Google Flow pricing (2027): plans, credits & video costs

Google Flow gives eligible accounts 50 daily credits and adds monthly credits on paid plans. Omni Flash 1.2 costs 8 credits for an eight-second 360p generation or edit, or 24 at 720p. Veo 3.1 Lite costs 10 credits on most accounts and 5 on Ultra. Check the selected model, output count and credit quote before generating.

This guide separates daily credits from paid allowances, then walks through the cost of a four-shot video. You can compare the plan with your intended workload instead of guessing how many finished clips a credit balance represents. Start with the account and generation route you can actually use, then work through the budget.

What is Google Flow?

Flow is Google's AI creative studio for images and video. It combines Veo 3.1, Nano Banana, Gemini Omni and project tools in one workspace. Prices, eligibility, taxes and model access vary by country and account, so confirm the live plan and credit estimate before generating.

Flow is an application, not a single video model. Veo generates video; Nano Banana handles image generation and editing; Gemini Omni supports multimodal video creation and editing. Flow adds project assets, scene assembly and tools around those capabilities.

Google introduced Flow on May 20, 2025. Later updates expanded the creative studio. The original launch should not be confused with a 2026 feature release. Google’s May 2026 announcement also describes Flow Music, a related music creation tool.

Google Flow pricing at a glance

Google’s credit guide lists 50 daily Flow credits; account eligibility and availability still matter. Paid plans add monthly allowances. Google documents basic generation and editing without a subscription. Some features, including Omni Extend and upscaling, require an eligible paid plan. Ultra 20x has a zero-credit, lower-priority Veo Lite option for eligible subscribers and family plan managers.

The table retains the US Flow plan display checked September 13, 2026. The credit guide was rechecked October 23, alongside the getting-started guide. Treat the older dollar amounts as a dated reference, not a current personalized quote; regional eligibility, promotions and taxes can differ. Google One’s plan page and the offer displayed in your intended account are the places to recheck the current price. The dated table is not a promise of today’s price or eligibility.

Source: Google Flow Help, captured October 19, 2026. This is Google’s published allowance list, not a checkout quote. Monthly subscription credits are additional to the daily allowance; consult Google’s live credit guide for changes.

How many Flow credits does one video cost?

Google charges per generation. One request can create multiple outputs, so check the output count and the total before generating. The rates below are from Google’s Flow credit guide, checked November 9, 2026.

• Veo 3.1 Lite at 720p: 10 credits per 4-, 6- or 8-second generation for most accounts, or 5 credits for Ultra subscribers.
• Omni Flash 1.2 at 360p: 1 credit per second for generation or editing through 10 seconds. Eligible paid accounts can go up to 15 seconds, at 2 credits per second after the first 10.
• Omni Flash 1.2 at 720p: 3 credits per second for generation or editing through 10 seconds. Eligible paid accounts can go up to 15 seconds, at 6 credits per second after the first 10.
• Omni Extend adds 3 to 10 seconds. Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers pay 1 credit per added second at 360p or 3 at 720p.
• Veo 3.1 Fast, Veo 3.1 Quality and Omni Flash 1.1 are scheduled to retire from Flow on December 5, 2026. Google still lists separate rates for these models during the transition.

With 50 credits and no other spending, most accounts can budget five Veo 3.1 Lite clips, six eight-second Omni Flash 1.2 clips at 360p, or two at 720p. That buys attempts. Reserve credits for revisions and confirm the actual quote in Flow.

Unused daily credits do not roll over. Monthly subscription credits refresh at the start of the billing cycle, and unused monthly credits do not roll over either. For example (illustrative), 200 unused Pro subscription credits do not become 1,200 subscription credits when the next 1,000-credit monthly allowance arrives; keep daily and purchased credits separate. Confirm the estimate shown before generating. Model, duration, resolution, output count, extensions, editing and upscaling all affect the real cost per usable video.

Does Ultra offer free Flow generations?

Google’s credit guide limits lower-priority Veo 3.1 Lite at zero credits to Ultra 20x subscribers and the family plan manager on that plan; other Ultra subscribers, Ultra family members and non-Ultra accounts are excluded. This is a specific mode, not a promise that every Ultra generation is free. Google’s getting-started guide says zero-credit models can have rate limits. A deadline-sensitive job should include an alternative route if the mode is slow or unavailable.

Worked example: budget a four-shot video

This is a planning example, not a measured test or an expected acceptance rate. Suppose the edit needs four approved shots and you budget three candidates for each shot: 4 × 3 = 12 generations. Decide in advance what makes a shot acceptable—subject consistency, required action, usable framing and any text or audio—and count every candidate, not only the ones you keep.

Generation-only budget: 12 eight-second Omni Flash 1.2 attempts cost 96 credits at 360p or 288 at 720p. For the same number of eight-second Veo 3.1 Lite attempts at 720p, budget 120 credits on most accounts or 60 on Ultra. These examples assume one output per attempt.

If two of the 720p Omni shots need one eight-second edit each, add 48 credits. On Ultra, four 4K upscales of clips that are eight seconds long add 200 more credits. That makes the 720p Omni example 336 credits before upscaling, or 536 with those four 4K upscales. Additional outputs and retries raise the total.

Use those totals to check available balance and required features, then replace the assumed three candidates with your own pilot results. A shorter or cleaner project can cost less; difficult shots can require more attempts. Keep contingency separate from your production estimate so a client revision does not unexpectedly consume the rest of the allowance.

When is the 360p draft option useful?

The Flow credit guide lists 360p generation and editing on Omni Flash 1.2 at 1 credit per second through 10 seconds. That makes an eight-second draft 8 credits at 360p and 24 at 720p.

In the four-shot budget, 12 eight-second drafts at 360p use 96 credits. At 720p, the same attempts use 288. Draft at 360p when you are judging framing or timing. Review a 720p version when you need to judge fine details.

Google’s model guide lists upscaling for Plus, Pro and Ultra. Google’s credit guide lists 720p or 1080p upscaling at zero credits for Omni Flash 1.2 clips through 10 seconds, then 1 credit per extra second. Ultra 4K upscaling starts at 50 credits for clips through 10 seconds. Review the output before committing to a delivery format.

Daily credits are a schedule constraint, not a saved monthly bank

Do not add tomorrow’s allowance to today’s available balance. A multi-day draft schedule may use future refreshes, but a same-day delivery cannot spend credits that have not arrived. Write the generation date next to each shot and compare the planned burn with the balance shown in the account. Preserve enough capacity for final corrections before committing to the delivery date.

Can you buy extra Flow credits?

Google One’s purchase instructions explicitly allow Pro and Ultra purchases, exclude Plus and Japan, and restrict purchases to the family plan manager. The Flow credit guide uses broader wording that includes Plus. Do not rely on a Plus top-up until the account actually offers it. Purchased-credit expiry is set at purchase; auto-reload can create additional charges.

Billing route is another eligibility check. Google One’s AI-credit guide says Google One subscriptions through a third party, Pixel Pass or Apple billing are not eligible to purchase AI credits. If you subscribed that way, do not plan a client deadline around buying an extra pack; check your account’s available options before committing.

Before buying, compare three choices against the same project budget: spread drafts across available refreshes, upgrade for a required feature or allowance, or purchase an eligible top-up. A larger subscription is useful only if the extra access or usable capacity solves the job. Check both the checkout total and the expiry conditions, and distinguish a one-time purchase from automatic replenishment.

Record the cost of the accepted result

Keep a small production sheet with shot name, model and mode, duration, output count, charged credits, correction work and accepted status. If one request produces two candidates, enter two candidates. After editing, divide total charged credits by the number of approved shots, then record time spent assembling and correcting them separately. This gives your next budget a defensible basis without pretending that a public allowance predicts output quality.

If free export matters more than Flow's model set, compare the current free AI video generators without watermarks.

Flow subscription credits are different from API billing

A Flow subscription pays for usage inside the consumer application. It is not a general-purpose Gemini or Vertex AI API credit balance. Developers should compare the exact model identifier, resolution and audio setting on the Gemini API pricing page. Do not apply a Flow credit conversion to an API quote.

Check account eligibility before buying a plan

Google’s current getting-started guide requires verified age of at least 18 and a supported region. It describes basic generation and editing without an AI subscription. Certain features require Plus, Pro or Ultra. Check access in the account that will own the project before buying a plan.

The same guide lists qualifying Workspace Business, Enterprise and Education plans with Flow access at no extra charge and 50 daily credits. Check your work account’s entitlement before buying a separate personal subscription. Use the account that will own the project; verify its displayed allowance, model access and administrator restrictions first.

For a client deadline, establish access before promising a delivery date: open Flow with the intended account, check the supported region and the model you need, then confirm the settings offered to that account. A subscription advertised in your country does not by itself prove the full Flow workflow is available there.

How to make your first video in Flow

1. Open Google Flow and sign in with an eligible Google Account.
2. Start a project and choose the input mode available to your account: text, frames or other references.
3. Describe one shot, including the subject, action, setting and camera movement.
4. Check the selected model and credit estimate, then generate a short draft.
5. Review movement, faces, text and audio before extending the shot or assembling a sequence.

Example prompt to adapt: “A red ceramic mug on a wooden desk beside a window. Steam rises slowly. The camera makes a gentle push-in. Soft morning light, no text.” This is a suggested prompt, not a benchmark result.

Using Veo specifically? Follow the Veo 3.1 first-clip workflow for model selection, an example prompt and a concrete credit budget.

Which Flow workflow should you use?

A model’s availability does not mean every feature works with it. Use the modes shown for the selected model instead of assuming that all references, aspect ratios and durations are interchangeable.

Check the feature as well as the model

The supported-feature guide lists Ingredients/References for Veo 3.1 Lite and Fast at eight seconds, but not for Quality. An expensive mode is therefore not automatically the right mode for a character or product-reference job.

Google retired Veo Extend in Flow on November 5, 2026. To extend a clip in Flow, use Omni Flash 1.2 on Plus, Pro or Ultra and confirm the clip is accepted before budgeting the extension. Veo 3.1 Lite still supports short generations, including reference inputs in eligible modes.

Google lists Omni Flash 1.2 generation and editing up to 10 seconds without a subscription or up to 15 seconds with Plus, Pro or Ultra. If you need a longer scene, budget supported extensions or assemble shorter shots.

When is an alternative useful?

Choose Flow when you want its available Google models and project workspace. For a direct browser workflow, compare Magic Hour Image-to-Video or Text-to-Video. For existing footage, use the specific operation you need, such as face swap or lip sync. Our image-to-video guide compares the generation workflows and their limits.

Compare a permitted sample using the same brief and intended output format. Include retries, export restrictions and commercial terms in the decision. A larger credit balance alone does not establish lower cost or better output.

Google Flow or Magic Hour: the fastest decision

Magic Hour publishes this guide and offers separate image and video generation tools. Flow product, model, plan, and credit claims are based on the linked official Google sources; this is a documentation review rather than a controlled comparison with Magic Hour.

Choose Google Flow when Veo access, Scenebuilder, or Google’s filmmaking workspace is the main requirement. Choose Magic Hour when you want one browser workspace for generation plus follow-on tasks such as face swap, lip sync, talking photos, and other image, video, and audio tools.

The fair comparison is one finished shot, not one generation. Write a brief with subject, action, setting, camera movement, duration, orientation, and audio requirement. Generate the same shot, then record candidates used, credits or billed seconds, wait time, export resolution, watermark, and manual correction time.

Reject outputs that miss a required product detail, change the subject, break continuity, or create unusable audio. Divide total generation cost by accepted shots. This prevents a low per-run price from looking cheap when the workflow needs many retries.

If your starting point is a real image, test Magic Hour Image-to-Video. If the shot begins as text, test Text-to-Video. Keep Flow subscription credits separate from Gemini API billing.