RenderDrama

What a second of AI video costs, channel by channel

What one credit costs on Luma

Luma publishes credits per second by model and resolution and never states what a credit costs. That is the closest near miss in this register: the difficult half of the conversion is done and the easy half is missing. As of 2026-09-22.

The near miss: hard half done, easy half missingCredits per second by model and resolution is the half that takes a seller real work to publish, and it is here. The price of a credit is a number the seller sets by fiat and already knows, and it is absent, which leaves a rate in an internal currency with no exchange rate.PublishedAbsentConsumption rateCredits per second, by model andresolutionNothing missingExchange rateNothing publishedWhat one credit costsEffort to publishMeasured per model and per tierA figure the seller setsWhat it supportsRanking this channel's own modelsAny comparison against another channelDistance to a ledger rowOne figureOne figureThe difficult half is done and the trivial half is not
Fig. 1 Every other unpriced channel here is missing something structural. This one is missing a sentence, which is why the ledger keeps the blank rather than dividing a plan by a quota.
What each channel puts on its pricing pageFilled where the channel publishes something in that column, hollow where its pricing page is silent.What each channel puts on its pricing pageAs the pricing page carries itAs the pricingpage carries itThe consumption rateThe consumption rate — As the pricing page carries it: Credits per second, by model and by resolutionPrice of a creditPrice of a credit — As the pricing page carries it: Not stated on the pageWhat that leavesWhat that leaves — As the pricing page carries it: A rate in an internal currency with no exchange rateDistance to a ledger rowDistance to a ledger row — As the pricing page carries it: One published figure
Fig. 2 Filled where the channel publishes something in that column, hollow where its pricing page is silent.
What Luma's pricing page publishes about credits, and the single figure it withholds. Read from pricing page on 2026-09-22.
What is publishedAs the pricing page carries it
The consumption rateCredits per second, by model and by resolution
Price of a creditNot stated on the page
What that leavesA rate in an internal currency with no exchange rate
Distance to a ledger rowOne published figure

Inclusion rule. What the pricing page states about credits and what it omits. An omission is listed because it is the reason this channel has no ledger row. Order. What is published first, then what is missing.

1Where Luma sits in this column

Whether the price of a credit is publishedWhether each channel that meters in credits also prints what one credit costs, Luma marked. A hollow mark means the second half of the rate is missing. Recorded 2026-09-22.Whether the price of a credit is publishedPrice of a creditHedraHedra — Price of a credit: Not stated, but the plans divide outLumaLuma — Price of a credit: Not stated, though the rate is per secondPikaPika — Price of a credit: Not stated, and the rate is per featurePixVersePixVerse — Price of a credit: 225 credits to the dollar, one referenceRunwayRunway — Price of a credit: One cent, stated beside the rateSceneMixerSceneMixer — Price of a credit: $0.0149 down to $0.0078 by pack
Fig. 3 Whether each channel that meters in credits also prints what one credit costs, Luma marked. A hollow mark means the second half of the rate is missing. Recorded 2026-09-22.
Price of a credit, as each channel answering it has it, with Luma marked. Recorded 2026-09-22.
ChannelPrice of a credit
HedraNot stated, but the plans divide out
LumaNot stated, though the rate is per second
PikaNot stated, and the rate is per feature
PixVerse225 credits to the dollar, one reference
RunwayOne cent, stated beside the rate
SceneMixer$0.0149 down to $0.0078 by pack

Inclusion rule. Channels that meter in credits. Whether the credit price is published decides whether anything on that page converts into money, so both answers are listed. Order. Alphabetical by channel name.

2The hard half is done and the easy half is absent

Working out how many credits a second of video consumes takes a seller real effort: it differs by model, by resolution and sometimes by feature. Luma has published that. What is missing is a single number that the seller sets by fiat and already knows.

Which makes this the most frustrating shape in the column. Every other unpriced channel here is missing something structural. This one is missing a sentence.

3Why the register refuses to estimate it

Plan prices exist, so a credit price could be inferred by dividing a subscription by its allowance. The result would be a number, and it would silently assume that the whole allowance gets spent and that no credit expires unused.

Both assumptions are wrong for most buyers, and a derived figure carries none of that doubt with it into a comparison. A blank cell is less useful and cannot mislead, so the ledger keeps the blank.

4What a buyer can do with half a rate

The published half still ranks Luma's own models against each other, which is the decision a buyer already committed to this channel actually faces. It is the cross-channel comparison that fails.

For anyone still choosing a channel, the practical move is to treat the missing figure as a reason to shortlist elsewhere and come back if it appears. Rates get published; this one has a smaller distance to travel than most.

  • What Luma publishes instead of a rate
    Credits per second, with no credit priceLuma, pricing page / recorded 2026-09-12

5Sources

Read from the pricing page published at lumalabs.ai on 2026-09-22. The rate this column sits beside is on Luma; what the register accepts as published is on the method page. The same column on other channels: Pika, Hedra. Every column: what each channel publishes.