Runway Pricing vs Pay Per Use: Credits or Cents

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Visual Sandbox vs Runway

One trained the model. One sells you the second.

In short

  • Runway plans run $15 to $95 a month for 625 to 9,500 credits.
  • A credit is $0.024 on Standard and $0.01 on Max. Every run scales with the plan.
  • Seedance 2.0 Fast is 116 credits for 4 seconds: $2.78 on Standard. We charge $0.76.
  • Gen-4.5 is Runway's own. We do not have it.

Our take. Use Runway for Gen-4.5, Aleph and a studio workflow. Use Visual Sandbox for the same third-party models at a per second price.

See a model's price
Runway logoRunway

Runway is the most established AI video brand: its own Gen-4.5, Aleph and Act-Two, resold Seedance, Kling and Nano Banana, and an API sold separately.

Pricing
$15 to $95 a month, in credits
Free plan
125 credits, one time
Also does
Gen-4.5, Aleph, Act-Two, an agent

Side by side

The same 9 questions, asked of Runway

Visual Sandbox compared with Runway, question by question
What is comparedVisual SandboxRunway logoRunway
What you pay forEach generationA monthly credit plan
What the balance is inMoney. One credit is one centCredits. Gen-4.5 is 60 for 5 seconds
Free tierNone. A $10 minimum top up125 credits, one time, and 5 GB
Cheapest paid tierThere is no planStandard, $15 a month, or $12 billed yearly
A month you make nothing$0The plan price. Max rolls credits over one month
The price before you runA dollar figure on every model page, before you sign inA credit cost per model and plan counts, on the pricing page
Working as a teamNot offeredTeam and Enterprise tabs
From the terminal or an agentA CLI, an MCP server and an API, on the same balanceRunway MCP from Pro up. An API on a separate balance
The catalogue37 modelsGen-4.5, Gen-4, Aleph, Act-Two, plus Seedance, Kling, Nano Banana Pro, Seed Audio, Lyria

Key takeaways

Is Visual Sandbox a good Runway alternative?

Where we win

No subscription
Nothing to cancel. A quiet month costs $0.
The same models, per second
Seedance 2.0 Fast at $0.19 a second at 720p. Kling 3.0 Omni from $0.21. Nano Banana Pro at $0.19.
The balance does not expire
No monthly reset.
One balance for the API too
The CLI, the MCP server and the API spend the same cents as the web app. Runway's API is a second wallet.
3D, vector and audio too
Hunyuan 3D 3.1 at $0.63, Eleven Music at $0.19.

Where Runway wins

Gen-4.5 and Aleph
Runway's own models. Nobody resells them, and Aleph edits video in place.
Act-Two
Performance capture: act it, and the character does it.
A creative agent
On every paid plan, inside the app.
Unlimited 4K upscaling
From Pro up, plus Topaz. Our upscale tool is per image.
Credits get cheaper as you climb
$0.024 each on Standard, $0.01 on Max, where they also roll over a month.

Worth checking

Third-party models cost more there
Seedance 2.0 Fast: $2.78 for 4 seconds on Standard, $1.16 on Max. $0.76 here at 720p.
Full use is the condition
Spend half of Standard and every price doubles. Spend none and it costs $15.
The API is a second wallet
Runway's API has its own pricing page and balance. Ours is the same one.
We have no Gen-4.5
No Runway models here at all. If you want them, you want Runway.
Our canvas is on a waitlist
Treat it as not shipped.

Credits or cents

The price is on the page before the first run

This is the live price card off our Seedance 2.0 Fast page. Runway prices the same model at 116 credits for 4 seconds, which is $1.16 to $2.78 depending on the plan.

  • No account needed to read it.
  • Runway Standard buys about 5 of those clips a month for $15.
  • A quiet month here costs $0. A quiet month there costs $15 to $95.

Runway sells the month. We sell the second.

Seedance 2.0 Fast

What one run costs, before any account

480p
$0.09/s
480p
$0.10/s
720p
$0.19/s
720p
$0.22/s
See it on the model page

The money

Per clip, from Runway's own credit list

Runway prints a credit cost per model, so the arithmetic is honest on both sides: the plan price divided by its credits, times the model's cost.

$0.76

Visual Sandbox

Seedance 2.0 Fast, 4 seconds at 720p, in any month.

$2.78

Runway Standard

116 credits at $0.024 each, at full use.

$1.16

Runway Max

116 credits at $0.01 each, at full use.

Runway planA monthBilled yearlyCredits a monthGen-4.5 a month
Free$0$0125, onceAbout 10 seconds, once
Standard$15$1262552 seconds
Pro$35$282,250187 seconds
Max$95$769,500791 seconds
  • Nano Banana Pro at 2K is 20 credits: $0.48 on Standard, $0.20 on Max. It is $0.19 here.
  • Gen-4.5 is 60 credits for 5 seconds, about $1.44 on Standard and $0.60 on Max. We have no equivalent to price against it.
  • Seedance 2.0 Pro at 1080p is 160 credits for 4 seconds, $3.84 on Standard. Four seconds of Seedance 2.0 at 1080p cost $2.28 here.

Which one fits

Which one fits you?

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

01 of 04

Do you want Gen-4.5 or Aleph?

Or use both

Runway covers its own models. We cover everyone else's, per second.

  1. 01

    Keep a Runway plan for Gen-4.5, Aleph and Act-Two.

  2. 02

    Run Seedance, Kling, Veo and the image models here, at a printed price.

  3. 03

    Point your agent at our MCP server, on the same balance as the web.

The call

Which one to pick

Pick Visual Sandbox when

  • You want Seedance, Kling and the Nano Bananas at a lower price per run.
  • You want a per job cost you can put on an invoice.
  • You want the API, the CLI and the web app on one balance.
  • You want 3D, vector and audio next to video.
  • You do not want another subscription.

Runway logoPick Runway when

  • You want Gen-4.5, Aleph or Act-Two.
  • You want a studio workflow with an agent, brand kits and voice clones.
  • You upscale a lot of video to 4K.
  • You generate most days and will spend the credits.
  • You want Max, where credits roll over and cost a cent.

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

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All comparisons

Free gives 125 credits once. Standard is $15 a month, or $12 billed yearly, for 625 credits. Pro is $35, or $28 yearly, for 2,250. Max is $95, or $76 yearly, for 9,500 credits that roll over one month. The API is priced separately.