💳 How much does AI video really cost in 2026?
Every AI video article talks about quality. Almost none show you the bill. Here is the honest cost breakdown — and how to stretch a small budget into a full campaign.
The credit model, explained
Most AI video platforms — Lumineer included — price by credits. Each model charges a fixed number of credits per second of video, scaled by resolution. Cheap models run at a few credits per second, hero models can cost hundreds for a single 10-second shot.
Rough cost per model
Fast drafts (Hailuo Fast, LTX, Seedance draft) sit in the low tier — a few dollars per minute of exploration. Mid-tier (Kling 2.5, Runway Gen-4) sits around $0.20–$0.40 per second. Hero models (Veo 3.1, Sora 2) can hit $1+ per second for full 4K with audio.
How to ship a campaign under $20
Draft everything on a low-tier model, pick the two or three shots that land, then re-render only those on a hero model. Skip 4K until the composition is locked. Upscale at the very end, only for the shots that made it to the final cut.
Watch out for the hidden costs
Audio generation, lipsync passes and video upscales are billed separately on almost every platform. Budget them into the plan before you start — a beautiful 4K clip with no audio still needs an MMAudio pass.
Ready to put this into practice?
Open the studio and apply what you just learned in under a minute.
See Lumineer pricing