Runway pricing starts with 125 free credits, then moves to Standard at $15 per month, Pro at $35, and Max at $95. Annual billing reduces those paid prices to $12, $28, and $76 per month. The plan names are simple. The harder question is how much usable generation time each credit allowance buys.
This guide was checked against Runway's public pricing and help pages on August 20, 2026. Prices, included models, and credit rates can change, so confirm the current Runway pricing page before you pay.
Runway pricing at a glance
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Included credits | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 125 once | Testing the interface and a few short generations |
| Standard | $15 per month | $12 per month, billed $144 yearly | 625 each month | Occasional image and video work |
| Pro | $35 per month | $28 per month, billed $336 yearly | 2,250 each month | Regular creators who need more generation capacity and storage |
| Max | $95 per month | $76 per month, billed $912 yearly | 9,500 each month | Heavy use, early model access, and one month of credit rollover |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Larger teams that need security, support, and tailored credit packages |
These are Runway's listed US dollar prices before tax. The lower paid price requires an annual commitment. Runway charges per paid editor seat, so a team should budget for seats as well as generation credits. Its plan guide explains the workspace limits and intended user for each tier.
What Runway credits buy
Runway charges credits by model and output. That makes the headline subscription price less useful than the number of raw seconds you can generate before retries.
The reproducible calculation is:
included credits / credits per second = maximum raw generation seconds
For Gen-4.5, Runway lists a rate of 12 credits per second. The calculation therefore gives:
| Plan allowance | Calculation | Maximum Gen-4.5 time before retries |
|---|---|---|
| Standard, 625 credits | 625 / 12 | About 52 seconds |
| Pro, 2,250 credits | 2,250 / 12 | About 187 seconds |
| Max, 9,500 credits | 9,500 / 12 | About 791 seconds |
Free is not included in this model table. Runway's public plan card promises Free users a selection of models, while Standard explicitly includes access to all models. The 125-credit allowance is mathematically equivalent to about ten seconds at 12 credits per second, but that arithmetic does not prove Gen-4.5 is available on Free. Check model access inside the workspace before relying on that allowance.
This is raw generation time, not finished screen time. A ten-second shot that needs four attempts consumes forty seconds of allowance. Upscaling, image generation, audio, and other tools also draw from the same workspace pool.
Worked budget: six ten-second shots
Suppose a sequence needs six ten-second shots and you budget three full attempts for each shot. That is 6 shots x 10 seconds x 3 attempts, or 180 seconds of raw generation.
At 12 credits per second for Gen-4.5, the video allowance is 180 x 12, or 2,160 credits. It fits within Pro's 2,250-credit pool with 90 credits left. It does not fit within Standard's 625 credits. A fourth full attempt on any shot would add 120 credits and move the estimate above Pro's included pool.
This is a planning example, not a production benchmark. It assumes every attempt runs for the full ten seconds and excludes every other credit-consuming action.
A current Gen-4 Turbo discrepancy to budget around
Runway's public sources do not currently give one consistent Gen-4 Turbo calculation. Its developer API pricing lists Gen-4 Turbo at 5 credits per second. That rate would make 625 credits equal to 125 seconds.
The public subscription pricing cards viewed on August 20 instead described Standard's 625 credits as 104 seconds and Pro's 2,250 credits as 375 seconds. Those examples imply 6 credits per second. The same page described Max's 9,500 credits as 1,900 seconds, which matches 5 credits per second.
Do not use the API rate to predict an app subscription without checking the generation screen. App credits and API credits are separate products, and the live plan examples conflict. For a conservative subscription budget, use Runway's lower displayed allowance for your plan.
Free, Standard, Pro, or Max: which plan fits?
Free is a product trial
The Free plan includes 125 one-time credits. They do not refresh monthly. That allowance can show you how Runway feels, but it is too small for a project that needs several attempts per shot.
Choose Free if you are testing the interface or checking whether one model suits a visual idea. Treat any usable output as a bonus, not a production allowance.
Standard suits occasional generation
Standard includes 625 credits each month. Runway's current pricing card equates that to about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5, 104 seconds of Gen-4 Turbo, or 78 Gen-4 images at 1080p.
Choose Standard when you make a small number of shots and can control iteration. It is less suitable for discovery work, where rejected takes can consume most of the month's credits.
Pro gives regular creators more room
Pro raises the monthly pool to 2,250 credits. Runway describes that as about 187 seconds of Gen-4.5, 375 seconds of Gen-4 Turbo, or 281 Gen-4 images at 1080p.
Choose Pro when Runway is already part of a regular workflow and the Standard pool is predictably too small. The extra allowance matters more than the plan label. Estimate your likely attempts per shot before committing for a year.
Max replaces Unlimited for heavy use
Max includes 9,500 monthly credits, lets unused monthly credits roll over for one month, and gives early access to new models. The current pricing page equates the allowance to about 791 seconds of Gen-4.5 or 1,900 seconds of Gen-4 Turbo.
Runway began offering Max to new subscribers on May 29, 2026. Existing Unlimited subscribers are scheduled to move to Max on September 1, 2026. The old Unlimited plan is therefore not the current choice for a new customer. Check the latest plan guidance if you still have a legacy subscription.
Choose Max when heavy generation is routine and the rollover can absorb uneven production months. It is not unlimited generation across every tool. The 9,500-credit pool remains the clearest planning limit.
Enterprise is a sales conversation
Enterprise offers custom credit packages and team controls. Runway does not publish one price, so any exact Enterprise quote found in a third-party article is not authoritative. Ask Runway for the current terms and compare the quote with the number of paid editors and expected generation volume.
Credit expiration, rollover, and shared workspaces
Runway's credit policy changes by credit type:
- Free credits are a one-time allowance and do not expire, but they do not refresh.
- Standard and Pro monthly credits reset around the billing date and do not roll over.
- Max can carry up to one month of unused monthly credits into the next month.
- Additional credits bought separately do not expire.
- Credits belong to the workspace. Editors share the same pool.
- Adding an editor does not add generation credits, even though the editor seat has its own cost.
This matters for teams. Five editors do not receive five separate monthly allowances. One person can consume credits that everyone else expected to use.
Runway app pricing is separate from API pricing
Runway's developer API costs $0.01 per credit. The API pricing table lists Gen-4.5 at 12 credits per second and Gen-4 Turbo at 5 credits per second. That makes the direct API generation charge $0.12 per second for Gen-4.5 and $0.05 per second for Gen-4 Turbo, before any other tool or infrastructure costs.
Subscription credits from the Runway web app do not work in the API. An app plan also does not include an API allowance. Budget the two products separately if you create in the app and automate through the API.
Costs that do not fit in the plan table
The subscription table cannot tell you the total cost of a finished sequence. Four practical limits change the answer:
- Iteration multiplies raw seconds. The calculator shows generation capacity before rejected takes. It does not estimate how many attempts your shot will need.
- Several tools share one pool. Video, images, audio, upscaling, and edits can all consume workspace credits at different rates.
- A yearly plan reduces flexibility. The lower monthly figure is paid as an annual commitment. Monthly billing costs more but limits the commitment to one billing cycle at a time.
- The built-in editor is not a full post-production budget. Runway says its video editor is no longer actively maintained and recommends a local editor for larger projects. Allow for editing, storage, sound, and finishing outside the generation subscription.
When a multi-model workflow is a different purchase
A Runway subscription makes sense when Runway's tools are the center of the workflow. A multi-model filmmaking platform solves a different problem: comparing models, carrying story context between shots, and keeping generated assets inside one film project.
As of August 20, 2026, Melies' public model API listed current video options from providers including Kling, Google Veo, OpenAI Sora, ByteDance Seedance, Luma, MiniMax, xAI, PixVerse, Vidu, LTX, and Black Forest Labs. It did not list a Runway model. Melies should not be treated as a way to buy Runway credits or generate with Runway.
If you want to evaluate the workflows rather than only their prices, read the focused Runway alternative comparison. You can also inspect the models currently exposed by the Melies AI video generator and their per-generation costs on Melies pricing.
The short answer
For a new individual subscriber, Standard is the lowest paid Runway plan, Pro buys a larger monthly allowance, and Max is the current heavy-use tier replacing Unlimited. The most important calculation is not the annual discount. It is the number of raw generation seconds you can afford after allowing for retries.
Before subscribing, choose one representative shot length, estimate a realistic number of attempts, and multiply the two. Then compare that total with Runway's current plan card for the model you intend to use. Recheck the live rate at checkout because this is a fast-changing product.