AI video generators cost $13 to $59 per month at the entry tier in 2026, but the number that matters is cost per finished video, which ranges from about $0.39 on Vadoo Pro to about $11 on Arcads. Headline prices mislead in four consistent ways: free tiers you cannot publish from, credit expiry, second meters that cap you before credits run out, and promotional rates that reset. Every figure below comes from a vendor's public pricing page, checked July 2026, with unverifiable numbers labeled as such.
Disclosure: Vidroot is one of the tools priced below, and its own math is shown with the same arithmetic as everyone else's.
Fast-scan summary:
- Cheapest per finished video: Vadoo Pro, about $0.39 (Vadoo pricing).
- Most expensive per finished video: Arcads, roughly $11, pricing gated behind signup.
- Watermarks are a free-tier rule, not a paid one: every paid tier in this table exports clean where the vendor states a policy at all.
- Shortest credit life: Creatify, credits "valid for two months" (Creatify FAQs).
- No refunds: Creatify states "payments are final and non-refundable" (Creatify refund policy).
- Free tier that bars commercial use: HeyGen (HeyGen terms).
The pricing table
All prices are monthly-billing rates in USD unless noted, checked July 2026. "Cost per video" means one finished 30-second vertical video.
| Tool | Entry plan | Included | Cost per finished video | Watermark on entry tier | Credit rollover |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vidroot | Creator $19 | 1,500 credits | ~$1.46 ($1.20 annual) | No | No, monthly reset |
| Vadoo | Starter $19 | 20 videos, 1m30 max | ~$0.95 ($0.39 on Pro) | No | Not applicable |
| HeyGen | Creator $29 | 600 credits | ~$0.48 per 30s Avatar IV clip | Free tier only | Not published |
| Creatify | Starter $39 | 100 credits | ~$4 to $8, rate not published | Free tier only | Valid two months |
| Zebracat | Cat Mode $39 | 15 videos, 350 AI credits | ~$2.60 | Free tier only | Not published |
| Revid | Growth $39 | 2,000 AI credits | Not calculable | Not stated | Not published |
| AutoShorts | Starter $19 | 3 posts per week | ~$1.46 ($1.29 on Daily) | Free tier only | Not applicable |
| ReelFarm | Growth $49 | 100 slideshows, 150 AI credits | ~$0.49 ($0.26 on Enterprise) | Not stated | Not applicable |
| Vid.ai | Plus $99 | 400 credits at 5 per video | ~$1.24 ($0.66 on Pro) | Not stated | Not published |
| Crayo | Hobby $13 annual | 50 credits, 40 min export | Not calculable | Not stated | Not published |
| MakeUGC | Startup $59 | 500 credits | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Topview | Pro $16 annual | Credits per cycle | Not calculable | None, all paid tiers | Resets each cycle |
| Arcads | Not published | Reported ~10 videos | ~$11 per third-party reports | Not published | Reported no rollover |
| Icon | $1,000 | 6 human-filmed ads | ~$167 | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Four cells read "not calculable" for the same reason: the vendor publishes a credit allowance but no credits-per-video rate, so cost per finished video cannot be derived before purchase. That is a finding, not an omission.
Two entries were added on July 29, 2026 with the same sourcing rigor as the rest. ReelFarm's Growth, Scale, and Enterprise plans at $49, $95, and $195 for 100, 250, and 750 slideshows come from reel.farm; the site publishes no annual billing and no watermark statement, and each plan carries a second undefined meter of 150, 300, and 750 AI credits. Vid.ai's Plus, Pro, and Scale plans at $99, $199, and $499 come from vid.ai/pricing, which is the only page in this table to publish an explicit credits-per-video rate of 5 credits per one-minute video. AutoShorts' figures now come from the plan records published in its own homepage data rather than third-party reports, which also supply its previously unreported annual rates of $190, $390, and $690.
Competitor names in the table link to a dedicated pricing breakdown where one exists.
How to read cost per finished video
Cost per finished video is plan price divided by the number of publishable videos that plan produces, including retries. Three adjustments make the number honest.
Count retries. If one in three renders is unusable, your real cost is 1.5 times the arithmetic. Every tool in this table quotes renders, not keepers.
Use the tier you would actually buy. Free-tier math is irrelevant when the free tier watermarks output or bars commercial use, which is the case at HeyGen and Creatify.
Compare at the same length. A tool billing per avatar minute looks cheap at 15 seconds and expensive at 90. All figures here are normalized to one finished 30-second vertical video.
Vidroot's math, shown in full
Vidroot meters each generation step separately and publishes every rate, so the arithmetic is checkable rather than asserted.
Per-operation rates: 10 credits per AI image scene, 13 credits per second of generated video, 5 credits for voiceover, and 20 credits plus 1 per output second to render.
A typical 30-second, six-scene short using AI images therefore costs:
| Component | Rate | Quantity | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI image scenes | 10 each | 6 | 60 |
| Voiceover | 5 flat | 1 | 5 |
| Render base | 20 flat | 1 | 20 |
| Render per second | 1 per second | 30 | 30 |
| Total | 115 |
That 115-credit figure drives every plan:
| Plan | Monthly | Annual equivalent | Credits | Videos per month | Cost per video (monthly) | Cost per video (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | $19 | $15.83 | 1,500 | ~13 | ~$1.46 | ~$1.22 |
| Growth | $49 | $40.83 | 4,000 | ~34 | ~$1.44 | ~$1.20 |
| Agency | $149 | $124.17 | 12,000 | ~104 | ~$1.43 | ~$1.19 |
Two honest notes. First, generated video clips cost 13 credits per second, so a short built from motion clips rather than still scenes costs several times more than 115 credits. Second, credits reset monthly rather than rolling over, the same as most of this category, though one-time top-ups are available when a month runs short.
Choosing slides instead of video changes the math again: a six-slide carousel is about 60 credits with no render and no voiceover, roughly $0.76 on Creator. That workflow is covered in Best TikTok Slideshow Makers in 2026.
Hidden cost pattern 1: free tiers you cannot publish from
Watermarks are the most common reason a free tier cannot be used as a price. Across this table they are a free-tier rule rather than a paid-tier one: Creatify, HeyGen, and Zebracat all watermark free-plan exports and remove them on every paid tier (Zebracat pricing, checked July 2026). CapCut's free tier applies watermarks to certain AI-generated content and template effects rather than to all exports.
The trap is not the mark itself, it is comparing a free tier against someone else's paid tier. HeyGen's free plan also bars commercial use outright (HeyGen terms), so the cheapest usable price is the first paid plan, not $0.
Several vendors publish no watermark policy at all, including Revid, ReelFarm, Crayo, and Arcads. Absence of a statement is not a guarantee, so confirm on the tier you intend to buy.
Hidden cost pattern 2: export, length, and series caps
The second meter is what actually stops you, and it is rarely on the pricing headline.
- Length caps. Vadoo Starter limits each video to 1 minute 30 and 200MB, Pro to 3 minutes, Advance to 5 minutes.
- Export-time caps. Crayo's Hobby plan includes 40 minutes of export, 30 voiceover minutes, and 100 AI images alongside its 50 workflow credits. Four meters, and the smallest one binds.
- Video-count plus credit-pool caps. Zebracat pairs a monthly video count with a separate generative credit pool, so heavy generative use exhausts credits before the video count.
- Series caps. AutoShorts sets a maximum of one active series on every plan in its own published plan records, free tier included, so running three channels means three subscriptions. Details in AutoShorts AI pricing.
- Double meters. ReelFarm pairs a slideshow count with a separate AI credit pool, and the credit-to-output ratio tightens from 1.5 on Growth to 1.0 on Enterprise. Details in ReelFarm pricing.
- Seat and domain add-ons. HeyGen Business is $149 per month plus $20 per additional seat. Vadoo charges $10 per extra user per month and $50 per month for a custom domain.
Hidden cost pattern 3: credit expiry and no rollover
Unused credits are not savings in this category. They are usually a loss.
Creatify's help center states plan credits "are valid for two months" (Creatify FAQs, checked July 2026), which caps how much allowance can accumulate during a slow quarter. Topview's pricing page states credits reset at the beginning of each billing cycle. Third-party reports say Arcads credits do not roll over, though that cannot be confirmed against a public page. Vidroot credits reset monthly as well, with paid top-ups available.
The practical effect: your true annual cost is twelve monthly payments, but your true annual capacity is only the credits you spend inside each window. If you produce in bursts, buy the smaller plan and top up rather than paying for headroom that expires.
Refund policy compounds this. Creatify states plainly that "payments are final and non-refundable" (Creatify refund policy, checked July 2026), so an annual prepay is a one-way commitment.
Hidden cost pattern 4: gated and promotional pricing
Two variants, both of which break comparison shopping.
Gated pricing. Arcads publishes no pricing page. Checked directly on July 29, 2026, arcads.ai/pricing returns HTTP 404, and plan details are visible only after account creation. Third-party trackers report Starter near $110 per month for 10 videos and Creator near $220 for 20, with promotional rates around $77 and $154 seen earlier in 2026 (eesel AI). Those are secondhand figures and should be treated that way. Enterprise tiers at Creatify, MakeUGC, HeyGen, and Zebracat are also quote-only, which is normal, but Arcads gating every tier is not.
Promotional anchoring. Revid lists its Growth plan at $39 with a "discount locked in forever" note against a $99 reference price. Topview lists discounts from 41% to 68% across tiers. Zebracat's annual rates are half its monthly rates. Crayo's headline prices are annual-billing rates against a stated 30% annual discount. In each case, compare the price you will pay in month 13, not the price on the banner.
Two more prices could not be verified from a first-party page at all. canva.com/pricing returned HTTP 403 to an automated check on July 29, 2026, with third-party trackers reporting Canva Pro at both $15 and $18 per month, and capcut.com/pricing returned a 404, with trackers reporting CapCut Standard near $9.99 and Pro near $19.99 per month (eesel AI CapCut guide). Check both in your own region.
What each budget actually buys
| Monthly budget | Realistic output | Best-fit options |
|---|---|---|
| Under $20 | 13 to 20 finished shorts | Vidroot Creator, Vadoo Starter, Crayo Hobby, Topview Pro |
| $20 to $50 | 30 to 100 shorts, or ~60 avatar clips | Vidroot Growth, Vadoo Pro, HeyGen Creator, AutoShorts Daily |
| $50 to $150 | 100+ shorts, custom avatars, team seats | Vidroot Agency, MakeUGC Pro, Zebracat Super Cat, HeyGen Pro |
| $150 to $1,000 | Unlimited-tier generation or API scale | Zebracat Unlimited, Revid Ultra, MakeUGC API Pro |
| $1,000+ | 6 human-filmed UGC ads per month | Icon |
The jump from $149 of AI generation to $1,000 of human production is the real decision point in this table. AI is roughly 100 times cheaper per video; human creators still win where the audience checks whether the person is real, as covered in AI UGC Ads: Test Hooks Without Hiring Creators.
Five questions to ask before you pay
- What does one finished video cost on this exact tier? If the vendor cannot answer in credits, budget conservatively.
- Do credits expire or roll over? Ask for the number of days, not a reassurance.
- Is there a watermark on this tier? Confirm on the plan you are buying, not the plan above it.
- What is the second meter? Export minutes, video counts, seats, or series limits.
- What is the renewal price? Not the promotional price, the month-13 price.
FAQ
How much do AI video generators cost in 2026? Entry plans run $13 to $59 per month across the major tools, though the cheapest of those are annual-billing rates, and cost per finished 30-second video ranges from about $0.39 on Vadoo Pro to about $11 on Arcads. Free tiers usually watermark output and often bar commercial use.
What is the cheapest AI video generator per video? Vadoo Pro at $39 per month for 100 videos is about $0.39 each, and HeyGen Creator at $29 for 600 credits is about $0.48 per 30-second Avatar IV clip. Both carry caps: Vadoo limits video length, HeyGen bills per avatar minute.
Do AI video credits expire? Often. Creatify states plan credits are valid for two months, Topview credits reset each billing cycle, and most tools in this category do not roll unused credits over, so unspent allowance is lost at renewal.
How much does a Vidroot video cost? A 30-second six-scene short costs about 115 credits: 60 for six image scenes, 5 for voiceover, 20 render base, and 30 for output seconds. On the $19 Creator plan that is about $1.46 per video, or about $1.20 on annual billing.
Which AI video tools hide their pricing? Arcads publishes no pricing page; arcads.ai/pricing returned a 404 on July 29, 2026, and plans appear only after signup. Enterprise tiers at Creatify, MakeUGC, HeyGen, and Zebracat are quote-only, which is more standard.
Next step
Take your two shortlisted tools, run five videos through each on the same brief, and divide the plan price by the videos you would actually post. That number, not the pricing page, is what you are buying.
The decision framework covers the non-price criteria in order, and the comparison pages show workflow differences tool by tool. If your input is a product page, start free and check the credit ledger against the math above.