AI Video Cost Methodology: Credits, Sources & Rights
For a 30-second video, cost equals the plan price divided by how many finished videos the allowance covers, as of 2026-10-18.
Last checked 2026-10-18 on the official pages.
Finished output, not raw credits
Monthly capacity = allowance ÷ units consumed per video. Units consumed = rule units × seconds ÷ rule seconds. A rule with no per-second rate spends its units once per video, for credits, minutes or videos. Annual credit pools are divided by twelve. The calculator selects the cheapest verified plan that covers the requested output, including a $0 plan when that plan covers the request. Ties use plan name, then rule id. Cheapest rankings use paid plans only, ordered by monthly cost, then vendor name. A verified $0 plan is listed beside that ranking as a free allowance, with its allowance and commercial-use status, and is not named as the cheapest option.
Cost at full allowance use divides price by capacity. Cost per requested video divides price by the requested count. Unlimited plans need a count, and then cost per video is price ÷ count. A plan with no stated length cap is still priced, with the note “length cap not stated by vendor”. A stated plan or rule maximum blocks a longer request. Capacity is not rounded up. Retries, top-ups, rollover, seats and taxes are not modeled. Separate generation modes stay named on the plan table; the calculator keeps the least costly applicable verified mode.
A rule marked per minute of source video uses seconds as source length. Those rows are ranked in a separate Clip tools table on the home page, the cheapest page, monthly-volume pages and use-case pages. They are not mixed into the finished-ad ranking.
Use cases and comparisons
TikTok ads and Meta ads list ugc_ads, avatar and generator tools. YouTube Shorts and podcast clips list clips tools. Training videos list avatar tools. A page is skipped when that kind has no verified quote, including a verified clip-tool rule. Comparisons use data/pairs.json when it exists. Otherwise pairs stay inside one kind, and the priority pairs are added when both tools are present.
Evidence and paid-ad rights
Only official pricing, help and licence pages are sources. Each fact carries verbatim snapshot evidence and a date. LicenseLens keeps the exact licence sentence and its URL. Commercial-use wording does not clear third-party assets, likenesses or claims. Affiliate, affiliate_program and sponsored fields are never read by the calculator or the rankings.
Calculate your video costs · Method and sources
Frequently asked questions
How is cost per finished video calculated?
For a 30-second video, cost equals the plan price divided by how many finished videos the allowance covers, as of 2026-10-18.
How are these costs checked?
Prices and allowance conversions are checked against official sources as of 2026-10-18. Unknown inputs remain pending; use the methodology and calculator.