ArtCraft Pricing vs Pay Per Use: Open Source, Credits

Spotlight search

Find any model, tool or page and jump to it.

All comparisons

Visual Sandbox vs ArtCraft

One you download and own. One you open and pay per run.

In short

  • ArtCraft is free software. Paid plans run $13 to $75 a month for 1,000 to 6,600 credits.
  • Basic buys about 250 Nano Banana images, about $0.05 each. We charge $0.05 too.
  • A 20% off banner cuts every plan while it lasts. List prices are used here.
  • Credits reset monthly there and failed runs are refunded. Ours never reset.

Our take. Use ArtCraft if you want a desktop studio you own and 3D posing. Use Visual Sandbox for hosted per run pricing and agents.

See a model's price
ArtCraft logoArtCraft

ArtCraft is StoryTold's open source desktop studio for controllable image and video, free with your own compute, with optional credit plans from $13 a month.

Pricing
$13 to $75 a month, or free with your own keys
Free plan
The software itself, open source
Also does
3D posing, scene blocking, a desktop app

Side by side

The same 9 questions, asked of ArtCraft

Visual Sandbox compared with ArtCraft, question by question
What is comparedVisual SandboxArtCraft logoArtCraft
What you pay forEach generationA monthly credit plan, or nothing with your own keys
What the balance is inMoney. One credit is one centCredits. A Nano Banana image is 4
Free tierNone. A $10 minimum top upThe whole app, on your own compute or keys
Cheapest paid tierThere is no planBasic, $13 a month, or $10 billed yearly
A month you make nothing$0The plan price, or $0 on your own keys
The price before you runA dollar figure on every model page, before you sign inRough image and second counts per plan, on the pricing page
Working as a teamNot offeredEnterprise only
From the terminal or an agentA CLI, an MCP server and an API, on the same balanceOpen source, so scriptable. No API, MCP or CLI listed
The catalogue37 modelsNano Banana, Nano Banana Pro, GPT Image 1.5, Seedance 2.0, Kling 3.0 Pro

Key takeaways

Is Visual Sandbox a good ArtCraft alternative?

Where we win

Nothing to install
No download, no update, no GPU.
A dollar price before you sign in
Nano Banana reads $0.05. Nano Banana Pro reads $0.19 at 1K.
The balance does not expire
No monthly reset and no plan to fill.
Three doors an agent can use
The CLI, the MCP server and the API, on the same balance as the web app.
3D, vector and audio too
Hunyuan 3D 3.1 at $0.63 a model, Eleven Music at $0.19.

Where ArtCraft wins

You own the software
Open source, on your machine, forever. Bring your own compute or keys and pay ArtCraft nothing.
3D posing and scene blocking
Pose a figure, block a scene, then render. Nobody else in this group does that.
Failed runs are refunded
Their pricing page says so in plain words.
Video credits on every plan
About 63 seconds of Seedance 2.0 on Basic.
Packs that never expire
One-time credit packs, sold to signed-in users.

Worth checking

The prices are in flux
A limited-time 20% banner shows Basic at $10 and $13 in the same card. This page quotes $13.
Full use is the condition
Nano Banana Pro is about $0.19 an image on Basic if you spend all 1,000 credits. Spend half and it is $0.39.
Own keys means own bills
The free path still pays the model providers, on their terms and their dashboards.
No team plan below Enterprise
Nothing about seats or shared credits.
We have no posing
No 3D figure, no scene blocking. You write the prompt.

Allowance or balance

Move the slider. The plan moves in steps.

ArtCraft's three plans at list price, against our balance, counted in Nano Banana images. One image more than a plan covers puts you on the next one.

  • Basic covers about 250 images. The 251st costs a Pro plan, at **$44**.
  • In a month you make nothing, we cost **$0** and the plan still bills.
  • At full use the two are about level: **$0.052** there, **$0.05** here.

ArtCraft resets the allowance every month. Our balance carries.

Drag to your images a month300

What a month costs

Visual Sandbox
$15.00
ArtCraft, billed monthly · Pro
$44.00

You save

$29.00

The money

The break even, per image

ArtCraft's plan cards print what the credits buy, so the arithmetic is short: divide the plan price by the count.

$0.05

Visual Sandbox

Nano Banana, in any month, used or not.

$0.052

ArtCraft Basic

$13 for about 250 Nano Banana images, at full use.

$0.19

Nano Banana Pro, both

About $0.194 on ArtCraft Basic. $0.19 here at 1K.

ArtCraft planA monthBilled yearlyCredits a month
Free$0$0Your own compute or keys
Basic$13$101,000
Pro$44$353,750
Max$75$606,600
  • While the 20% banner runs, Basic is $10 a month and $8 billed yearly, Pro is $35 and $28, Max is $60 and $48. At those prices ArtCraft costs less per image than we do, at full use.
  • Seedance 2.0 works out to about $0.21 a second on Basic at list price. It is $0.10 a second here at 480p and $0.23 at 720p.
  • Kling 3.0 Pro is about 45 seconds on Basic, about $0.29 a second. Kling 3.0 Omni Pro is $0.28 a second here.

Which one fits

Which one fits you?

Four questions. The answer names ArtCraft when ArtCraft is the right call.

01 of 04

Do you want to own the software?

Or use both

ArtCraft covers control. We cover the odd job and the quiet month.

  1. 01

    Install ArtCraft and pose the scene on your own compute.

  2. 02

    Run one-off images, 3D, vector and audio here, per run.

  3. 03

    Point your agent at our MCP server, where the price is the same as the web.

The call

Which one to pick

Pick Visual Sandbox when

  • You want nothing to install and nothing to update.
  • You want a per job cost you can put on an invoice.
  • You want an agent to generate through the CLI or the MCP server.
  • You want 3D, vector and audio next to image and video.
  • You do not want another subscription.

ArtCraft logoPick ArtCraft when

  • You want to own the software and run it on your own machine.
  • You pose figures or block scenes before you render.
  • You want a refund when a generation fails.
  • You generate most days and will spend the credits.
  • You already pay the model providers directly and want a free front end.

Read the price, then run it

37 models across image, video, audio, 3D and vector. Each one prints its dollar price before you sign in.

See a model's price

Other comparisons

Krea logoVisual Sandbox vs KreaOne resets your allowance every month. One does not.Pricing: $9 to $200 a month, in unitsMagnific logoVisual Sandbox vs MagnificOne bundles a stock library. One sells you the run.Pricing: $20 to $110 a month, in yearly creditsHiggsfield logoVisual Sandbox vs HiggsfieldOne sells a plan with unlimited days. One sells the run.Pricing: $19 to $129 a month, in creditsOpenArt logoVisual Sandbox vs OpenArtOne prices the seat. One prices the run.Pricing: $14 to $240 a seat a month, in creditsMelies logoVisual Sandbox vs MeliesBoth have a CLI. Only one bills by the month.Pricing: $9 to $99 a month, in creditsLovart logoVisual Sandbox vs LovartOne is cheaper per image. One is free in a quiet month.Pricing: $19 to $199 a month, in credits
All comparisons

The software is free and open source. Basic is $13 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly, for 1,000 credits. Pro is $44, or $35 yearly, for 3,750. Max is $75, or $60 yearly, for 6,600. A limited-time banner takes 20% off all of them.