seconds-scale, tools are comparable. At minutes-scale, per-second plans pull 3–7× ahead because you are no longer paying a credit premium per clip.
What actually drives your bill
- Resolution. 480p renders cost a fraction of 1080p. Preview at low resolution, re-render winners — a standard trick in professional AI pipelines.
- Clip length. Most models charge linearly per second; longer single shots rarely improve results over two well-planned 5s shots.
- Retries. The invisible tax. Tools without automatic retry/failover silently double your effective cost.
- Rollover rules. Unused credits that expire are wasted money. Prefer plans whose seconds you can actually use (or generous rollover).
- Commercial licensing. A cheaper plan that forbids commercial use is the most expensive option if you publish.
7 ways to cut the cost
- Plan before you generate. AI Director storyboards turn 20 random renders into 5 deliberate shots.
- One image, one shot. Multi-shot flows that assign each reference image to exactly one shot avoid duplicate generations.
- Preview 480p, finish 720p. Only re-render the shots you keep.
- Use the subscription rate. Top-up packs are for emergencies, not workflows.
- Pick the cheapest model that passes QA — cheaper models handle establishing shots; hero moments get the premium render.
- Batch similar videos to reuse characters, brand kits and prompts.
- Track $/second monthly — the number that matters. If your tool cannot show it, compute it once and watch it.
Transparent per-second pricing
Plugsky Studio: $9 for 120 seconds, $29 for 480, $99 for 1800. No credits, no top-up premium — and commercial use on every package.
Open AI Video Studio → See pricingFrequently asked questions
What is the real cost of AI video per second?
In October 2026: $0.055–0.075 per second on Plugsky Studio packages, ≈$0.22–0.29 on Runway/Pika annual plans, and up to ≈$0.41 on Pika top-up credits. The variance within one vendor (plan vs top-up) is larger than the variance between vendors.
Why are credits confusing?
Because they hide two conversions at once: credits-to-seconds (which varies per model and resolution) and credits-to-dollars (which varies between plans and top-up packs). Always compute dollars per second for the specific model you will use.
Is it cheaper to buy credits or subscribe?
Subscribing. Top-up rates typically cost 40–80% more per second than the same vendor's plan rate. Use packs only for overflow months.
Do failed generations cost money?
On most platforms, failed renders are not billed — but they cost time, and tools without automatic retry effectively cost more because you re-spend attention. Plugsky Studio retries failed shots on rescue capacity automatically.
How do I estimate my monthly AI video budget?
Seconds needed = videos × average length. Then: Plugsky $0.055–0.075/s, Runway ≈$0.23/s, Pika ≈$0.22–0.41/s. A 30-video month of 30s videos (900s) costs $99 on Plugsky Business vs ≈$198–370 elsewhere.
Are there hidden costs in AI video?
Watch for: watermarks on cheaper plans, missing commercial licenses (Pika free), expiring credits, resolution surcharges, and editing/voiceover tools you need to buy separately because the generator cannot finish the video.
Plugsky (2026). “AI Video Pricing Compared (2026): Real Cost per Second”. Plugsky. Available at: https://plugsky.com/blog/ai-video-pricing-compared-2026 (last updated 2026-10-16).