Runway pricing, price hikes and cheaper alternatives
Runway (runwayml.com) is a AI video generator. Subscription tiers that include a monthly pool of credits spent per second of video or per image; extra credits can be bought (minimum 1,000).. Free plan: Free forever with 125 one-time credits and a selection of models (no monthly refill)..
What Runway costs
- Entry plan: $15/mo (Standard $15/mo monthly ($12/mo billed annually): all video models, no watermarks, 625 credits/mo.)
- 500 s of clips: $95/mo (Cheapest 720p model is Gen-4 Turbo (image-to-video) at 5 credits/s (page: 125 credits = 25s, 9,500 = 1,900s): 500s = 2,500 credits. Pro's 2,250 falls short and the 1,000-credit top-up has no published price, so Max $95/mo (9,500 credits) is the cheapest published option; Pro $35 + a 1,000-credit top-up would likely be cheaper.)
- 10 min avatar: not offered (No script-to-stock-avatar video workflow; Characters is a real-time conversational agent sold via the API, Act-Two needs a driving performance video.)
Plan compared: Standard. Prices are USD per month on monthly billing (annual-only plans are the annual price divided by 12): the cheapest watermark-free commercial plan for one creator, the cost of 500 seconds of generated clips a month, and the cost of 10 minutes of talking-avatar video a month. A dash means the product does not do that job.
Runway price hikes
- Runway cut Pro plan storage from 500GB to 100GB · Sep 7, 2026
Pro ($35/mo) storage dropped from 500GB to 100GB and custom voice clones were capped at 1, while Brand Kits and an agentic collaborator were added. - Runway ended unlimited Explore Mode, replacing Unlimited with Max · Jun 2026
The $95/mo ($76/mo annual) Unlimited plan, which offered unmetered relaxed-speed generations via Explore Mode, became Max with a capped 9,500 credits/mo (up from 2,250 metered credits) and no unlimited mode.
Cheaper alternatives to Runway
At the cheapest watermark-free plan, Runway costs $15/mo. 2 AI video generators cost less:
- Google Flow (Veo): $4.99/mo (Google AI Plus ($4.99/mo))
- Kling AI: $8.80/mo (Standard)
Runway alternatives: 4 AI video generators compared, at every size.
Every change we logged
- Sep 7, 2026 · Limits cut: Pro ($35/mo) storage dropped from 500GB to 100GB and custom voice clones were capped at 1, while Brand Kits and an agentic collaborator were added.
- Jun 2026 · Limits cut: The $95/mo ($76/mo annual) Unlimited plan, which offered unmetered relaxed-speed generations via Explore Mode, became Max with a capped 9,500 credits/mo (up from 2,250 metered credits) and no unlimited mode.
Sources
Pricing page: runway.com/pricing. Prices last checked Oct 16, 2026. Prices and credit rates from runway.com/pricing (monthly prices shown struck through next to the 20%-off annual toggle); changes from PricingSaaS diffs and Runway's help center. The page's Gen-4 Turbo hints conflict (5 vs 6 credits/s) and top-up credit prices aren't published, so the clips point is uncertain.