Cheapest AI Video Generator

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Last updated: October 2026

Budget matters when you generate dozens or hundreds of assets a month. This page lists every live model in the agent-media catalog with its real price, taken from the same catalog the API serves at GET /v1/models. Every price is in credits, the same on every plan.

You do not have to pick a model. Leave model out and agent-media uses the default; pass model: "auto" and it picks the cheapest model that is performing well on recent runs.

Complete Cost Rankings

Video is billed per output second at the rate of the quality you choose. Images are billed per image. Speech is billed per character.

Reference clips count too: the seconds of any video_refs you pass are billed at the same per-second rate as the output.

A finished selfie clip (generated actor, native audio, subtitles burned in) is priced as a package: 45 credits plus 28 per second, so 185 credits for 5 s and 325 for 10 s.

Monthly Plan Value

Creator is $39 for 3,900 credits, Pro $69 for 6,900, Extreme $129 for 12,900. On the default model, seedance-2.5 at 480p, a 5-second clip is 300 credits.

Cheapest Way to Do Each Job

Quick drafts and volume: render at 480p. On seedance-2.0 that halves the price of 720p (150 credits for 5 s) and is the cheapest video in the catalog. Upgrade only the winners to 1080p.

The one clip that has to be the best: seedance-2.5 at 720p, 625 credits for 5 s, about 2.1x the default.

Images: the GPT Image models are 20 credits each. gpt-image-2.5 is the default for portraits and character sheets; gpt-image-2.5-flare is the faster variant at the same price. nano-banana-pro is 26 credits, for edits and images with text.

Voiceover: elevenlabs-tts at 16 credits per 1,000 characters is close to free next to video; use it for narration over b-roll or as an audio_refs entry.

Quick Start

# Cheapest video: 5 s on seedance-2.0 at 480p, 150 credits
$ curl -X POST https://api.agent-media.ai/v2/generate/video \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ma_YOUR_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"prompt": "Timelapse of storm clouds rolling over a wheat field", "model": "seedance-2.0", "seconds": 5, "aspect": "16:9", "quality": "480p"}'

# One image, 20 credits
$ curl -X POST https://api.agent-media.ai/v2/generate/image \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ma_YOUR_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"prompt": "Vintage polaroid photo of a mountain cabin in autumn"}'

# Price any request before paying, free
$ curl -X POST https://api.agent-media.ai/v2/quote/video \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ma_YOUR_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"prompt": "...", "seconds": 5, "quality": "1080p"}'

# Check your credit balance
$ agent-media credits

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest AI video generator?

Among the models in agent-media, the cheapest is seedance-2.0 at 480p: 30 credits per second, so 150 credits for a 5-second clip. A finished selfie clip with a generated person, native audio and burned subtitles is 185 credits for 5 s.

What is the cheapest AI image generator with API access?

The GPT Image models in agent-media are 20 credits per image, through the API, the CLI and the MCP connector. nano-banana-pro is 26 credits.

Is agent-media cheaper than Runway, HeyGen, or Creatify?

For programmatic UGC video the entry plan is $39/month with API, CLI and MCP access included, and every price above is per second or per image with no seat fee. Compare against the current price pages of the others before you decide; they change often.

Do agent-media credits expire?

Purchased credits never expire. Plan credits reset to the plan allowance at each billing cycle; unused plan credits do not roll over.

Which AI video model gives the best quality per dollar?

seedance-2.5 is the default for paid video, at 480p for 60 credits per second. seedance-2.0 at 720p costs the same 60 credits per second and renders in minutes instead of 12 to 25. For the one clip that has to be the best, take seedance-2.5 at 720p.

How can I minimize AI generation cost?

Three tactics: (1) quote first, POST /v2/quote/{kind} is free; (2) draft at 480p and upgrade only the winners; (3) keep clips at 5 s and stitch, since every second is billed. Failed jobs are refunded automatically, so a provider error never costs you.

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