Runway ML vs Luma AI
Runway ML and Luma AI side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Runway ML | Luma AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video & Motion | Video & Motion |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $12/mo (checked October 2026) | $25/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Not listed |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Runway ML lists a free tier and Luma AI does not.
Runway ML has the lower starting price ($12/mo against $25/mo for Luma AI). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Video & Motion category.
About each tool
Runway ML
AI video and image generation and editing platform with credit-based plans. Free plan with 125 one-time credits; Standard is $12 a month billed annually ($15 monthly).
Who it is for
Creators, video editors and studios who want to make AI video and images in a browser. Higher tiers add team seats, brand kits and studio export formats, and developers can use a separate pay-per-credit API.
Strengths
- Standard and higher plans list no watermark and 4K upscaling
- Credit rates are published per model; for example, Gen-4.5 video costs 12 credits a second
- Standard, Pro, Unlimited, Max and Team can buy extra credits (minimum 1,000), and purchased credits do not expire, per the help center
- Max lists studio-grade outputs (HDR, ProRes, image sequences) and up to 500GB of storage
- Team plans share a pool of 6,900 credits per seat, and Viewers are free, per the help center
Limitations
- The Free plan is a one-time deposit of 125 credits that do not expire, with 5GB of storage, and free users cannot buy credits
- Generation is metered in credits. At 12 credits a second, a 5-second Gen-4.5 clip is 60 credits and Standard's 625 monthly credits cover about 52 seconds
- Credit rates vary widely by model. For example, Gen-4 Video Turbo is 5 a second, and Veo 3.1 is 20 a second without audio and 40 with audio
- Standard allows up to 3 projects and 5 parallel generations, and Pro allows 5 projects and 15 parallel generations
- The Unlimited plan has not been offered since 1 June 2026. The help center says legacy plans stay unchanged through 30 November 2026, then monthly subscribers move to Max at $95 a month
Luma AI
Browser and iOS workspace for generating video, images and audio with Luma's Ray and UNI models plus third-party models. Credit-based plans.
Who it is for
Creators, marketing and advertising teams, and film and game studios generating AI video and images. Developers can use a separate credit-based API.
Strengths
- Ray3.2 video model: text-to-video, image-to-video, video modification and reframing
- Multi-keyframe direction (up to 16 keyframes) and a low-credit Draft Mode
- 16-bit HDR output with EXR export on Ray3.2
- Paid plans list third-party video and audio models alongside Luma's own
- Commercial use is included on Plus
Limitations
- Luma's current pricing page lists no free plan, although an older help page describes one
- Team and Enterprise pricing is by contacting sales
- The API is billed separately from the web plans
