Cheapest AI Video Generation API: Kling vs Seedance vs Wan

The cheapest AI video generation API on Orux AI as of Oct 29, 2026 is Vidu Q2 Pro Fast: 2.92 Credits ($0.0146) per second for a 5-second 720p clip, or 14.6 Credits ($0.073) per clip. It only does image-to-video, though. For text-to-video, Vidu Q2 starts at 3.27 Credits per second at 540p, and Wan 2.6 is the cheapest 720p option with a published vendor price to compare against, at 16.25 Credits ($0.081) per second.

At the other end, Seedance 2.5 costs 94.5 Credits ($0.4725) per second at 720p, more than 30 times Vidu Q2 Pro Fast. And Orux AI is not the cheapest place to buy every model: Kling 4.0 and the Vidu family cost more here than elsewhere. Both are covered below.

Price per second, all models

Orux AI prices as of Oct 29, 2026, sorted by 720p price. 1 Credit = $0.005; dollar figures are that conversion.

Swipe horizontally to view the full table.

Two things the table hides:

• Vidu prices are per second but depend on clip length. Vidu Q2 Pro Fast at 720p is 2.92 Credits per second for a 5-second clip and 2.37 for a 10-second clip, so longer clips are cheaper per second. Check the model page for the rate at your exact duration.
• Kling v3 bills sound separately: turning sound on raises std from 20 to 30 Credits per second. The Seedance tiers and Kling 4.0 have one rate per resolution.

Vidu Q2 Pro, Vidu Q2 Turbo and Vidu Q3 Pro are also on the catalog but are not priced in this comparison; see their model pages from /models?modality=video.

Cost of a 5-second and 10-second clip

Most teams think in clips, not seconds. Same prices, multiplied out at 720p unless noted.

Swipe horizontally to view the full table.

Video bills only on success. On Orux AI an async video task is charged only when it reaches SUCCESS; FAILED and EXPIRED tasks cost nothing. That matters more for video than for text, because a rejected prompt on a 10-second Seedance 2.5 clip would otherwise burn 945 Credits.

Price vs capability

Cheap per second is not the same as cheap per usable shot. These are the parameter facts that usually decide the choice, taken from each model's request schema on Orux AI.

Swipe horizontally to view the full table.

A practical reading: if you need clips longer than 15 seconds, only Kling 4.0 and Seedance 2.5 do it in one request. If you want generated audio, the lowest listed rate is Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p (12.59 Credits per second, with generate_audio on by default). If you already have a keyframe image, Vidu Q2 Pro Fast is an order of magnitude cheaper than anything else.

Same prompt, two existing examples

Both clips below are existing Orux examples from the model pages, generated from the same prompt: "A slow cinematic camera push towards a ceramic mug on a wooden desk in soft morning light. No people, no text." They were not generated for this article, and the costs are list-price calculations, not billed amounts.

Judge them on the three checks that matter for a usable shot: composition, motion continuity, and whether the last frame can cut cleanly into the next shot. Price per second only tells you what a retry costs. For a closer look at choosing between Kling outputs, see the Kling 4.0 API guide.

Where Orux AI is not the cheapest

Being straight about this is the only reason a price table is worth reading.

• Kling 4.0. Orux AI charges 42.75 Credits ($0.214) per second at 720p. fal.ai is listed at about $0.157 per second at 720p per third-party trackers at the time of writing (llmreference); we could not load fal's own pricing page to confirm. If that figure holds, Orux AI is about 36% more expensive for Kling 4.0. We have not verified Kling's own API price.
• Vidu. Orux AI's Vidu prices are roughly double Vidu's own CNY list prices. Vidu Q2 Pro Fast is still the cheapest video model on Orux AI per second, but if Vidu is all you need, going direct is cheaper.
• Seedance 2.0. At 720p Orux AI's $0.3075 per second is roughly level with the ~$0.3034 listed on fal.ai per third-party pages at the time of writing (apiframe), unverified. Seedance 2.0 Fast at $0.228 per second is slightly below the ~$0.2419 reported for fal.
• Seedance official prices are published in CNY by Volcano Engine (Volcano Ark): per 5-second 16:9 clip, 720p ¥4.97 and 1080p ¥12.39 for Seedance 2.0, ¥4.00 for 2.0 Fast at 720p, ¥2.48 for 2.0 Mini at 720p, and ¥7.56 / ¥18.71 for Seedance 2.5. We have not verified the USD price on BytePlus.

Where Orux AI is cheaper than the vendor's own published price: Wan 2.6 costs $0.081 / $0.135 per second at 720p / 1080p versus Alibaba Cloud's $0.10 / $0.15 (81% and 90%). Wan 2.5 is effectively at list price.

The argument for buying video through Orux AI is mostly not price. It is one key for all 16 video models on the catalog, success-only billing, one balance and one bill. Decide per model.

Batch-generate test clips in Python

The fastest way to pick a model is to run the same prompt through three of them at the cheapest useful setting. This script submits one prompt to Wan 2.6, Seedance 2.0 Mini and Kling 4.0 at 720p for 5 seconds, polls every 10 seconds, and downloads the results. At list price the three clips cost 81.25 + 141.59 + 213.75 = 436.59 Credits ($2.18). It saves task IDs to disk so a restart does not resubmit and pay twice.

# pip install requests
import json, os, time, pathlib, requests

BASE = "https://orux.top/api/v1"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['ORUX_API_KEY']}"}
PROMPT = ("A slow cinematic camera push towards a ceramic mug on a wooden desk "
          "in soft morning light. No people, no text.")

# Each model has its own input schema; all three below are 720p, 5 seconds.
JOBS = {
    "wan2.6-t2v": {"prompt": PROMPT, "size": "1280x720", "duration": 5},
    "seedance-2.0-mini": {"prompt": PROMPT, "resolution": "720p", "duration": 5,
                          "aspect_ratio": "16:9", "generate_audio": False},
    "kling-4.0": {"prompt": PROMPT, "resolution": "720p", "duration": 5,
                  "aspect_ratio": "16:9"},
}
# Credits per second at these settings, checked 2026-10-29
RATE = {"wan2.6-t2v": 16.25, "seedance-2.0-mini": 28.32, "kling-4.0": 42.75}

state_file = pathlib.Path("video_tasks.json")
tasks = json.loads(state_file.read_text()) if state_file.exists() else {}

for model, inp in JOBS.items():
    if model in tasks:
        continue  # already submitted; don't pay twice
    r = requests.post(f"{BASE}/tasks", headers=HEADERS,
                      json={"model": model, "input": inp}, timeout=60)
    if r.status_code == 402:
        raise SystemExit("Insufficient balance: top up at https://orux.top/pricing")
    r.raise_for_status()
    tasks[model] = r.json()["task_id"]
    state_file.write_text(json.dumps(tasks))

pending = dict(tasks)
while pending:
    time.sleep(10)
    for model, task_id in list(pending.items()):
        t = requests.get(f"{BASE}/tasks/{task_id}", headers=HEADERS, timeout=30).json()
        if t["status"] in ("QUEUED", "RUNNING"):
            continue
        del pending[model]
        if t["status"] != "SUCCESS":
            print(f"{model}: {t['status']} {t.get('error')} (not charged)")
            continue
        for i, url in enumerate(t["result"]):
            path = f"{model}_{i}.mp4"
            pathlib.Path(path).write_bytes(requests.get(url, timeout=300).content)
            cost = RATE[model] * JOBS[model]["duration"]
            print(f"{model}: saved {path}, ≈ {cost:.2f} Credits at list price")

Result URLs are temporary, so the script downloads immediately. Orux AI does not support callbacks for tasks; polling is the only option. For parameter details per model, see /docs/tasks.

For a full breakdown of the four Seedance tiers, see the Seedance 2.0 API pricing guide.

Prices checked on 2026-10-29. Sources: Orux AI model pages under /models?modality=video, Alibaba Cloud Model Studio pricing, Volcano Engine Ark pricing (CNY), and the third-party pages linked above for fal.ai figures.

FAQ

Q.What is the cheapest AI video generation API?

On Orux AI as of Oct 29, 2026, Vidu Q2 Pro Fast is cheapest at 14.6 Credits ($0.073) for a 5-second 720p clip, but it is image-to-video only. For text-to-video, Vidu Q2 at 540p costs 16.3 Credits ($0.082) per 5-second clip, and Wan 2.6 at 720p costs 81.25 Credits ($0.406).

Q.Kling vs Seedance: which is better value?

It depends on resolution and length. At 720p, Seedance 2.0 Mini (28.32 Credits per second) is cheaper than Kling 4.0 (42.75), while Seedance 2.0 (61.5) and 2.5 (94.5) cost more. Kling 4.0 and Seedance 2.5 are the only models here that reach 30 seconds in one request.

Q.Are failed videos charged?

No. On Orux AI, image and video tasks are billed only when they reach SUCCESS. Tasks that end as FAILED or EXPIRED are not charged, so you only pay for clips you can download. A rejected prompt or a generation error therefore costs nothing beyond the time spent waiting.

Q.How long do video result links last?

Result URLs are temporary. When Orux AI stores a copy, the default retention is 7 days, and the task response includes result_expires_in. Download the file as soon as the task succeeds and keep it in your own storage rather than linking to the result URL.

Q.Should I generate at 720p or 1080p?

Draft at 720p or lower, then render the final at 1080p. The step up is steep on some models: Seedance 2.0 goes from 61.5 to 153 Credits per second, while Wan 2.6 only goes from 16.25 to 27.08. Iterating on prompts at 1080p can multiply your testing cost by 2.5.