Runway Credits Explained (2026): How Many Seconds of AI Video Each Plan Actually Buys

Photo: Oleg Brovchenko, Unsplash License.

Runway sells its plans in credits, but what creators need to know is how many seconds of finished video a plan produces. The answer depends heavily on which model you use, and the gap between models is much bigger than the gap between plans. This page converts the plans into seconds so you can budget properly.

Prices and credit costs below were taken from Runway’s pricing page in September 2026. Runway changes both regularly, so check the current page before you commit.

The plans

Plan	Price (annual billing)	Price (monthly billing)	Credits per month
Free	$0	$0	125 (one-time)
Standard	$12/mo	$15/mo	625
Pro	$28/mo	$35/mo	2,250
Max	$76/mo	$95/mo	9,500

Paid plans remove the watermark. Credits reset every month and don’t roll over, so a quiet month costs the same as a busy one.

What each model costs per second

Runway lists credit costs per clip. Converted to credits per second:

Model	Listed cost	Credits per second
Gen-4.5	60 credits / 5s	12
Seedance 2.0 Fast	116 credits / 4s	29
Aleph 2.0	140 credits / 5s	28
Seedance 2.0 Pro (1080p)	160 credits / 4s	40

The premium models cost two to three times as much per second as Gen-4.5. That matters more than which plan you’re on.

How many seconds each plan buys

This is raw generated video, before any re-rolls:

Plan	Gen-4.5	Seedance 2.0 Fast	Aleph 2.0	Seedance 2.0 Pro
Free	~10s	~4s	~4s	~3s
Standard	~52s	~21s	~22s	~15s
Pro	~3 min 7s	~1 min 17s	~1 min 20s	~56s
Max	~13 min 11s	~5 min 27s	~5 min 39s	~3 min 57s

A Standard subscription buys less than one minute of video a month even on the cheapest model. That is fine for a thumbnail animation or a few intro shots, but it won’t cover b-roll for a weekly long-form video.

Cost per second, and why re-rolls matter

On annual billing with Gen-4.5, the raw cost works out to about:

• Standard: ~$0.23 per second
• Pro: ~$0.15 per second
• Max: ~$0.10 per second

That is only the price per second generated. The number that matters for your budget is the price per second you actually use. AI video rarely gets every shot right on the first try. If you typically generate three versions of a shot to get one you keep, divide each plan’s seconds by three and multiply the cost per second by three. Pro on Gen-4.5 then becomes about a minute of usable footage a month, at roughly $0.45 per usable second.

To find your own ratio, track it honestly for one project. Count every generation, then count the seconds that made the final cut. Budget from that number, not from the plan’s headline credits.

How it compares to metered pricing

Google Veo’s API bills per second with no monthly pool. Its Lite tier starts at about $0.05 per second at 720p (full table in our Veo pricing breakdown). For high-volume, automated b-roll, metered billing usually wins. You pay for exactly what you generate and never hit a credit wall halfway through a batch. Runway’s advantage is the editing suite around the models, which we covered in Runway vs Google Veo.

Which plan to pick

• Testing the waters: the Free plan’s 125 credits buy about 10 seconds of Gen-4.5. That is enough to judge quality, but not to make anything.
• A few hero shots a month: Standard, if you stay on Gen-4.5.
• Regular use, mixing models: Pro is the first tier where the premium models are practical.
• Daily production: Max, or look at a metered API instead. At this volume, the lack of credit rollover starts to cost real money.

FAQ

Do unused credits carry over? No. Monthly credits reset each billing cycle.

Can I buy extra credits without upgrading? Runway has sold credit top-ups in the past. Check the current pricing page, because top-up rates are usually worse than the per-credit rate of the next tier up.

Is annual billing worth it? It saves 20%, but it locks you in for a year while model prices and competitors keep changing. Try a month on monthly billing first, then switch once you know your real usage.