Runway ML free plan: video quality, 720p, credits & pricing

These limits were checked September 13, 2026 against Runway's Free-plan guide, resolution documentation and plan comparison. Model access changes frequently, so the account's current model selector remains authoritative. Subscription prices, credits consumed and the footage you keep are separate decisions; Runway's app and API also have separate billing.

Runway prices and included credits

The current individual Runway plans are:

Runway pricing page, captured September 25, 2026. Billing selection, currency and any promotion are shown in the screenshot; recheck the live page and checkout before buying. View official source

Annual prices are commitments, not monthly installments. Credits are still allocated monthly. Compare the total checkout amount, taxes and any promotion before paying for the year.

How many Gen-4.5 videos can you make?

Gen-4.5 requires Standard or higher. It generates two- to ten-second clips at 720p and costs twelve credits per second. A five-second attempt uses sixty credits; a ten-second attempt uses 120.

These are calculated whole-attempt limits from one month's allocation, assuming no other credit use. They are not counts of approved final clips. Images, edits, audio, retries and premium formats can reduce the available generation budget.

Example: five accepted shots for a product video

Suppose you need five five-second shots and budget two candidates per shot. Ten attempts at sixty credits each require 600 credits. That fits inside Standard's 625-credit monthly allocation, leaving twenty-five credits for other eligible tasks.

At monthly billing, the subscription payment is still $15. If you keep five clips, allocating that whole payment to the project gives $3 per accepted clip. This is a budget scenario; it does not establish that two attempts will be enough.

At three candidates per shot, the same brief needs fifteen attempts, or 900 credits. Standard's included balance no longer covers it. Compare the quoted top-up price with a larger plan, including any credits you would leave unused. Do not upgrade solely because a higher tier has a lower advertised price per credit.

Which plan should you choose?

Start with Standard for a small paid Gen-4.5 project that fits its allowance. Choose the model, write a short shot list and estimate complete attempts before subscribing. A plan should fit your actual month of work, rather than a label such as “professional creator.”

Consider Pro when the additional allowance or a required feature, such as its listed custom voice clone, solves a real constraint. Max becomes relevant when you expect to use substantially more credits or need its limited rollover and production-format features. Buying capacity you will not use does not lower your total cost.

For multiple people, consult Runway's plan-selection guide. Adding collaborators requires Team or higher. Do not budget a team from an older article's assumed Standard or Pro user cap.

Check the exact model and export option in your account before paying. A platform-wide model list does not guarantee that every new release or premium format is available on the cheapest tier.

Runway Free video quality, watermarks and commercial use

Do not assume a Free-plan 1080p export. Runway’s general resolution guide lists 720p generation, and Free videos carry a watermark. Its current pricing card includes 4K upscaling on Standard, while the plan-selection guide highlights unlimited upscaling on Pro and higher. Those are different entitlements. Confirm your account’s actual upscale allowance and charge; a larger export is not native 4K generation.

The free allowance is a one-time trial balance, not 125 new credits each month. Because Gen-4.5 requires a paid plan, dividing the free balance by its credit rate does not establish a free Gen-4.5 offer.

Standard lists watermark removal. An upscale can increase output dimensions, but it does not turn a 720p generation into native 4K footage. Review both the downloaded file and any additional upscale allowance your project needs.

Check the export you need before subscribing

Open the intended model in your free account first. Runway’s Free-plan guide says an upgrade prompt can mean the model is excluded or the balance is too low. Confirm the model, output dimensions, watermark, required upscale and full credit quote. Then choose a paid plan against the actual deliverable—not the plan label or a platform-wide model list.

Budget the app format your editor needs

If your editor requires native ProRes or a PNG sequence, Runway’s output-format guide lists Max, legacy Unlimited and Enterprise. Select Output Format in Gen-4.5 Tool Mode before generating. Workflows and Agent return MP4. Aleph 2.0 supports these formats for full-video edits; edits limited with range handles return MP4. A higher plan does not remove those surface restrictions.

Gen-4.5’s model guide adds five credits per second for ProRes or PNG sequences. One five-second attempt therefore uses 5 × (12 + 5) = 85 credits, instead of the 60-credit base example; ten such attempts use 850 credits before other work. Runway cannot change an existing generation’s output format: its guide says to generate again with the new format selected. These are documented-rate calculations, not measured output-quality results. Format and plan scope checked October 10, 2026.

Runway's commercial-use guidance says it does not impose a non-commercial restriction on created content. That permission is separate from your rights to source footage, music, likenesses or other inputs.

Do Runway credits expire or roll over?

Standard and Pro monthly credits reset each billing cycle. Max allows up to one month of unused credits to carry forward. Separately purchased credits do not expire, and the app's published minimum top-up is 1,000 credits. Confirm its cash price in billing.

Runway's plan guide says paid plans can buy extra credits; Free cannot. Keep the included balance and purchased balance separate in your budget because their expiry rules differ.

What happened to Unlimited?

Unlimited is no longer sold to new subscribers. Runway’s transition notice extends eligible legacy accounts through November 30, 2026. Monthly subscribers move to Max at $95/month; annual subscribers have separate refund-or-migration options in November. Check your account’s notice before changing a legacy subscription. The plan-selection guide and transition notice use different rollout dates, so the current purchase options matter more than a disputed launch day.

Runway API pricing is separate

The Runway developer API charges credits purchased separately at $0.01 each. It is available through a developer account; Enterprise is not a blanket requirement. A consumer app subscription does not fund API usage.

These are different models and operations, not interchangeable quality levels. The numbers describe consumed API value before taxes, premium formats, extra input charges or other tasks. They do not imply that every account can make a cash purchase for exactly that amount.

The ten-attempt Gen-4.5 example above consumes 600 API credits, or $6 at the base rate. The app's $15 subscription and the API's $6 usage serve different workflows: the app includes its interface and tools; the API requires integration and separate operational work. Pick the workflow you need before comparing those amounts.

Professional output formats can add charges. For example, the API lists an additional five credits per second for ProRes or PNG sequences on supported models. A base-price estimate is incomplete if those exports are part of the brief.

Comparing Runway with Magic Hour

Magic Hour publishes this guide. If you are comparing platforms, use the same scene brief and required output, then count candidates and editing steps. Credit counts from different providers are not the same currency.

For a written scene, try Magic Hour Text-to-Video. For a product photo or approved character image, use Image-to-Video. If you already have footage to transform, the video-to-video comparison addresses a different buying question.

For a broader shortlist, our text-to-video guide compares input modes, free limits, output restrictions and a defined job budget. Choose the tool that produces a usable result for your project before committing to a larger recurring bill.

For a broader decision, compare consumer plans in the AI video generator pricing guide and exact developer billing units in the AI video pricing index.