Luma AI vs Runway
Two text to video tools side by side: pricing, free plans, features and who each one suits.
Unranked in Text to video
The lab behind Dream Machine and the Ray video models, now selling Luma Agents, an AI creative workspace with Ray3.2, Uni-1 and models like Veo, Kling and Seedance
Best for: Agencies, brand teams and filmmakers who want Luma's own Ray models plus Veo, Kling and Seedance in one agent-driven workspace, with HDR and EXR output for real post-production.
#10 in Text to video
The AI video lab behind Gen-4.5 and Aleph, with a full creative suite for generating, editing and extending footage, plus Kling, Seedance and other models
Best for: Filmmakers, editors, agencies and brand teams who want frontier video models plus serious editing tools, and are willing to pay per second of footage.
Luma AI or Runway?
Both companies train their own video models and sell partner models in the same app, so the choice is about the workflow around the model. Runway is the better pick if you edit real footage or work inside Premiere Pro and After Effects. Luma is the better pick if you plan whole campaigns with an agent or hand frames to a colorist. If you only want a few clips a month, Runway is the cheaper way in.
What each one is built for
Runway is an editing suite first. Aleph 2.0 carries a change from one frame across a whole clip, and single-job apps handle relighting, object removal and backdrops. Its plugins put that inside your editor.
Luma is a planning and finishing tool. Its agent works on boards, picks models for you and turns a brief into many variants. Ray3.2 lets you pin up to 16 keyframes in one shot and can render 16-bit HDR with EXR frames. One gap: Ray3.2 makes silent clips from text and images, so sound comes from separate models.
What it costs at typical use
Say you need 10 five-second clips a month at 1080p on each tool’s own flagship model, paying monthly.
- Runway Standard, $15: Gen-4.5 costs 60 credits per 5 seconds, so 10 clips use 600 of 625 credits. That works out to about $1.44 a clip, with one spare clip and no rollover. The review does not state Gen-4.5’s native resolution, though Standard includes 4K upscaling.
- Luma Plus, $30: Ray3.2 at 1080p is 400 credits a clip, so 10 clips use 4,000 of 10,000. That is $1.20 a clip, and you still have room for 15 more at 1080p or 60 at 720p.
So Runway costs half as much for exactly this job. Luma is cheaper per clip once you use most of the allowance. Neither plan rolls credits over. Runway’s free plan gives you about two Gen-4.5 clips once. Luma offers a free trial but does not say how much it includes.
Which to pick
- Pick Runway if you fix and extend existing footage, cut in Premiere Pro, After Effects or Resolve, or want a $15 starting point. See the Runway review.
- Pick Luma if you produce campaign variants in bulk, need precise keyframe control, or deliver HDR and EXR into a grading or VFX pipeline. See the Luma review.
Specs side by side
| Luma AI | Runway | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $25/mo | From $12/mo |
| Free tier | ||
| Pricing | Free trial (amount not stated). Paid plans from $25/mo billed yearly ($30 monthly), all with commercial use. | Free plan with 125 one-time credits. Paid plans from $12/mo billed yearly ($15 monthly). |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, API | Web, iOS, Android, API |
| Best for | Agencies, brand teams and filmmakers who want Luma's own Ray models plus Veo, Kling and Seedance in one agent-driven workspace, with HDR and EXR output for real post-production. | Filmmakers, editors, agencies and brand teams who want frontier video models plus serious editing tools, and are willing to pay per second of footage. |
| Last checked | 2026-10-22 | 2026-10-21 |
Pricing
Luma AI
Free trial (amount not stated). Paid plans from $25/mo billed yearly ($30 monthly), all with commercial use.
- Plus$25/mo yearly · $30 monthly
- Pro$75/mo yearly · $90 monthly
- Ultra$250/mo yearly · $300 monthly
- TeamContact sales
- EnterpriseContact sales
Runway
Free plan with 125 one-time credits. Paid plans from $12/mo billed yearly ($15 monthly).
- FreeFree
- Standard$12/mo yearly · $15 monthly
- Pro$28/mo yearly · $35 monthly
- Max$76/mo yearly · $95 monthly
- Team$55/seat/mo yearly · $69 monthly
- EnterpriseCustom
Key features
Luma AI
- Ray3.2, Luma's own video model, with text-to-video, image-to-video, Modify Video and Reframe in one model
- Multi-Keyframe control with up to 16 keyframes inside one clip
- Modify Video for restyling existing footage up to 20 seconds at 1080p while keeping the performance
- Native 16-bit HDR generation and EXR export for grading and compositing
- Luma Agents, which pick models and produce images, video, audio and text from a brief
- Brainstorm Mode for planning and Create Mode for generating
- Infinite boards for arranging, comparing and annotating assets
- Third-party models including Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.5, MiniMax H3, Nano Banana and GPT Image
- Uni-1, Luma's image model, plus ElevenLabs voice, music and sound effects
- Lip sync and video localization
- Luma Skills for saving a workflow and running it again
- Ray3.2 and Uni-1.1 APIs
Runway
- Gen-4.5, Runway's own text-to-video and image-to-video model
- Aleph 2.0 and Edit Studio, which apply an edit made on one frame to the rest of the video
- Third-party models in the same app, including Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.0 and 2.5, Nano Banana Pro, Wan and FLUX
- Runway Agent for building end-to-end videos through conversation
- Apps for removing objects, relighting, changing backdrops or time of day, adding dialogue and upscaling
- Node-based Workflows that chain models and steps
- Act-Two and Add Performance for mapping your voice and expressions onto a character
- Plugins for Premiere Pro, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve
- Music, voice and sound effects generation
- Runway MCP, a ChatGPT plugin and a developer API
- iOS and Android apps
Strengths and weaknesses
Luma AI
- Builds its own frontier video models, not only resold ones
- Ray3.2's 16 keyframes give unusual control over a single shot
- HDR and 16-bit EXR output fit VFX and color pipelines
- Every model's credit cost is published, down to the second
- Commercial use on every paid plan
- Failed generations refund their credits
- Cheapest plan is $30 a month, and the free trial amount is not stated
- Ray3.2 text-to-video and image-to-video have no native audio
- Partner models are costly; Veo 3.1 with audio is 280 credits a second
- Monthly credits expire at the end of each billing cycle
- Two product lines (Luma Agents and legacy Dream Machine) make it unclear what you are buying
- The agent and board workflow is more than a casual creator needs
Runway
- Runs its own frontier models, not only resold ones
- Video editing tools go well beyond generation, from object removal to relighting
- Premiere Pro, After Effects and Resolve plugins fit real post-production
- Public per-model credit costs make budgeting predictable
- Every paid plan gets all video and image models and no watermark
- Team plan with pooled credits and frame-accurate comments
- Standard's 625 credits buy only about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 a month
- Free credits are one-time, roughly 10 seconds of Gen-4.5
- Credits do not roll over on Standard or Pro
- Pricing page labels yearly billing both "2 months free" and "20% off"; the actual saving is 20%
- Studio-grade output such as HDR and ProRes is Max-only
- The breadth of tools and models has a learning curve for casual creators
Try Luma AI
Free trial (amount not stated). Paid plans from $25/mo billed yearly ($30 monthly), all with commercial use.
Try Runway
Free plan with 125 one-time credits. Paid plans from $12/mo billed yearly ($15 monthly).