ClipCost · Last checked Oct 27, 2026 · Prices from verified data · Building with code? Cheapest AI video API · Grok Imagine cost

Cheapest AI video generator

Ranked by what a usable finished clip costs on verified rates — retries included — not by the cheapest sticker, free tier or demo credit.

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Quick answer

The cheapest AI video generator on verified rates (re-ranked Oct 27, 2026) is Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite at 480p on xAI’s API: $0.02 per second with native audio included — $0.60 for one 30-second attempt and $1.80 per usable 30-second clip with 2 retries. It does text- or image-to-video in 1–15 second clips (so 30 seconds is at least two generations) and costs the same on the Runway API (Grok Imagine cost). Second is Wan 2.6 Flash at 720p without audio on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio’s API: $0.025 per second, $0.75 / $2.25, image-to-video only (Wan API pricing). Tied with it at $0.025 per second are MiniMax H3-Lite 480P on MiniMax’s API (ranked since Oct 31) and, new Nov 2, Luma Ray3.2 540p on Luma Plus annual credits (no audio) — now the cheapest subscription rate (Luma cost). Tied fifth at $0.03 per second are Kling 2.6 in Standard mode (no audio, 3 credits/second on Kling Standard annual credits at $0.0100/credit) — the cheapest subscription rate until Nov 2 — Veo 3.1 Lite 720p without audio on Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, Luma Ray3.2 540p on the Luma API (new Nov 2) and, new Oct 26, LTX-2.3 Fast 720p on LTX’s own API — with audio included and, new Oct 27, Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite 720p on xAI’s API (also with audio): $0.90 / $2.70 (LTX API pricing). Then come Vidu Q3 Turbo at 540p on Vidu’s API ($0.035/sec, audio on by default: $1.05 / $3.15, new Nov 1; Vidu cost), Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p on the BytePlus API ($0.036/sec: $1.08 / $3.24) and Wan 2.6 Flash 1080p without audio on Alibaba Cloud ($1.13 / $3.38), LTX-2.3 Pro 720p ($0.04/sec: $1.20 / $3.60), then, new Oct 25, Kling 2.6 or Kling 2.5 Turbo at 720p without audio on Kling’s own API ($0.042/sec: $1.26 / $3.78; Kling API pricing), then Vidu Q3 Pro or Q4 Preview at 540p ($0.045/sec: $1.35 / $4.05, new Nov 1). Tied eighteenth at $1.50 / $4.50 are Veo 3.1 Lite (720p, audio included), Wan 2.6 Flash 720p with audio and Wan 3.0 480p on Alibaba Cloud, Kling 2.6 Professional without audio, MiniMax H3-Max at 480P (API, native audio not stated) and Veo 3.1 Lite 1080p without audio. Then come Seedance 2.0 Fast 480p ($1.68 / $5.04, BytePlus API), Pika Wan 3.0 720p ($1.76 / $5.28), Kling 3.0 720p without audio ($1.80 / $5.40), Seedance 2.0 480p ($2.10 / $6.30) and MiniMax H3 or H3-Max at 768P ($2.40 / $7.20), tied with Grok Imagine 1.5 480p on xAI’s API ($0.08/sec, with audio). If you need native audio in the clip, Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite on xAI’s API is now the cheapest verified rate ($0.02/sec at 480p, audio included; since Oct 27, 2026), then Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite 720p and LTX-2.3 Fast 720p ($0.03/sec, audio on by default), LTX-2.3 Pro ($0.04) and Veo 3.1 Lite and Alibaba Cloud’s Wan 2.6 Flash with audio ($0.05/sec); Kling’s cheapest audio setting (3.0 720p) is $0.09/sec. Runway is a capability pick, not a price pick: Gen-4 Turbo and Wan 3.0 at 480p inside Runway are $2.88 / $8.64 and Gen-4.5 is $6.91 / $20.74 on Standard annual credits (the same Wan 3.0 model is $1.76 / $5.28 on Pika — see Runway vs Pika cost per video).

Basis: rates verified Oct 16–22, 2026 in assets/data.js (Seedance 2.0 Fast/Mini on BytePlus added and Veo 3.1 Vertex AI rates re-checked Oct 22; Veo 3.1 with and without audio re-verified Oct 20 on Google Cloud Agent Platform / Vertex AI pricing; MiniMax H3-Max verified Oct 19; Runway, incl. Wan 3.0 inside Runway, and Pika re-verified Oct 19, 2026) from official pricing pages and model guides (Kling per-second rates from Kling’s official VIDEO 3.0 and 2.6 guides, verified Oct 17, 2026). “Usable” = 3 attempts (1 + 2 retries). Credit tools are valued at the entry annual plan’s price per credit (Kling Standard $6.60/mo annual = $0.0100; Runway Standard $12/mo annual = $0.0192; Pika Starter/Creator annual = $0.00889). Tools with only estimated or unverified per-generation rates — Descript generation — are not ranked (Luma Ray3.2 joined the ranking Nov 2, 2026 at its 5s price: Luma cost) and are listed separately below. Presenter and repurposing tools are ranked in their own categories because they make different things.

Ranking: cheapest per usable clip (general video)

*Usable = 3 attempts. †Same credit value on Pika Starter annual ($8/mo, 900 cr) and Creator annual ($28/mo, 3,150 cr); both include a commercial licence (Starter since Oct 2026). ‡Kling Standard annual ($6.60/mo, billed $79.20/yr, 660 credits/mo); Kling monthly-billing prices were not verified. Kling Pro annual ($24.42/mo, 3,000 credits) is $0.0081/credit. Kling 3.0 makes 3–15s generations, Kling 2.6 makes 5s or 10s. “No audio” rows have no native audio track — fine for narrated or music-bed videos, not for clips that need generated sound. API rows have no monthly minimum but assume API workflow and self-stitching; subscription rows assume you spend credits before they expire. MiniMax H3-Max makes 5–15s per generation and its native audio output is not stated. Higher-resolution variants cost more — Veo Lite 1080p ($0.08/sec) ties MiniMax H3, H3-Max 768P and Kling 3.0 1080p no-audio, Wan 3.0 at 1080p inside Runway is $0.384/sec, Seedance 1080p is $0.374/sec, Veo Standard 4K is $0.60/sec. See cost per minute for the full ladder.

Cheapest, by use case

General scenes and B-roll

Start with the ranking above. In a browser subscription, Kling now has the lowest verified per-second rates (2.6 Standard mode at $0.03/sec, 3.0 720p at $0.06/sec without audio on Standard annual credits) — but its Standard plan holds only 660 credits a month, enough for about 2 usable 30s clips in 2.6 Standard mode, and confirm Kling’s commercial-use terms before client work. If you can work through an API, Veo Lite (without audio on Vertex AI it matches Kling’s lowest rate), Seedance 2.0 Mini (from $0.036/sec on BytePlus), MiniMax H3-Max, Seedance 2.0 Fast and MiniMax H3 give low verified cost with no subscription waste, and Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite on xAI’s API is the cheapest verified option with native audio ($0.02/sec at 480p), ahead of LTX-2.3 Fast ($0.03) and Veo Lite (tied with Alibaba Cloud’s Wan 2.6 Flash with audio, $0.05). Pika Wan on Creator remains a clearly licensed commercial subscription entry; Runway Turbo is the budget door into Runway’s editor, with Gen-4.5 priced as a quality upgrade, not a saving.

YouTube and Shorts

The same ranking drives long-form and Shorts economics, with plan-fit and repurposing twists — we work those in full on the dedicated cheapest AI video generator for YouTube page, including how many usable videos a plan actually holds each month. Making vertical clips? AI video cost for TikTok and Shorts prices 15s, 30s and 60s clips with retries, checks which models list 9:16, and works out the monthly bill at 1 or 3 posts a day.

Talking avatar / presenter

Do not pay general-video prices for a talking head. HeyGen Avatar III Video Look is verified at 4 credits/minute — about $0.16 per finished minute on Creator annual credits, $0.48 usable. Hedra Character-3 API runs $0.025–$0.0625/sec by resolution for photo-plus-audio characters. Higher HeyGen looks (Avatar IV Video 31 cr/min, Avatar V 48 cr/min) multiply that quickly, so the cheapest presenter is the simplest look that still fits your brand. Full per-minute ranking: cheapest AI avatar video generator.

Repurposing long video into clips

OpusClip does not generate scenes; it cuts long video into Shorts and is priced per source minute processed (Pro: $29/mo monthly or $14.50/mo annual, 300 credits/mo). Its calculator rate is labelled an estimate because source length is not finished-clip length, so we do not insert it into the generation ranking. If your raw material already exists as long video, repurposing can still be your cheapest route to finished clips. Disclosure: our OpusClip link is an affiliate link (see footer).

Editing real footage

Descript is an editor priced in media hours plus AI credits, not a per-second generator, and its per-generation AI cost was not published on the pricing page checked. It belongs in an editing budget, not this ranking — check official pricing for its current AI credit rules.

Not ranked: estimates and unverified rates

Excluding these is the point of the site. A ranking that quietly mixes verified tariffs, bucket estimates and third-party guesses looks complete and budgets badly. If you use one of the unranked tools, take its in-product pre-generation cost and run it through the calculator logic yourself: credits × your plan’s dollar-per-credit × attempts.

Why the cheapest sticker loses: five traps

• Retries: every attempt is billed. Triple the sticker at a normal retry rate before you call anything cheap.
• Commercial rights: free tiers often exclude commercial use (Pika Free does; Pika Starter gained a commercial licence in October 2026). A cheap clip you cannot monetise or sell is not cheap.
• Watermark and export limits: free and entry tiers commonly watermark or limit exports (OpusClip free, Descript free). Unusable output has infinite cost per usable clip.
• Credit expiry: Runway, Pika, Kling and Luma all expire or reset key balances on a monthly rhythm (Kling membership credits expire 1 month after distribution). Low-volume creators often pay for credits they never spend — which can erase Kling’s per-second lead if you subscribe annually and generate rarely.
• Audio: the cheapest Kling rows have no native audio. If your clip needs generated sound, compare audio-on rates: Veo Lite $0.05/sec vs Kling 3.0 720p with audio $0.09/sec.
• Resolution and generation length: price doubles or worse between 480p, 720p, 1080p and 4K on several tools, and finished videos are stitched from 2–10s generations. Compare at your publishing spec and finished length.

The practical shortlist is therefore short: Kling (2.6 Standard mode or 3.0 720p, no audio) if you want the lowest verified per-second rate in a browser and will use your credits each month; API pay-as-you-go (Veo Lite / MiniMax H3-Max / Seedance / MiniMax H3) if you value pure cost, need native audio cheaply, or can handle the workflow; Pika Starter ($8/mo annual, commercial licence since Oct 2026) or Creator if you want the cheapest commercial subscription start; Runway if its models and editor are worth a premium; a presenter tool if a human face carries the video; and an unranked tool only with eyes open and an in-product cost check. Validate your own duration, retries and monthly count in the calculator and against the 30s/60s comparison before subscribing.

Sources & method

All ranked rates verified Oct 16–22, 2026 in assets/data.js against official pages for Kling (VIDEO 3.0 guide, VIDEO 2.6 guide, membership page), Veo, Pika, Seedance, MiniMax, Runway, HeyGen, Hedra and OpusClip. Dollar figures are arithmetic from those rates; no new external price was introduced and no estimated rate was ranked. Prices change fast — confirm in-product. More detail in the FAQ and cost of 1 minute of AI video.

FAQ

What is the cheapest AI video generator?

On verified rates (re-ranked Oct 27, 2026), Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite at 480p on xAI's API: $0.02 per second with native audio included, so $0.60 per 30-second try and $1.80 per usable 30-second clip with 2 retries (1 to 15 seconds per clip; the same price on the Runway API). Second is Wan 2.6 Flash at 720p without audio on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio's API: $0.025 per second, $0.75 / $2.25, image-to-video only. MiniMax H3-Lite at 480P on MiniMax's own API ties it at $0.025 per second ($2.25 usable; ranked since Oct 31, 2026), and so does Luma Ray3.2 540p on Luma Plus annual credits, no audio (ranked since Nov 2, 2026; now the cheapest subscription rate). Next, tied at $0.03 per second ($2.70 usable), are Kling 2.6 in Standard mode without audio on Kling Standard annual credits, Veo 3.1 Lite 720p without audio on Google Cloud's Vertex AI, Luma Ray3.2 540p on the Luma API, LTX-2.3 Fast 720p on LTX's own API and Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite 720p on xAI's API, both with generated audio at that price. Then Seedance 2.0 Mini 480p on the BytePlus API ($3.24) and Wan 2.6 Flash 1080p without audio ($3.38), LTX-2.3 Pro 720p with audio ($3.60), then Kling 2.6 or Kling 2.5 Turbo 720p without audio on Kling's own API ($0.042 per second, $3.78). Veo 3.1 Lite with audio, Wan 2.6 Flash 720p with audio, Wan 3.0 480p on Alibaba Cloud, Kling 2.6 Professional without audio, MiniMax H3-Max at 480P and Veo 3.1 Lite 1080p without audio tie at $4.50, then Seedance 2.0 Fast 480p ($5.04), Pika Wan 3.0 720p ($5.28) and Kling 3.0 720p without audio ($5.40).

What is the cheapest AI video generator with native audio?

Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite on xAI's API (checked Oct 27, 2026): $0.02 per second at 480p with native audio, so $0.60 per 30-second try and $1.80 usable with 2 retries, text- or image-to-video in 1 to 15 second clips. At 720p it is $0.03 per second, tied with LTX-2.3 Fast at 720p on LTX's own API: $0.03 per second with audio generated by default (not priced separately; checked Oct 26, 2026), so $0.90 per 30-second try and $2.70 usable with 2 retries, text- or image-to-video. LTX-2.3 Pro 720p is $0.04 ($3.60). Then a tie at $0.05 per second with audio included: Veo 3.1 Lite at 720p on Google Cloud's Vertex AI (the Gemini API's Veo 3.1 preview models shut down Oct 22, 2026) and Wan 2.6 Flash at 720p with audio on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (image-to-video only): $1.50 per 30-second try, $4.50 usable with 2 retries. Wan 2.6 and Wan 2.7 with audio on Alibaba Cloud are $0.10 per second ($9.00 usable at 720p). Kling's cheapest audio setting, Kling 3.0 at 720p with native audio (9 credits per second), works out to $2.70 per try and $8.10 usable on Standard annual credits.

What is the cheapest AI video generator with commercial rights?

Check the tier, not just the tool. Pika's cheap Wan rate carries a commercial licence from Starter ($8/mo annual) since October 2026 — Pika Free has none. Kling's paid plans list watermark removal, but confirm commercial-use terms on Kling's official pages before client work. API rates (Veo, Seedance, MiniMax) require checking API output terms. ClipCost flags missing terms instead of assuming.

Is Kling the cheapest AI video generator?

Not since Oct 24, 2026, and since Nov 2, 2026 not the cheapest subscription either: Luma Ray3.2 540p on Luma Plus annual credits is $0.025 per second ($2.25 usable). Kling 2.6 Standard mode (3 credits/sec, about $0.03 per second on Standard annual credits) ties Veo 3.1 Lite 720p without audio on Vertex AI, Luma Ray3.2 540p on the Luma API, LTX-2.3 Fast 720p with audio on LTX's API and Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite 720p on xAI's API for fifth place at $2.70 per usable 30s clip; only Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite 480p on xAI's API ($0.02 per second, $1.80 usable, with audio) and three $0.025-per-second rates ($2.25 usable: Wan 2.6 Flash 720p without audio on the Alibaba Cloud API, MiniMax H3-Lite 480P and Luma Ray3.2 540p on Luma Plus) are lower. Kling 3.0 at 720p without audio (6 credits/sec) is $1.80 per 30s try. Caveats: those Kling rows have no native audio, the Standard plan holds only 660 credits a month, and membership credits expire after 1 month. With native audio, Grok Imagine 1.5 Lite ($0.02 to $0.03 per second), LTX-2.3 Fast ($0.03 per second), LTX-2.3 Pro, Veo 3.1 Lite and Wan 2.6 Flash with audio are cheaper. Without a subscription, Kling's own API (pay per second, checked Oct 25, 2026) is $0.042 per second for Kling 2.6 or 2.5 Turbo at 720p without audio ($3.78 usable 30s), about 1.4 times the app's Standard-plan rate.

Why rank by usable clip instead of per generation?

Because retries are billed. A $1.50 generation that takes three attempts to keep is a $4.50 video. Ranking by single generations systematically flatters tools and hides plan-limit, watermark and licence traps.

What is cheapest for talking-avatar video?

HeyGen Avatar III Video Look: verified 4 credits/minute, about $0.16 per finished minute on Creator annual credits ($0.48 usable with retries). Hedra Character-3 API starts at $0.025/sec at 540p. Both make presenters only, not general scenes.

Are free AI video generators actually free?

Free tiers usually trade money for limits: watermarks, export limits, no commercial licence or tiny credit balances. A watermarked or unlicensed clip is not a usable finished video, so ClipCost ranks paid verified rates and flags free-tier limits as traps.

Every plan, $ per credit and model rate for all 17 tools is in the AI video generator pricing comparison.