Runway builds its own video models and, in the same account, lets you generate with a long list of other companies' models: Kling, Google Veo, Seedance, Wan and more. Everything draws on one monthly pool of credits, so the real question is which model you want for a shot and how many clips your plan pays for.
What is Runway?
Runway is a web and mobile platform for making video, images and audio with AI. Its own current video model is Gen-4.5, which turns a text prompt or a still image into a clip of two to ten seconds at 720p. Runway also makes models for jobs around generation: editing existing footage, animating a character from a recorded performance, and converting ordinary video to HDR.
Where Runway differs from a single-model generator is the rest of the catalog. Alongside its own models, subscribers can pick Kling 3.0, Google Veo 3.1, ByteDance Seedance 2.5, Alibaba Wan, MiniMax H3 and others for video, and models such as Nano Banana Pro, GPT Image 2 and FLUX.2 for images. The model you choose decides the credit cost of each generation.
Runway's own models
- Gen-4.5 (latest video model): text to video and image to video, 2 to 10 seconds, 720p, 12 credits a second.
- Aleph 2.0 (latest editing model): edits and restyles footage you upload, clips up to 30 seconds at 1080p, 28 credits a second.
- Gen-4 Video and Gen-4 Video Turbo: image to video at 12 and 5 credits a second.
- Act-Two: animates a character from a performance video, 5 credits a second.
- Ruby (latest): converts standard video to HDR, 20 credits a second.
- Characters: real-time conversational AI avatars.
- Gen-4 Image and Gen-4 Image Turbo: image generation from 2 credits an image.
Other companies' models on Runway
For video, Runway offers Kling 3.0 (Pro, Standard and Turbo), Kling O3, Google Veo 3.1, Seedance 2.5 and 2.0, Wan 3.0 and 2.6, HappyHorse 1.0, MiniMax H3, LTX 2.5, FLUX 3 and Grok Imagine. For images it adds Nano Banana Pro, GPT Image 2, FLUX.2, Seedream 5.0, Ideogram 4 and Grok Imagine. Audio comes from ElevenLabs (speech, sound effects and dubbing), Seed Audio and Google Lyria for music.
These models run inside Runway on the same credits, but they are not Runway's own. Runway's help center notes that content flags, uptime and model behaviour for them are handled by the company that makes each model.
What you can make on Runway
Text to video and image to video work on Gen-4.5 and on most of the outside video models. When you want to fix how a shot starts and ends, Veo 3.1 and Kling 3.0 let you set the first and last frame, and Kling O3 adds keyframes and multi-shot scenes. Camera moves are described in the prompt, and Runway publishes a guide of camera terms (pan, dolly, orbit and so on) with examples of how Gen-4.5 follows them.
For sound and speech made together with the picture, Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Seedance generate audio, and cost more credits with it turned on. To continue a clip past its end, Runway offers Grok Imagine's video extension. Characters, objects and locations can be kept consistent from shot to shot with reference images.
Resolution depends on the model. Gen-4.5 outputs 720p, Seedance 2.0 and Kling O3 can generate in 4K, and every paid plan can upscale video to 4K.
Editing and production tools
Beyond single clips, Runway has a timeline for trimming and assembling generations into a finished video, Workflows for chaining models into a repeatable pipeline that can be published as an app or an API endpoint, and an agent that can work from a PDF brief or a brand kit. Pro includes one custom voice clone and one brand kit, and Max raises both to three. Max also exports in ProRes, HDR and image sequences.
Runway runs in the browser and has iOS and Android apps. The mobile apps generate video and images, but Runway's pre-built Apps are not available in the iOS app.
Runway pricing: what each plan makes
The free plan gives 125 credits once, adds a watermark, and opens a selection of models to test ideas. A single ten-second Gen-4.5 clip costs 120 credits, so the free allowance covers about one.
Standard costs $15 a month ($12 a month billed yearly) for 625 credits. That is about five ten-second Gen-4.5 clips, three ten-second Kling 3.0 Pro clips with audio, or one ten-second Veo 3.1 clip with audio. It removes the watermark and opens every model. For regular video work it is a sampler more than a working plan.
Pro costs $35 a month ($28 billed yearly) for 2,250 credits: about 18 ten-second Gen-4.5 clips or 13 Kling 3.0 Pro clips with audio. It adds a voice clone, a brand kit, credit top-ups, unlimited 4K upscaling and access to Runway through MCP.
Max costs $95 a month ($76 billed yearly) for 9,500 credits, about 79 ten-second Gen-4.5 clips, and lets unused credits roll over for one month. On Standard and Pro, credits reset every billing cycle. Extra credits can be bought in packs of 1,000 or more and do not expire.
Who Runway suits
Runway suits creators and small studios who want to choose a model per shot without paying for several subscriptions: Gen-4.5 for most shots, Veo or Kling when a scene needs dialogue or a fixed last frame, Aleph for editing what was shot. The editing timeline, Workflows and brand kits make it practical for teams producing finished videos rather than single clips.
It suits people generating a lot of footage less well. Credits run out quickly on the models with audio and 4K, and Standard's allowance covers only a handful of clips a month, so plan on Pro or Max if video is regular work.
How Runway compares
Runway scores 8.1 out of 10 among the AI video generators we rate. These three do the same job and are the closest to it, compared on what each vendor publishes.
Kling AI
Runway's own Gen-4.5 outputs 720p and reaches 4K, audio and first and last frames through other companies' models such as Seedance 2.0, Veo 3.1 and Kling 3.0. Kling AI's VIDEO 3.0 does all three on Kling's own model, with voice cloning and lip sync too. A working month of 20 ten-second clips costs $95 on Runway's Max plan against $32.56 on Kling AI's Pro plan. Runway holds SOC 2 and GDPR, which Kling AI does not list.
Pick Kling AI if you want 4K and sound from the tool's own model for far less.
Pick Runway if you need SOC 2, GDPR or many third-party models in one account.
Luma AI
Both offer other companies' models next to their own. Runway's Gen-4.5 takes text or an image and outputs 720p, reaching first and last frames, audio and 4K through Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Seedance 2.0; Luma AI's Ray3.2 takes first and last frames and extends clips on Luma's own model. A working month of 20 ten-second clips costs $95 on Runway's Max plan against $90 on Luma AI's Pro plan. Runway holds SOC 2 and GDPR, which Luma AI does not list.
Pick Luma AI if you want first and last frames and clip extension on the tool's own model.
Pick Runway if you need SOC 2 and GDPR compliance for a team.
Hailuo AI
Runway gets audio through other companies' models such as Veo 3.1, holds SOC 2 and GDPR, and offers single sign-on on Enterprise; its working month of 20 ten-second clips costs $95 on the Max plan. Hailuo AI's own MiniMax H3 generates sound and dialogue with the picture, for $38 on its Pro plan. Runway's own Gen-4.5 outputs 720p and reaches 4K through Seedance 2.0 and Kling O3.
Pick Hailuo AI if you want sound from the tool's own model at well under half the cost.
Pick Runway if you need SOC 2, GDPR or single sign-on for a team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Runway have a free plan?
Yes. It gives 125 credits once, which do not refresh, and everything made on it carries a watermark. That is enough for about one ten-second Gen-4.5 clip.
What is Runway's latest video model?
Gen-4.5 is Runway's latest video generation model and Aleph 2.0 its latest video editing model. Runway also offers outside models such as Kling 3.0, Veo 3.1 and Seedance 2.5 in the same account.
Can you set the first and last frame in Runway?
Yes, with Veo 3.1 or Kling 3.0, both available inside Runway. Kling O3 adds keyframes. Gen-4.5 itself takes a text prompt or a single starting image.
How many videos do you get on Runway's plans?
About five ten-second Gen-4.5 clips a month on Standard, 18 on Pro and 79 on Max. Models with audio or 4K cost more credits per second, so the count drops when you use them.
