Seedance 2.5, Kling AI and Gemini Omni Pricing: The Real Final Video Cost in 2026

Seedance 2.5 pricing is 57 cents a second at 1080p on ByteDance's own API. A 30-second video, then, costs about $17. That is the number on the price list, and it is the number most people budget with.

It is off by about $70.

The same gap shows up in Kling AI and Gemini Omni pricing. Once you count the takes you throw away, the start images you make first and the tools you finish in, a final, usable 30-second video costs about $19 to $87 to make yourself at 1080p in November 2026, depending on the model. At 720p it is about $14 to $39.

The single clean take that price lists imply costs $3 to $17. The difference is retakes. Most generations don't come out usable, and every one of them is billed.

We worked this out for the four models people ask us about most: Seedance 2.5, Seedance 2.0, Kling 4.0 and Google's Gemini Omni. The take rates come from people who make ads with these models and published their numbers. The prices come from each provider's own rate card, checked on 11 November 2026.

At the end, the Roilo Content Engine goes on the same table, because that is the comparison our readers ask for.

Key takeaways

• The real cost of a final, usable 30-second AI video at 1080p, on a typical day, is about $87 on Seedance 2.5, $45 on Seedance 2.0, $49 on Kling 4.0 and $19 on Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash.
• Every model ends up costing four to seven times its price-list number for one clean take.
• A producer who makes client ads reports needing 4 to 5 takes per usable Seedance 2.5 clip. That puts a usable minute at $55 to $70, even at 720p.
• Retakes are the biggest single cost: about half to three-quarters of the bill.
• On a bad day, the same ad costs one and a half to two times as much.
• The Roilo Content Engine's Creator mode makes a 30-second 1080p ad for US$23.80, or about US$20 on its largest credit pack, and retakes are not billed. Gemini Omni is cheaper on a typical day. The other three cost more.

Why the price list is the wrong number

A price list prices one generation. Nobody posts one generation. You post the one that worked.

What goes wrong is specific. A face drifts halfway through a take. Fingers melt into the bottle. The label on the product turns into letters that don't exist. A hand holding a cup passes through it. A clip that looked right for 20 seconds falls apart in the last five.

Sometimes a content filter refuses the prompt and you rewrite it. Each of those is a paid generation.

People who make these videos for a living say so openly. In an r/generativeAI thread comparing Seedance 2.5 prices across 13 providers, one user put it this way:

"cost of one single generation, and what it costs to get a good shots are two very different things. That's often 10-15 attempts at least in my experience."

Another said a 15-second clip is something "you will regenerate that half a dozen times before its close to being right."

The clearest number came from a producer who runs a small UGC and ad business. In a 7 November post on r/aivideomaking, titled "1 minute of usable 720p AI video on Seedance 2.5 costs almost $70", they wrote:

"on the API it's around $0.23 a second at 720p, and like with any model I usually need 4-5 takes before I get one I can hand to a client, a usable 60 seconds ends up around $55-70. A/B test doubles that or more."

That sentence is the whole method. Price per second, times takes per usable clip, times the seconds you need.

None of this is new. The AI ad Kalshi aired during the 2025 NBA Finals was made by one person in about two days on Google's Veo 3. He told NPR it took around 300 to 400 generations to get 15 usable clips.

How we worked out the cost per usable AI video

We used that producer's maths for every model, then added the parts a video model doesn't make. A finished 30-second ad has four layers of cost.

1. Images before the video. Most people generate a start frame first, so the model begins from the right product, person and light. Expect about a dozen tries at 7 to 10 cents each on an image model like Google's Nano Banana 2. Call it $1.
2. Discarded takes and reprompts. Every generation that didn't make the cut, including the ones after you rewrote the prompt.
3. The final kept video. Thirty seconds at the model's per-second price.
4. Finishing. An editing app, a music licence that covers paid ads, and a voice plan. CapCut Pro ($19.99 a month), Epidemic Sound's Pro plan (about $17 a month on annual billing; its cheaper Creator plan does not cover ads) and ElevenLabs Starter ($6) come to about $43 a month. At eight ads a month, that is about $5 an ad.

The number that matters most is takes per usable clip, and it is the one no provider publishes. Here is where ours come from.

Two caveats. Kling 4.0 opened to everyone on 15 October and Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash launched on 5 November, so few users have published counts for either yet. And everyone's bar is different. A clip you would post on your own page might not pass a client.

You will often see "you'll throw away 75% of your clips" quoted as a rule, sometimes credited to Wireflow or Creaa. We traced it.

Wireflow's own guide says to "plan for a 30 percent discard rate". The 70 to 80 percent figure comes from invideo, which kept 41 of 164 clips while making one animated episode. That is a real number from one production, and it isn't a rule.

All prices below are each provider's own API rate with audio included, checked on 11 November 2026. App plans and resellers charge differently, sometimes double.

Seedance 2.5 pricing: the best model, and the biggest bill

Seedance 2.5 is the model people mean when they say "the best one right now". ByteDance launched it worldwide on 31 July 2026. It makes up to 30 seconds in one take, with native audio, and its motion and acting are why it wins so many side-by-side tests.

It is also the most expensive of the four. On ByteDance's BytePlus ModelArk API it costs $0.231 a second at 720p and $0.569 a second at 1080p. One clean 30-second take at 1080p is $17.06.

The jump to 1080p is steep: about two and a half times the 720p rate. Plenty of people pay it anyway. Replying in the $70 thread, one user said they were "spending 3x what you are" to get full HD, because "720 is a muddy mess outside of a phone."

At 4.75 takes, a usable 30-second ad costs about $39 at 720p and $87 at 1080p. On a bad day, at 10 takes, the 1080p ad passes $175.

There is one way to cut that bill. ByteDance offers a draft mode that renders at 480p for about 10 cents a second, then renders the take you choose at full quality, billed separately.

If you do all your searching in drafts, the 1080p ad drops from about $87 to about $38. That assumes every final render matches its draft, which it won't always.

Seedance 2.0 pricing: cheaper per second, capped at 15 seconds

Seedance 2.0 costs $0.151 a second at 720p and $0.374 at 1080p. It stops at 15 seconds a take, so a 30-second ad is two clips that have to match each other: the same face, the same product and the same light.

Users find it a little easier to land than 2.5. Gemini's summary of user reports puts it at 3 to 4 takes per usable clip. That makes it the cheapest Seedance route to a finished ad: about $22 at 720p and $45 at 1080p.

Its Fast and Mini versions cost less again, but they only go up to 720p.

Kling AI pricing: what Kling 4.0 really costs per video

Kling 4.0 opened to everyone on 15 October and to developers on 28 October. Like Seedance 2.5, it makes up to 30 seconds in one take, and its stereo audio is always on.

Per second, it is gentle on the wallet: about $0.157 at 720p and $0.235 at 1080p on Kling's API rate card. A clean 30-second take at 1080p costs $7.05.

The take rate is the catch. User reports gathered by Gemini put Kling 4.0 at 5 to 7 tries per usable clip. The usual reasons are stiff, robotic movement unless the prompt spells out every action, hands melting in close-ups with a product, and prompts rejected by moderation partway through a queue.

A 30-second take also means a glitch at second 22 throws away all 30 seconds.

At six takes, a usable ad costs about $34 at 720p and $49 at 1080p. That puts Kling 4.0 above Seedance 2.0 at 1080p, even though its per-second price is lower.

If you buy through Kling's app rather than the API, two rules from its credit policy matter. Membership credits are valid for one month from the day they are issued.

And "if the generation fails, the corresponding Credits will be refunded". A failed generation means the job errored. A take that came back with a melted hand counts as a success.

Gemini Omni pricing: the cheapest, with catches

Google's Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash, launched on 5 November, is by far the cheapest of the four per second: about $0.07 at 720p and $0.10 at 1080p on the Gemini API. A clean 30-second ad costs $2.09 at 720p.

The low price comes with conditions:

• Its 1080p is upscaled from 720p, not made at 1080p.
• It makes 15 seconds at a time, so a 30-second ad is two clips that have to match.
• Its content filters are strict. A Google developer-forum thread is titled "I keep getting Policy violation error when using Omni video generation model", and it is one of several.
• Videos from the Gemini app carry a Gemini watermark.

How many takes does Omni need? When we asked Gemini, it found no user who had published a count. A plain web search found three, all from the earlier Omni Flash 1.1:

• A marketer on r/AI_UGC_Marketing wrote that "Gemini Omni just one shotted a UGC video that took me hours to get "right" on Arcads."
• A tutorial on the Substack AI blew my mind, making a UGC-style ad, reported: "It took a few attempts. Omni can be picky."
• The filmmaker David Unger posted on Instagram: "It took 40+ failed generations to get these six shots." That is about eight tries a shot.

That averages out at about four tries per usable clip. Hold it loosely. Some users say 1.2 now fails prompts that worked every time on 1.1, and Google retires 1.1 from Flow on 5 December.

At four takes, a usable 30-second ad costs about $14 at 720p and $19 at 1080p, upscaled.

Side by side: the real cost of a final 30-second video

Costs are for one finished, usable 30-second video. Real-world figures include start images, discarded takes, the kept take and about $5 of finishing tools.

Hands-on time comes from Gemini's summary of user reports. Roilo's price is US$23.80 on its smallest credit pack and about US$20 on its largest.

Read across the rows and a pattern shows. Retakes are about half to three-quarters of every bill. Each model's usable ad costs four to seven times its price-list take.

A low per-second price doesn't guarantee a cheap ad either: Kling 4.0 is cheaper per second than Seedance 2.0 and still costs more per usable ad, because it needs more tries.

The costs no pricing page shows

The table covers what you pay for one ad. A few costs only show up over a month.

• Variations. Ads get tested. In the producer's words, an A/B test "doubles that or more".
• Credits that expire. Kling's membership credits last one month. Google's Flow plans say monthly credits do not roll over. Credits you don't spend are part of the price.
• "Failed" isn't the same as "bad". Refund rules cover jobs that error out. None we checked refund a take that finished but came out wrong, and that is where most of the money goes.
• Content filters. In an Everypixel editorial test, Seedance 2.5's filter blocked 3 of 15 clips. Every block means another try.
• Music for ads. A personal music plan doesn't cover paid ads. Budget for the business tier.
• Your hours. Hands-on time runs from about 30 minutes on Omni to two or three hours on Kling 4.0, and most of it goes on reviewing takes and fixing the joins between clips, not on waiting for renders.

For how to spot the tells that make a take unusable, see our guide on how to make AI video not look AI generated. For why benchmark leaders still drift on products, see the best AI video model for UGC.

Where the Roilo Content Engine lands

The Roilo Content Engine has a mode built for this exact job. Creator mode makes a 30-second product or service ad at 1080p, with 9 to 12 scenes, from your product photos. The script, voiceover, captions and an actor are part of the order.

It costs 2,380 credits. That is US$23.80 on the smallest credit pack and about US$20 on the largest. The price shows before you generate.

The difference from the table above is who pays for the retakes. Roilo checks every scene against your product photos and retakes scenes that drift before you see the video. Those retakes are not on your bill, and if a video fails, you are not charged.

So there is no worse-day column. The 30-second ad costs the same on a bad day as on a good one.

Put fairly:

• Gemini Omni is cheaper on a typical day: about $19 against $23.80. That holds if you are happy with upscaled 1080p, two 15-second clips and doing the script, voice, captions and edit yourself.
• On a good day, Kling 4.0 ($27) and Seedance 2.0 ($29) come close to Roilo's price.
• On a typical day, Seedance 2.0 and Kling 4.0 cost about twice as much for a usable ad, and Seedance 2.5 nearly four times as much.
• Every raw-model row adds the hours in the last column.

Current prices are on the pricing page.

When a raw model is the better buy

A video model on its own is the right tool more often than a cost table suggests:

• You need one hero shot or some B-roll, not a finished ad.
• You want full creative control, and the model's look is the point of the piece.
• You enjoy prompting, and the hours are part of the fun.
• You are testing ideas. Omni at 360p costs about 2 cents a second, which makes it a cheap sketchpad.
• You need something longer than 30 seconds, or a format Creator mode doesn't make.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an AI video ad cost?

A usable 30-second AI video ad costs about $19 to $87 to make yourself at 1080p in November 2026, depending on the model. That includes discarded takes, start images and finishing tools. At each provider's own API price, Seedance 2.5 comes to about $87, Seedance 2.0 to $45, Kling 4.0 to $49 and Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash to $19. The Roilo Content Engine's Creator mode charges one fixed price: US$23.80 for a 30-second 1080p ad.

How much does Seedance 2.5 cost per video?

Seedance 2.5's API pricing is $0.231 a second at 720p and $0.569 at 1080p on ByteDance's BytePlus API, so one clean 30-second take is $17.06 at 1080p. At the 4 to 5 takes per usable clip that producers report, a final, usable 30-second video costs about $87 at 1080p and $39 at 720p.

How much does Kling AI cost per video?

Kling 4.0's API pricing is about $0.157 a second at 720p and $0.235 at 1080p, so one clean 30-second take is $7.05 at 1080p. Users report 5 to 7 tries per usable clip, which puts a final, usable 30-second video at about $49 at 1080p and $34 at 720p.

How many tries does it take to get a usable AI video clip?

Producers making client ads on Seedance 2.5 report 4 to 5 takes per usable clip, and some users report 10 to 15 on hard shots. Google Gemini's summary of user reports puts Seedance 2.0 at 3 to 4 and Kling 4.0 at 5 to 7. Three published Gemini Omni stories range from one try to about eight.

What is the cheapest AI video model for ads right now?

Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash. Its pricing on the Gemini API is about $0.07 a second at 720p and $0.10 at upscaled 1080p. A usable 30-second ad costs about $14 at 720p and $19 at 1080p.

How much do AI UGC ads cost compared with a human UGC creator?

Most human UGC creators charge $150 to $300 per video in 2026, and more with usage rights for paid ads. Making a usable 30-second AI UGC ad yourself costs about $19 to $87 at 1080p, plus one to three hours of your time. Roilo's Creator mode is US$23.80.

Do AI video platforms refund bad generations?

Some refund generations that fail with an error. Kling's app is one. None we checked refund a take that finished but came out wrong, and those are most of the cost.

Is Seedance 2.5 worth it for product ads?

It is if you need its motion and acting and can carry about $87 per usable 30-second 1080p ad. Its draft mode can bring that closer to $38. For most product ads, Seedance 2.0 and Kling 4.0 land a usable ad for about half the money, and Gemini Omni for about a fifth.

The number to budget with

Before you pick a model, multiply its per-second price by the seconds you need and by the takes you will really use. Four or five is a fair start. Add a dollar for start images and a few for finishing.

That figure is your budget. The price on the rate card is only the cost of trying once.