Your footage priced across video models
Same seconds of video, cheapest generator first.
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AI & LLM Cost
AI Video Generation Cost Calculator
Budget AI video before you render. Pick a model, set clips per month and seconds per clip, and see the cost per second, per clip and per month with a live 2026 comparison.
Estimated monthly cost
$0
Cost per second—
Cost per clip—
Seconds per month—
Minutes per month—
Annual estimate—
What the AI Video Generation Cost Calculator does
AI video is the most expensive kind of generation because every second of footage takes heavy compute. Models bill per second of output, and rates range from around $0.16 a second on Kling to $0.50 a second on Google Veo 3 with audio. Over a month of content that difference is large, so a video generation cost calculator is essential for planning.
This tool multiplies clips by their length to get total seconds, applies the per second rate of your chosen model, and compares every major generator on the same footage so you can match quality to budget.
Heads up on pricing. The rates built into this tool are public list estimates for July 2026 and can change without notice. Providers also offer batch discounts, prompt caching and volume tiers that lower real costs, so treat the output as a planning estimate, not a quote.
The formula
seconds per month = clips × seconds per clip
monthly cost = seconds per month × price per second
monthly cost = seconds per month × price per second
Worked example
Producing 300 clips a month at 8 seconds each is 2,400 seconds. On Runway Gen-4 at about $0.25 a second that is 2,400 × $0.25 = $600 a month. The same footage on Google Veo 3 at $0.50 a second would be $1,200, while Kling at $0.16 would be $384.
Video generation pricing used (per second of output, July 2026 estimates)
| Model | Provider | Approx price / second |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI Sora | OpenAI | $0.30 |
| Google Veo 3 | $0.50 | |
| Runway Gen-4 | Runway | $0.25 |
| Kling 2.0 | Kuaishou | $0.16 |
| Luma Dream Machine | Luma | $0.20 |
Prices are July 2026 estimates per second of generated video. Higher resolution, longer duration and added audio raise the rate, and many tools sell credits that convert to an effective per second cost.
Ways to lower your AI costs
- Match the model to the task. Route simple requests to a small model like GPT-5 mini, Gemini Flash or DeepSeek V3, and keep premium models for complex reasoning where quality pays off.
- Cache repeated context. Prompt caching means you stop paying full price for the same system prompt or documents on every call.
- Cap output length. Output tokens cost several times more than input, so limiting response length is often the fastest saving you can make.
- Trim prompts and history. Summarize old conversation turns and drop context the model does not actually need to answer well.
- Batch non-urgent work. Many providers offer batch pricing at around half the standard rate for jobs that can wait a few hours.
Frequently asked questions
How much does AI video generation cost?
Roughly $0.16 to $0.50 per second of output in 2026, so an 8 second clip runs about $1.30 to $4. Enter your volume above for a monthly figure.
Why is AI video so much pricier than images?
A video is dozens of frames per second, each of which must stay consistent with the last. That coherence takes far more compute than a single still image.
Do credits change the math?
Many tools sell credit packs rather than a flat per second rate. Work out how many credits a second of your settings uses, then divide the pack price to get an effective per second cost.
How do I keep video costs down?
Generate shorter clips, render at lower resolution for drafts, and only upscale or add audio on the takes you keep.
Are these rates accurate?
They are July 2026 estimates. Video pricing moves quickly, so confirm the live rate before a big production run.