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A quoted price per generated second is only a starting point for comparing AI video APIs. Your bill may also depend on resolution, model tier, audio, reference footage, tokens or credits, minimum charges, rounding, successful completion, and deployment region. To compare providers fairly, define one workload and apply each provider’s documented billing formula to it.
Why price per second can mislead
Providers do not all meter the same thing. A rate may apply to generated output seconds, input and output duration, tokens, platform credits, or completed jobs. Even when two prices are both stated per second, they may describe different models, resolutions, audio settings, or billing rules.
For example, a short request with a minimum charge can have a higher effective cost than its nominal per-second rate suggests. A reference-video workflow may also incur input charges that do not apply to a prompt-only generation. Compare the formula and assumptions, not just the headline unit.
What to include in a cost comparison
Record the same conditions for every provider before calculating:
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- Model and version: the exact API model identifier and tier, plus whether the offering is preview, legacy, or generally available if stated.
- Output: clip count and duration, resolution, aspect ratio, and audio setting.
- Inputs: whether you supply reference footage, images, or audio, and the duration of any video input.
- Metering and minimums: seconds, tokens, credits, frames, minutes, or jobs; rounding increments and minimum charge per generation.
- Completion rules: whether failed or partial jobs are charged, and whether input is billed separately from output.
- Settlement details: deployment region, currency, taxes, service fees, discounts, free quotas, and any platform-credit conversion.
These details are not interchangeable. Keep provider list prices separate from taxes, account discounts, free allowances, and third-party reseller markups rather than folding them into an unexplained average.
Examples of different billing designs
The following are provider-listed examples from documentation checked on October 7, 2026. They illustrate why rates need context; they are not a cross-provider price ranking. Availability and rates can change, so verify the applicable model, region, and terms before estimating a current bill.
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| Provider and model | Published rate example | Important billing context |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI Sora 2 Pro | $0.30 per second at 720p; $0.50 per second for 1024-class output; $0.70 per second at 1080-class output. | The model page describes video generation with synced audio and lists usage-tier rate limits. See OpenAI’s Sora 2 Pro model page. |
| Google Veo 3.1 | Standard with audio: $0.40 per second at 720p or 1080p, and $0.60 per second at 4K. Fast: $0.10 at 720p, $0.12 at 1080p, and $0.30 at 4K per second. Lite: $0.05 at 720p and $0.08 at 1080p per second. | Google says customers are charged only when a video is successfully generated. The rates differ by model tier and resolution. See Google’s Gemini API pricing page. |
| Runway Dev, Seedance 2.5 | Credits cost $0.01 each; the rate guide specifies an 80-credit minimum per generation. | Seedance 2.5 rates vary by output resolution and add charges for input and reference video. The guide says reference images and audio are free for this rate table, with combined input/reference video capped at 30 seconds. See Runway’s API pricing guide. |
| Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, Wan 2.7 reference-to-video | CNY 0.6 per second at 720p and CNY 1 per second at 1080p. | Some operations bill both input and output duration, while others bill output only. The documentation distinguishes deployment regions and describes failed-request treatment for relevant models. See Alibaba Cloud Model Studio pricing. |
| B.AI Seedance | Rates are expressed in USD per 1 million video tokens. | A token rate cannot be directly compared with a per-second rate without the provider’s tokenization formula and actual billable usage. See B.AI’s video model pricing. |
These examples are snapshots of official documentation, not evidence that one service is cheaper for every workload. For instance, a credit rate needs the relevant credit conversion and minimum, while a token rate needs the provider’s usage formula. Do not infer a universal token-to-second conversion.
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Start with one explicit scenario: model and version, number of clips, target duration, resolution, audio setting, input/reference media and its duration, aspect ratio where relevant, and deployment region. Then apply the provider’s exact rule:
- Output-second pricing: multiply the listed rate by billable generated seconds, applying any minimum and successful-job rule.
- Input plus output pricing: calculate billable input/reference seconds and generated output seconds separately, using the applicable rates.
- Token pricing: use the provider’s documented tokenization and billing method with expected or observed usage. Do not substitute an assumed seconds conversion.
- Credit pricing: use the current credit-to-currency conversion and include verified minimum credits or separately charged platform fees.
- Rounded units: apply the documented rounding rule before multiplying. A minimum or rounding block can make a small request’s effective cost substantially higher than the nominal unit rate.
Report both the nominal unit rate and the estimated total for that defined scenario. That makes the assumptions visible and lets someone else reproduce the comparison.
How input, completion, and rounding change the bill
Reference footage may be billable
Do not assume that all inputs are free because the prompt itself is not charged. Runway’s cited Seedance 2.5 rate guide, for example, charges for input and reference video while listing reference images and audio as free under that rate table. Other workflows may distinguish between input and output duration; check the specific operation’s rule.
Successful output is not the only possible billing rule
Google’s cited Veo pricing says charges apply only to successfully generated videos. Alibaba Cloud’s pricing documentation gives a more qualified rule for relevant models: “You are not charged for input. You are charged for output based on the total duration of successfully generated videos (in seconds).” The same Alibaba Cloud page also describes operations that bill input and output, so apply the wording only to the models and billing section where it appears.
Minimums and billing blocks matter most on small jobs
A per-generation credit minimum or rounded interval can dominate the cost of a short request. As an illustration of rounding rather than video-generation pricing, VEED’s Clean Audio example charges $0.0125 per input-audio minute, rounds duration to whole seconds and then whole minutes, and has a one-minute minimum. See VEED API pricing. That audio example is not a video-generation rate; it demonstrates why a nominal unit price must be read together with its billing block.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Use a like-for-like estimate before choosing an API
For each provider under consideration, build a separate estimate for the same intended output and retain the provider’s own terminology and units. If a value is absent from the rate documentation, treat it as unestablished rather than filling it with an assumption. In particular, verify regional price and availability, free-quota eligibility, model version, and whether a fee applies to input, output, or both.
Provider rate cards are not an independent market survey, and a listed unit price does not establish a universal winner. The useful comparison is the documented total for your workload, with its settings, billing rules, and region stated alongside it.
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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