Cheapest AI video generators: Runway and Synthesia, undercut

Two jobs, one category label

Our scenario: single user, monthly billing. Generative video tools like Runway turn a text or image prompt into a new video clip; avatar tools like Synthesia turn a script into a talking presenter. Runway's free plan gives 125 one-time credits and 5GB of storage, no expiry; its paid Standard tier is $15/month for 625 credits ($12/month billed annually), Pro is $35/month for 2,250 credits ($28 annually), and Max is $95/month for 9,500 credits ($76 annually). Synthesia's free plan gives 1,200 credits a month — about 10 minutes of video — with 9 stock avatars; Starter is $29/month for that same 1,200 credits ($18/month billed yearly, $264/year), and Creator is $89/month for 3,600 credits, about 30 minutes ($64/month yearly, $804/year).

Cheaper ways to generate raw video

Pika is the cheapest generative option we have priced: Standard is $8/month billed yearly ($96/year), Pro is $28/month billed yearly ($336/year) — both undercut Runway's equivalent tiers, though Pika's plans are annual-only, so there's no monthly-billed number to set against Runway's $15. Higgsfield AI's Starter is $15/month billed annually ($180/year) for 200 credits a month; its Plus tier lists at $49/month annually but is currently discounted to $39/month, a promotional rate rather than the standing price, and its Ultra tier tops out at $129/month annually (currently $99/month promotional) for 3,000 credits. Luma runs pricier than Runway at every tier: Plus is $30/month ($25/month annually) for 10,000 credits, Pro is $90/month ($75 annually) for 40,000 credits. Higgsfield is also the one product here with no free plan at all — its cheapest tier is that $15/month Starter.

Avatar video: Synthesia vs. HeyGen

HeyGen undercuts Synthesia's free tier but not its paid value: HeyGen's Creator plan is $29/month ($24/month billed annually) for 600 credits, the same $29 sticker price as Synthesia Starter, which includes 1,200 credits at that price — twice as many. HeyGen's free plan is tighter too: 3 videos a month capped at 1 minute each, against Synthesia's 10 minutes of free video monthly. The trade-off flips at scale: HeyGen Pro is $49/month for 1,000 credits, cheaper than Synthesia Creator's $89/month for 3,600 credits once you actually need volume. Once a second person joins, HeyGen's Business plan is $149/month for 1,500 credits, with extra seats at $20/seat/month — a flatter team price than stacking individual Creator seats. Both products also handle translation, dubbing and voice cloning, so the choice mostly comes down to credit math rather than a missing feature.

Free tiers worth testing before you pay

Every product in this category has a real free plan, and they're worth comparing before committing to a card. Runway gives 125 one-time credits that don't expire. Synthesia gives 1,200 credits a month, good for roughly 10 minutes of video. HeyGen caps at 3 videos a month, one minute each. Pika includes 80 video credits monthly. LTX Studio's free plan is a one-time 800 credits rather than a monthly refresh — spend it once, then decide whether $15/month for 8,000 monthly credits is worth it.

Don't confuse the adjacent categories

OpusClip does a different job — repurposing existing long-form video into short clips, not generating new footage. Its free plan gives 60 credits a month with a watermark; Starter is $15/month, Pro is $29/month ($14.50/month billed annually) and includes a 2-seat team workspace at that price. Creatify is built specifically for UGC-style ad video: the free plan includes 10 credits with a watermark, Starter is $39/month for 100 credits, Pro is $99/month for 300.

LTX Studio sits closer to Runway's job — text/image-to-video — at a cheaper entry point: Lite is $15/month ($12/month annually, $144/year) for 8,000 credits, Standard is $35/month ($28 annually) for 28,000 credits, and Pro is $125/month ($100 annually) for 110,000 credits. None of these are drop-in Runway or Synthesia replacements — each is priced for a narrower job it does well.