Big-studio visuals are finally within reach, but the price math behind AI video still feels murky.
We sifted through token charts, credit tables, and user forums to see whether Leonardo.ai’s Veo 3 access saves you money—or simply shifts the bill.
Over the next few minutes, we’ll unpack seven clear-cut cost truths, compare Leonardo to Google’s direct plans and pure DIY ro utes, and finish with a blunt verdict on when each path makes financial sense.
Grab your favorite prompt idea—we’re talking real dollars, not hype.
1. The base subscription cost
Before you press your first prompt, you need a seat at the table.
Leonardo keeps that cover charge modest. The Apprentice plan costs about $12 per month and unlocks every video tool, including Veo 3. Free users can browse the interface, but the “Generate” button remains grayed out for video. Google’s entry ticket is higher: the Gemini Pro plan sits at $19.99 per month and still stamps a watermark on every clip.
Why talk about watermarks so early? Because they send many creators back to Leonardo, where no paid tier brands your footage.
There is a second, quieter fee: credits. Leonardo bundles 8,500 tokens with the Apprentice plan. Each standard Veo 3 clip uses 2,500 tokens (2,000 in Fast mode), so you get roughly three full-quality videos before you need a top-up. Google hides a similar credit pool behind its subscription, but it drains just as fast and provides fewer minutes at comparable quality.
Bottom line: for the price of a streaming service, you gain pro-level video access and a handful of genuine test runs. That blend of low entry cost and immediate creative freedom is why many creators start, and often stay, with Leonardo, according to Leonardo’s Veo 3 pricing guide.
Leonardo Veo 3 Official Pricing Guide Screenshot
2. How much does each clip cost?
Sticker prices tell only half the story. What matters is the cash that leaves your wallet every time you press “Generate.”
Leonardo’s math is straightforward. Each standard Veo 3 run uses 2,500 tokens—the fixed rate Leonardo publishes alongside upgrades like native audio generation and stronger prompt adherence. On the Apprentice plan that equals roughly $3.50 for an eight-second HD clip. Move up to the Artisan or Maestro tiers, and the same clip falls to $3.00 and $2.50, because tokens get cheaper in bulk.
Google flips the script. Its $249 Ultra tier hands you 12,500 credits. A top-quality eight-second render costs about 100 credits, so you pay $2.00 if you spend the entire pool. Use only a handful of clips and your effective cost balloons.
Google Veo Ultra Pricing and Credit Pool Screenshot
Usage-based services seem tempting on paper. Fal.AI charges $0.0425 per second, landing near $1.28 for a 30-second montage. OpenAI’s Sora beta undercuts everyone at a rumored $0.75 per 30 seconds, though access is still limited.
Here’s the cost picture at a glance:
Visual comparison of AI video generator pricing shows how Leonardo, Google Veo Ultra, Fal.AI, and OpenAI Sora differ in per-clip costs
| Platform | Cost per 8-sec clip | Cost per 30-sec video |
| Leonardo.ai (Artisan) | ≈ $3.00 | ≈ $12 |
| Google Veo Ultra | ≈ $2.00* | ≈ $8 |
| Fal.AI API | ≈ $0.34 | ≈ $1.28 |
| OpenAI Sora (beta) | ≈ $0.25 | ≈ $0.75 |
*Requires using most of the 12,500-credit pool to reach this rate.
Independent tests support the spread. According to PropelRC, Leonardo measured at $1.50 per 60 seconds, Google Ultra at $8.30, and Fal.AI at $2.55, showing a clear cost gap in real-world use.
Takeaway? Leonardo is cheaper than Google for the same visual fidelity and far easier than coding against a raw API. You pay a modest premium over pay-as-you-go services, yet you avoid engineering overhead and work inside a friendly interface. For most creators, that trade feels fair.
3. Best Leonardo.ai competitors for AI video
If you’re shopping beyond Veo 3 access, these tools compete directly with Leonardo on workflow, price structure, and output style.
1) Runway — best for “all-in-one” AI video + editing workflows
Runway’s pricing is credit-based and starts at $12/user/month (Standard), with higher tiers like $28 (Pro) and $76 (Unlimited) billed annually; the page also lists what credits roughly translate to in seconds.
Pick Runway if: you want generation + editing + toolchain in one dashboard and don’t mind credit math.
2) Luma Dream Machine — best for polished visuals and 4K options
Luma’s pricing page shows Lite at $7.99/month, Plus at $23.99/month (no watermark + commercial use), and Unlimited at $75.99/month, with a detailed “cost per video generation” credit table and up to 10s generation duration depending on mode/tier.
Pick Luma if: you care about high-end visuals, clearer “credits per output,” and 4K up-res paths.
3) Pika — best for fast, social-friendly templates and effects
Pika lists plans like Basic $8/month, Standard $28/month, Pro $76/month (shown as billed yearly on the pricing page), plus detailed credit costs by feature and model.
Pick Pika if: you want memeable, rapid iteration and a big effects/template ecosystem.
4) Kaiber — best for music-video style / motion visuals
Kaiber’s pricing page shows a Creator plan at $29/month and Pro at $149/month, both credit-based (with higher-tier “Visionary” as contact sales).
Pick Kaiber if: you’re making stylized motion content and want a canvas/timeline-driven workflow.
4. The hidden costs you feel only after a few late-night retries
Tokens and credits tell one story; real-world projects tell another.
Every creative pass consumes currency, even the throw-aways. Seasoned users budget for this “retry tax.” Community threads estimate two to four drafts per keeper, so that $3 clip can swell to $9 before you are happy. Google, Leonardo, and raw APIs all charge full freight for those false starts; refunds are rare. Veo3.uk calls this the quality-control overhead: polishing a single scene often means burning three extra runs you never publish.
Hidden costs like retries, expiring credits, and length caps can quietly triple the real price of an AI video clip
Leonardo softens the blow with a Fast mode that trims the toll to 2,000 tokens and spits out previews in half the time. You can iterate cheaply, lock in your framing, then switch to full fidelity for the hero take. It is the closest thing to a sandbox and saves real money when deadlines loom.
Expiration rules matter too. Google wipes unused credits at the end of each billing cycle, so half-used pools vanish into the cloud. Leonardo rolls leftover tokens forward on paid plans, up to three months’ worth. That cushion means experiments this month can fuel finals next month, stretching every dollar.
Length caps hide another fee. Google Ultra can push a single render to twenty seconds, while Leonardo tops out at eight. Need fifteen seconds? On Leonardo you stitch two clips and pay twice. For quick social hits that is fine; for a cinematic opener, Google’s longer runway might justify its premium.
Add storage, editing, and upscaling, and the spreadsheet grows. None of these extras break the bank individually, yet together they decide whether your “cheap” AI video feels like a bargain or a budget buster. Keep them in view and your final cost stays predictable, not a surprise after the fact.
5. Which Leonardo plan stretches your dollar the farthest?
Picking the right tier is less about vanity labels and more about cost per finished second.
Leonardo’s Apprentice, Artisan, and Maestro tiers balance monthly cost, tokens, and per-clip pricing for different creator volumes
Free plan is a playground for still images. It grants 150 daily tokens yet blocks Veo entirely, so we can skip it for video work.
Apprentice at roughly $12 unlocks Veo 3 plus 8,500 tokens each month. That bankroll funds three standard clips and leaves pocket change for images. If you want one short video a week, this tier covers you.
Artisan for $30 stacks 25,000 tokens, good for ten polished clips or a mix of video drafts and image assets. Because tokens get cheaper in bulk, your per-clip cost drops to about three dollars, a sweet spot for hustling marketers.
Maestro at $60 provides 60,000 tokens and six concurrent render slots, enough for roughly two dozen videos every month. Agencies appreciate the headroom and the rollover cap that lets unused tokens pile up for busy seasons.
| Leonardo tier | Monthly cost | Tokens | Veo videos (8 s) | Cost per clip |
| Apprentice | $12 | 8,500 | 3 | ≈ $3.50 |
| Artisan | $30 | 25,000 | 10 | ≈ $3.00 |
| Maestro | $60 | 60,000 | 24 | ≈ $2.50 |
All paid tiers roll leftover tokens forward, so nothing expires while your subscription stays active.
Rule of thumb: choose Artisan if video is a weekly habit, move to Maestro when daily output becomes the norm, and drop back in quiet quarters without forfeiting saved tokens. The pricing stays flexible and predictable at every stage.k
6. Leonardo vs DIY: real-life scenarios
Scenario 1 – the casual creator (five short videos a month)
Three real-world scenarios show when Leonardo, Google Ultra, or DIY APIs make the most financial sense for AI video
You post a bite-sized promo every Friday and want a tool that stays painless on both budget and brainpower.
With Leonardo, one month on the Apprentice plan plus a $5 token top-up lands near $17 total. That bankroll covers five standard clips after a handful of Fast-mode drafts, putting your effective cost at about $3.40 per finished video. You work inside a friendly browser UI, no code, no watermark, and tokens roll forward if life gets busy.
Try the official Google route and you face a fork. The $20 Pro tier leaves a watermark, cuts quality, and drains its small credit pool. Jump to the $249 Ultra tier for clean output and each of those same five clips suddenly averages just under $50 apiece, painful unless you publish at studio volume.
Could an API like Fal.AI trim dollars? Yes—roughly $1.70 for forty seconds of video. But you pay with time: prompt scripts, storage management, and zero built-in community. For most weekend creators, Leonardo feels like the balanced choice—affordable enough to test ideas, rich enough to look professional.
Scenario 2 – the social media agency (twenty-plus videos a month)
Your calendar is stacked with launches, A/B tests, and evergreen reels for several clients. Volume is king, yet margins still matter.
On Leonardo, the sweet spot is the $60 top tier. Sixty-thousand tokens translate to twenty-four full-quality clips. Add a few Fast-mode drafts and you will likely top up once, adding another $10 or so. End-of-month bill: about $70 for roughly thirty deliverables, or $2.50 to $3.00 per published video.
Google’s Ultra plan looks generous on paper—125 eight-second clips for $249—yet the cost per asset only drops below Leonardo if you pump out more than eighty clips a month. Most boutique agencies never hit that mark, so Ultra leaves a lot of prepaid credit unused.
Pay-as-you-go APIs can beat Leonardo’s unit price, but they create a new problem: workflow drag. Juggling prompts, version control,and file storage outside a creative dashboard adds manual hours your clients will not pay for. When you bill time as well as tokens, Leonardo’s integrated workspace keeps the true cost lowest.
Scenario 3 – the high-stakes ad launch (one flawless hero video)
Sometimes you need a single knockout clip: a product teaser for a paid campaign or a conference opener that plays on a 4K screen. Quality outranks quantity.
Leonardo still works if 1080p and eight-second shots fit the brief. Spend one month on the Artisan plan for $30, funnel most of the 25,000 tokens into guided drafts, then invest a final 2,500-token render once framing and motion feel perfect. Your all-in spend stays under $30, and you own the result outright.
If the project demands a continuous twenty-second sweep in native 4K, Google Ultra is the only turnkey path right now. The entrance fee is steep—$249 for the month—yet that single subscription covers limitless experimentation within your credit pool and removes watermarks. Agencies with large budgets accept the price to avoid stitching shorter clips or upscaling in post.
In short, Leonardo wins most hero-video briefs because common marketing channels cap at 1080p. The rare 4K use case remains Google territory—for now.