Image & video
Runway
Web and mobile app plus API for generating and editing AI video, images and audio with Runway's Gen-4.5 and other models.
What Runway does
Runway develops generative video models and sells access to them through three products. Runway Creative is a cloud workspace, on the web and in iOS and Android apps, for generating and editing video, images and audio. Runway Dev is an API for developers. Runway Robotics offers simulation tools built on GWM-1, Runway's world model, and is sold through its sales team.
Inside the Creative app, paid plans give access to Runway's own models, such as Gen-4.5, Gen-4 and Aleph 2.0, alongside third-party models including Kling 3.0, Seedance and Nano Banana Pro. Plans also include an agentic creative assistant, music, voice and sound effect generation, 4K upscaling, and on Pro and above, custom voice clones, Brand Kits and Runway MCP. A Team plan covers 2 to 9 seats with shared projects and pooled credits.
Everything is paid for in credits. Gen-4.5 uses 12 credits per second of video, so the Standard plan's 625 monthly credits buy about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 output. On the API side, credits cost $0.01 each and are bought per project in the developer portal, with official Node.js and Python SDKs.
Runway suits filmmakers, designers and marketers who produce short generated clips, and developers adding video or image generation to an app. Runway's terms do not restrict commercial use of outputs.
- Generating short video clips from text or images.
- Transforming existing footage with video-to-video models.
- Creating images, music, voice and sound effects for a project.
- Adding video and image generation to an app through the API.
Who should use it
- Filmmakers, designers and marketers producing short generated video.
- Developers who want several video models behind one API.
Who should look elsewhere
- Long-form video at low cost; credits cover under a minute of Gen-4.5 output on Standard.
- Anyone who does not want inputs and outputs used to train models, which the terms permit.
Strengths
- Runway's own models and third-party models are available in one workspace.
- The terms do not restrict commercial use of outputs.
- An API with Node.js and Python SDKs and pay-as-you-go credits.
- The Max plan rolls unused credits over for one month.
Limitations
- Credits go quickly on video: 625 Standard credits equal about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5.
- Standard and Pro credits do not roll over, and the free plan's 125 credits are a one-time grant.
- Extra credits are sold in a minimum purchase of 1,000.
- The terms grant Runway a perpetual license to use inputs and outputs, including for training and improving its models.
Privacy notes
Runway's terms say it does not claim ownership of your inputs or outputs, but you grant it a perpetual, royalty-free license to use them, including to train and improve its AI models.
Sources
- Runway | Building Real-World IntelligenceOfficial sitePrimaryrunway.com
- AI Image and Video Pricing from $12/month | Runway AIPricing pagePrimaryrunway.com
- API Documentation | Runway DevOfficial docsPrimarydocs.dev.runwayml.com
- docs.dev.runwayml.com/guides/pricingOfficial docsPrimary
- runway.com/terms-of-useWeb
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