Runway

Editor's Review

Runway is the professional's AI video suite — Gen-4.5 (the current flagship) plus a real editing toolset — and in 2026 it also became a model marketplace, hosting third-party models (Kling 3.0, Veo 3.1, Nano Banana Pro) inside its suite. The June 2026 billing change matters: the Unlimited plan was retired for new subscribers, replaced by Max at $95/month; existing Unlimited users were migrated September 1. Continued studio credibility via the Lionsgate catalog-trained custom model (per Variety). Pricing is credit-based: Free is a one-time 125 credits (does not renew monthly), 5GB storage, watermarked, Gen-4 Turbo only; Standard $15/month ($12 annual, 625 credits/month ≈ 52 sec of Gen-4.5, 4K upscaling, no watermark); Pro $35/month ($28 annual, 2,250 credits ≈ 187 sec, custom voices); Max $95/month ($76 annual, 9,500 credits ≈ 791 sec, 1-month rollover, ProRes/HDR). Gen-4.5 costs 12 credits/second; API credits at $0.01 each. The honest economics: the credit model punishes iteration — every attempt burns credits whether you keep it or not, so twenty 5-second clips cost ~1,200 credits before re-takes. No native audio generation. Clips stay short. Who should pay? Filmmakers and studios wanting director-level control — video-to-video, inpainting, multi-motion brush, Act-One character consistency. Versus Google Veo 3.1: Veo bundles native audio + native 4K in one generation and vertical output; Runway wins the pro editing workflow. Versus Kling 3.0: Kling is cheaper per credit for pure generation; Runway wins for craft. If you're iterating heavily, do the credit math before the project, not during.