Ijharul Islam
Runway has four self-serve plans: Free ($0, 125 one-time credits), Standard ($15 a month or $12 billed yearly, 625 credits a month), Pro ($35 or $28, 2,250 credits) and Max ($95 or $76, 9,500 credits). Gen-4.5, Runway's flagship video model, uses 12 credits per second of video, so a 5-second clip costs 60 credits and a 10-second clip 120.
More on this topic: Video tool pricing and alternatives, every guide in one place.
Credits make plan prices hard to compare, so this page turns them into dollars per second of Gen-4.5 video on each plan, explains what the free plan does and doesn't cover, and shows what the same clip costs when you pay per clip elsewhere. Every Runway figure comes from Runway's pricing page, read on 26 October 2026.
The short answer
Runway Free is $0 with 125 one-time credits. Standard is $15/month ($12 yearly) with 625 credits, Pro $35 ($28) with 2,250, and Max $95 ($76) with 9,500. Gen-4.5 costs 12 credits a second: 60 credits for 5 seconds, 120 for 10. That's about $0.29 a second on Standard monthly, $0.16 on Pro and $0.10 on Max (yearly).
Key takeaways
- Runway sells monthly credits; every model spends them at its own rate.
- Gen-4.5 is 12 credits a second, per Runway's pricing FAQ: 625 Standard credits buy about 52 seconds of it.
- Bigger plans cut the price per credit: from about $0.024 on Standard monthly to $0.008 on Max yearly.
- Standard and Pro credits don't roll over; Max credits roll over for one month.
- The Free plan's 125 credits are a one-time deposit that doesn't expire, with a selection of models.
Disclosure: we make QuickVeed and show how to do this in it, along with other ways. Details about other products come from their public pages, checked in October 2026 and linked at the end.
How much does Runway cost?
Runway costs $0, $15, $35 or $95 a month on its self-serve plans, or $12, $28 or $76 a month billed yearly. Enterprise is priced on request. Checked on 26 October 2026 against Runway's pricing page:
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Credits | Gen-4.5 that buys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 125, one time | See the free plan section |
| Standard | $15 | $12 | 625 a month | About 52 seconds |
| Pro | $35 | $28 | 2,250 a month | About 187 seconds |
| Max | $95 | $76 | 9,500 a month | About 791 seconds |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Contact sales | Custom | Custom |
The seconds in the last column are Runway's own figures from the plan cards. Paid plans add 4K upscaling and no watermarks, per the same page. Runway's old top plan, Unlimited, no longer appears on the pricing page; Max is the top self-serve tier.
How many credits does Gen-4.5 use?
Gen-4.5 uses 12 credits per second of generated video. Runway's pricing FAQ says each model uses a set number of credits depending on the model, duration and resolution, and gives Gen-4.5 at 12 credits a second as the example. That makes the common clip lengths:
| Clip length | Gen-4.5 credits | Clips per Standard month (625) | Clips per Pro month (2,250) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 seconds | 60 | 10 | 37 |
| 8 seconds | 96 | 6 | 23 |
| 10 seconds | 120 | 5 | 18 |
Those are first tries. Most AI video takes a few attempts before a shot is usable, so budget for two or three generations per clip you keep. How to write AI video prompts covers prompts that need fewer retries.
How much does Runway cost per second of video?
Runway costs about $0.29 a second of Gen-4.5 on Standard billed monthly, falling to about $0.10 a second on Max billed yearly. The arithmetic: plan price divided by credits gives the price of a credit, and Gen-4.5 spends 12 of them a second.
| Plan and billing | Price per credit | Gen-4.5 per second | 10-second clip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard, monthly ($15 / 625) | $0.024 | about $0.29 | about $2.88 |
| Standard, yearly ($12 / 625) | $0.0192 | about $0.23 | about $2.30 |
| Pro, monthly ($35 / 2,250) | about $0.0156 | about $0.19 | about $1.87 |
| Pro, yearly ($28 / 2,250) | about $0.0124 | about $0.15 | about $1.49 |
| Max, monthly ($95 / 9,500) | $0.01 | $0.12 | $1.20 |
| Max, yearly ($76 / 9,500) | $0.008 | about $0.10 | about $0.96 |
These figures assume you spend every credit. Standard and Pro credits don't roll over, so a month in which you use half your credits doubles your real cost per second. Max credits roll over for one month, per the pricing page.
Is Runway free?
Runway has a free plan, but it's a one-time trial allowance rather than a monthly one. Runway's pricing page says the Free plan includes a one-time deposit of 125 credits that doesn't expire, and access to “a selection of generative creative models”. The plan card says 125 credits equal 25 seconds of Gen-4 Turbo or 25 image generations.
What the page doesn't say is whether Gen-4.5 is one of the free models. At 12 credits a second, 125 credits would cover about 10 seconds of it if it is. Free output also lacks the paid plans' watermark removal and 4K upscaling, so treat the free plan as a way to test prompts, not to publish.
If you want to compare models before paying anywhere, free AI video generators lists the options with real free allowances.
Which Runway plan should you choose?
Choose Runway's plan by how many seconds of finished video you need a month, multiplied by your retry rate. A rough guide based on the plan allowances:
| You need each month | Gen-4.5 seconds (3 tries per kept shot) | Plan that covers it |
|---|---|---|
| A few test shots | Under 50 | Standard |
| 5 to 15 ten-second shots | 150 to 450 | Pro (187 s) or Max |
| 20+ ten-second shots | 600+ | Max (791 s) |
If your use is uneven, the yearly price of a smaller plan plus Max's one-month rollover matter more than the headline price. Runway's Max is also the only self-serve plan whose credits carry over at all.
How does Runway compare with paying per clip?
Paying per clip suits occasional use, while a Runway subscription suits steady weekly use. QuickVeed's AI video generator runs Runway Gen-4.5 alongside Veo 3.1, Kling v3, Seedance 2.0, Hailuo and others, with the price shown before you generate: Gen-4.5 is 150 credits for 5 seconds or 300 for 10 seconds.
| Runway (own plans) | QuickVeed | |
|---|---|---|
| Gen-4.5, 10-second clip | 120 credits (about $0.96 to $2.88, by plan) | 300 credits (about $3.30 to $5.70, by plan) |
| Other models on the same balance | Runway's models plus partner models, by plan | Veo 3.1, Kling, Seedance, Hailuo, Luma, Vidu, PixVerse, Wan |
| Unused credits | No rollover on Standard and Pro | Monthly plan credits |
| Also included | Runway's editing tools (Aleph and others) | Captions, dubbing, avatars and voiceover on one balance |
Be clear about the trade-off: if you generate a lot of Gen-4.5 every month, Runway's own Pro or Max plan is cheaper per second than paying for it through QuickVeed. QuickVeed makes more sense when Gen-4.5 is one of several models you use, or when the clip then needs captions, a voiceover or a dub. QuickVeed plans are $18, $42 or $114 a month for 1,000, 2,500 or 6,000 credits.
For how Gen-4.5 compares with Google's model on quality and sound, see Runway Gen-4.5 vs Veo 3.1; for Google's prices, how much Veo 3.1 costs.
What are the alternatives to Runway?
The main alternatives to Runway are Google's Veo 3.1, Kling, Seedance and MiniMax's Hailuo, each with its own pricing model. Our guides cover each: what Veo 3 is, what Kling AI is, what Seedance is and what Hailuo AI is. For clip length limits across all of them, see how long AI videos can be.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Runway per month?
$15 for Standard, $35 for Pro and $95 for Max, or $12, $28 and $76 a month billed yearly. The Free plan is $0.
How many credits is a Gen-4.5 video?
12 credits a second: 60 credits for 5 seconds and 120 for 10 seconds.
Do Runway credits roll over?
Not on Standard or Pro. Max credits roll over for one month, according to Runway's pricing page.
Does Runway have a free plan?
Yes. It includes a one-time deposit of 125 credits that doesn't expire, and a selection of models.
Is Runway Unlimited still available?
It isn't on the current pricing page. The self-serve plans are Free, Standard, Pro and Max.
Can I use Runway Gen-4.5 without a Runway subscription?
Yes, through tools that offer the model. QuickVeed runs Gen-4.5 at 150 credits for 5 seconds or 300 for 10.
Try it with your own video
Try Runway Gen-4.5 next to Veo 3.1 and Kling on the same prompt, with each price shown before you generate. Write a one-shot prompt, pick a model and length, and check the credit cost before you press generate. QuickVeed plans start at $18/month, and new accounts get a 14-day trial with 250 credits, no card needed. Sign up or see pricing.
Sources
Competitor details in this post were checked against these public pages in October 2026. Products and prices change, so confirm with each vendor before you decide.
