How much does an AI video actually cost?
The honest answer: it depends entirely on the engine, and the spread is larger than most people expect — about 7x between the cheapest and priciest video engine on Scenes AI, per second of output. One credit is one US dollar, and every number below is the real, currently-billed rate, not an estimate.
The two billing models
Every video engine bills one of two ways, and it changes how you should plan a scene.
- Per-clip engines charge a flat rate regardless of length — a 4-second and an 8-second scene cost the same, so a longer scene is strictly better value.
- Per-second engines charge for exactly the length you use — a 4-second scene costs half what an 8-second one does.
- Neither is universally cheaper; the right choice depends on how long your scenes actually run.
What each engine actually costs
Cheapest rate per second, across every video engine — real numbers from the live catalogue.
| Engine | Billing | From (per second) | Longest scene |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veo 3.1 Lite | Flat, per clip | $0.024 | 8s |
| Veo 3.1 Fast | Flat, per clip | $0.049 | 8s |
| Kling 3.0 | Per second | $0.091 | 15s |
| Seedance 2.0 Fast | Per second | $0.10 | 15s |
| Seedance 2.0 | Per second | $0.12 | 15s |
| MiniMax H3 | Per second | $0.15 | 15s |
| Seedance 2.5 | Per second | $0.18 | 30s |
What else adds to the total
- Narration — priced per 1,000 characters of the script actually spoken, not per video.
- Music — a flat rate per generated track, whether instrumental or with vocals.
- Resolution — some engines charge more for 4K than 720p; others cap out lower and simply don't offer the option.
- Reference images and character sheets — priced as ordinary image generations, reused across every scene that character or location appears in.
For a real total on a specific setup — engine, length, resolution, whether you add music — use the cost calculator. It runs the same calculation that bills the account, so the figure it shows is not a rough guess.
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