RenderDrama

What a second of AI video costs, channel by channel

Which channels price a clip instead of a second

Most of this register prices a second. Four channels price something else: a whole clip at named durations, a video however long it runs, or a monthly quantity of minutes. Dividing those figures shows a cost per second that moves with the length. As of 2026-09-22.

Three units, and what each one hidesA second is comparable as printed. A clip needs a length before it becomes a rate, and where named durations are published the cost per second rises with the length. A run of minutes prices long-form output and cannot be set beside a shot-level figure at all.Most comparable at the topPer secondDirectly comparable. Most of this register, and the only shapethe ledger converts.Per clip, duration namedNineteen cents for six seconds becoming fifty-six for ten: threecents a second becoming six.Per clip, duration unnamedTwenty cents a video. A rate only once a length is fixed, andthe page assumes five seconds.Per minute, per monthTen or thirty minutes an allowance. Prices finished long-formvideo, not generated shots.A derived rate that contradicts the seller's own shape is worse than none
Fig. 1 Treat the unit as a category marker: seconds means shots, clips means short pieces, minutes means long-form deliverables.
What each channel that does not meter by the second charges instead, as published. Recorded 2026-09-22.
ChannelWhat the figure is attached toWhat it works out to
falOne model priced at twenty cents a videoA rate only once a clip length is fixed
Novita AINineteen cents for six seconds, up to fifty-six for tenAbout three cents a second becoming six
MagnificCredits against named seconds at named resolutionsComparable between its own models, not in money
SynthesiaCredits stated as ten or thirty minutes of videoAbout a hundred and twenty credits a minute

Inclusion rule. Channels whose published figures are attached to a clip, a video or a run of minutes rather than to one second of output. A channel printing money against a second is already comparable. Order. By how far the figure is from a per-second rate.

1Per-clip pricing hides a curve that runs the wrong way

Nineteen cents for six seconds is about three cents a second. Fifty-six cents for ten is nearer six. The same model gets dearer per second as the clip lengthens, which is the opposite of what a rate card leads a buyer to expect and is visible only because that page prints both ends.

This register does not divide those figures into a ledger row, because the vendor did not. A derived rate that contradicts the shape of the seller's own pricing is worse than no rate at all.

2A clip price and a second price cannot be ranked without a length

Twenty cents for a video beats forty cents a second at any length over half a second and loses to five cents a second at any length under four. So the cheapest row on a mixed page depends on the clip length a buyer has not chosen yet.

One channel here prints the assumption it uses to reconcile them: an estimated average video of five seconds at 720p. Printing it is what makes it correctable, and a production working in twelve-second beats has inherited an assumption wrong by more than double.

3Minutes as a unit signals a different product

Ten minutes a month is one long piece or a handful of medium ones, not the couple of hundred short segments a serial drama consumes. A page metering in minutes is pricing finished presenter video rather than generated shots, and comparing it against a per-second rate compares two purchases.

The useful reading is to treat the unit as a category marker. Seconds means shots, clips means demos and short pieces, minutes means long-form deliverables, and a shortlist should be drawn from one of those three rather than across them.

  • Ovi
    $0.2 per videothe model on the page priced by the clip insteadfal, pay-per-use prices / recorded 2026-09-22
  • MiniMax Hailuo 2.3
    $0.19 per video for six seconds at 768P on the fast tier, up to $0.56 for ten secondspriced by the clip on the same pageNovita AI, prices / recorded 2026-09-22
  • Wan
    $0.25 per video for five seconds at 480P, up to $1.50 for ten seconds at 1080Ppriced by the clipNovita AI, prices / recorded 2026-09-22
  • How video generation is metered
    Prices are given in credits per seconds of video generated: 480 credits for 2 seconds of Wan 3.0 at 1080p, 140 credits for 5 seconds of Kling 2.5 at 720pMagnific, pricing page / recorded 2026-09-22
  • The credit-to-minutes equivalence published per plan
    1,200 credits a month stated as 10 mins of video, and 3,600 credits a month stated as 30 minsSynthesia, pricing page / recorded 2026-09-22
  • The assumption printed under the comparison
    Figures rest on an estimated average video of 5 seconds at 720p, and the page says actual output may vary by model, resolution and prompt complexityfal, pay-per-use prices / recorded 2026-09-22

4The production behind the price

Price aside, what goes into the seconds behind “Priced by the clip” is described in SceneMixer's guides:

Measured across every job that finished successfully on scenemixer.com in the thirty days to 20 September 2026: analysis of a whole book runs about 2 minutes 49 seconds at the median, one episode's storyboard 1 minute 54 seconds, one video segment 3 minutes 20 seconds, and compositing an episode 3 minutes 52 seconds.

SceneMixer, Turn a Novel into a Video Series with AI — “How long does it take to produce one episode?” (read 2026-10-13)

Under the player of every finished segment sits Edit this clip, with three tabs.

SceneMixer, Edit This Clip: Trim, AI Visuals or Redub, and When to Regenerate Instead (read 2026-10-13)

5Sources

Each figure is read from the vendor page linked in the ledger, checked 2026-09-22. How a figure qualifies is on method; what a rate leaves out is on limits and unspent credits and parallel generations. Nearby: Both halves published, Strings attached, Reseller or source.