AI image & video
How to choose an AI video generator: rights, seconds and fine print
Quick answer
Start with the licence: pick the cheapest plan whose terms allow commercial use, since some cheaper plans don't. Then work out how many seconds of video its credits buy with the model you'll use, because entry plans range from 20 to 500 seconds a month. Check the watermark and resolution on that plan, and whether the company's own pages agree with each other.
AI video generators sell credits, not minutes, and the rights you get vary by plan. We compared 11 of them using only their own pricing, help and terms pages, read Sep 25 to Sep 27, 2026. Here is what matters and where the traps are.
What our ranking weighs, and why
Our AI video generator ranking scores each tool on its entry plan: the cheapest paid plan whose licence allows commercial use. The weights, set out on our methodology page:
- Entry plan price, 25%. The monthly price, annual prepay included, before promotions.
- Video per dollar, 25%. Seconds of video the monthly credits buy with the company's standard model, divided by the price. This is the number most pricing pages make hardest to find.
- Commercial use, 20%. Allowed, allowed with limits, or not allowed or not published.
- No watermark, 10%. Whether the entry plan exports clean.
- Resolution, 10%. The highest output on the entry plan.
- Free plan or trial, 10%.
We don't test output quality. Try the free tiers to judge how clips look.
The price range you'll see
Entry plans run from Google AI Plus at $4.99 a month to Pika Creator at $28 a month billed annually. In between: Kling AI Standard at $79.20 a year ($6.60 a month), Adobe Firefly Standard at $9.99, Leonardo.Ai Essential at $10 billed yearly, Runway Standard at $12 billed annually, Higgsfield Starter at $19, Invideo AI Starter at $20 a seat, Hedra Basic at $20, and Luma Plus at $25 billed yearly. Hailuo's Standard lists at $14.99 with lower card offers.
What those plans buy differs far more than the price. By our readings, Adobe Firefly Standard makes 20 seconds of 1080p Firefly video a month, Runway Standard 52 seconds of Gen-4.5, Kling Standard 110 seconds at 720p, Pika Creator 125 seconds and Luma Plus 500 seconds at 720p. Our credit costs comparison sets them side by side.
The traps our research found
A cheaper plan without commercial rights. Pika's compare table reads "Commercial license No No Yes Yes": Free and Starter no, Creator and Fancy yes. Starter is $8 billed annually; Creator, the first plan you can use commercially, is $28.
Terms that contradict each other. Kling's pricing card says "Generated content is for commercial use" and its paid terms don't restrict members, but its general terms bar commercial use without written permission. We read it as commercial use with limits.
Rights not stated at all. Google Flow's help FAQ answers the commercial-use question only by pointing to the terms and saying Google won't claim ownership.
Rights by model. Adobe says Firefly model outputs are safe for commercial use, but partner models "may have different usage terms". Luma's terms exclude third-party model output from its ownership assignment.
Two numbers for one plan. Higgsfield's /pricing counts 21 Seedance 2.0 Fast clips on Starter while its team plan page says about 15. Invideo's Starter card says about 15 clips and its compare table 13. Adobe's plans page says "Up to 20" five-second videos, while its credit rates make 20 seconds at 1080p. We use the worse reading each time.
No per-clip price. Leonardo.Ai's help centre says the cost "is shown on the button before generating". Hedra's docs say credit prices are "intentionally not duplicated here". You can't size these plans before you buy.
Discounts with no end date. Hailuo's card shows Standard at $8.40 a month billed yearly against a $14.99 list price, with no end date. Kling's $6.99 first month is a one-time offer. Higgsfield's Plus, Ultra and Team carry "OFF" tags without dates.
Watermarks nobody mentions. Luma, Adobe Firefly and Hedra don't say whether paid exports carry a visible watermark.
Credits that vanish. Luma's unused credits expire each billing cycle; Runway's Standard credits don't roll over.
A checklist before you pay
- Find the plan's commercial-use line and read it in the terms, not just the pricing card.
- If you'll use partner models, check whether their output carries the same rights.
- Work out seconds per month: monthly credits divided by the credit cost of one clip at the resolution you want.
- Check whether the price is a promotion, and what it renews at.
- Confirm the entry plan exports without a watermark.
- Check the highest resolution on that plan, native or upscaled.
- For teams, check the seat minimum and whether credits are pooled.
- Use the free tier to judge quality before you commit to a year.
Where to go next
See the full AI video generator ranking, and our list for social video teams, which scores team plans per seat and counts 9:16 output. How each score is worked out is on the methodology page.