RunwayML

Turn text or images into short videos, edit in your browser

Freemium Beginner-friendly Web · API

About

Generate short clips from text or images and refine them with browser-based editing tools. Used by marketers and creators to mock up concepts, enhance UGC, and build ad-ready variants without a desktop NLE. Credit-based pricing ties clip length to model choice, with access to third‑party models and storage that scales by tier.

Editor's Take

Worth trying if you need quick browser-based prototypes or to clean up UGC before paid social; best suited for teams who can budget credit usage and accept some variability in AI‑generated outputs.

Key Features

Type a prompt or upload an image → generate a short video clip with Gen‑4/Gen‑4.5/Gen‑3 models
Start on Free (125 credits) → ~25s of Gen‑4 Turbo or Gen‑3 Alpha Turbo; no Gen‑4 Video
Standard (625 credits/mo) → ~25s Gen‑4.5, 52s Gen‑4, 125s Gen‑4 Turbo, or 78 Gen‑4/Gen‑3 Alpha Turbo images
Pro (2250 credits/mo) → ~90s Gen‑4.5, 187s Gen‑4, 450s Gen‑4 Turbo, or 281 Gen‑4/Gen‑3 Alpha Turbo images
Upgrade tiers → upscale resolution, remove watermarks, run Workflows, access third‑party video/image models, and create custom voices for Lip Sync and TTS

Use Cases

A performance marketer turning product stills into short hooks and cleaning up UGC for paid social
A video editor rapidly prototyping multiple style variants of a scene before moving to a full NLE
A social content lead generating quick concept tests and exporting selects for creator handoff

Try It Like This

1
Make a 10s product hook from text
Access Runway from your browser → enter a short scene prompt and select Gen‑4 Turbo (expect ~10–30s render for a 10s 1080p clip) → tweak style or replace frames in the editor, export MP4 for social.
2
Animate a brand still into a 6s clip
Upload a product image → choose image-to-video with Gen‑4/Gen‑3 Alpha Turbo and set clip length to 6s (small clips render in under 2 minutes for Turbo on Pro tiers) → add motion presets and export for Instagram Stories.
3
Improve shaky UGC for an ad
Upload raw UGC video → use Runway’s AI edit tools to stabilize, color-grade, and remove unwanted objects → render the corrected clip (render time depends on clip length; short fixes usually complete within minutes) and export as ad-ready MP4.
4
Prototype three style variants
Start a text-to-video draft → generate three short variants using different Gen‑4.5/Gen‑4 models (each variant consumes credits; Free tier gives ~25s of Gen‑4 Turbo equivalent) → compare outputs in the browser editor and export selected takes for a downstream NLE.
5
Create lip-synced TTS for a short spot
Compose TTS or upload voice file → use Runway voice tools to create a custom voice and enable lip sync for a character clip (feature requires Pro/upgrade tiers) → render the clip and export with separate audio track for final editing.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Browser-based workflow: generate and edit clips entirely in the browser without a desktop NLE.
Tiered credit system maps directly to usable video seconds (Free ≈25s Gen‑4 Turbo; Pro up to ~450s Gen‑4 Turbo), making output limits predictable.
Supports multiple input types and AI models: text-to-video, image-to-video, video editing, and access to Gen‑4/Gen‑4.5/Gen‑3 models plus third‑party models on higher tiers.

Cons

Output reliability varies: user reports describe generated videos often not matching prompts and producing unusable results.
Credit-based pricing can feel expensive for frequent generation; perceived value depends heavily on how many seconds of output you need.
Key features (higher resolution, watermark removal, Workflows, custom voices, third‑party models) require upgrades to paid tiers.

Getting Started

1 Sign up at runwayml.com and pick the Free, Standard, Pro, or Unlimited plan.
2 Open Text-to-Video or Image-to-Video, enter a prompt or upload an image, and choose a model.
3 Render a clip (up to ~25s on Free with Gen-4 Turbo) and save it to your 5GB library.

Pricing

Plan	Price	Includes
Free	$0	125 credits; 5GB asset storage; No Gen-4 Video; 3 video editor projects
Standard	$12 per user per month	625 credits monthly; 100GB asset storage; access to all Apps; ability to run Workflows; access to all third party video and image models; no rate restrictions; automatic credits refresh
Pro	$28 per user per month	2250 credits monthly; 500GB asset storage; Create Custom Voices for Lip Sync and Text to Speech; unlimited video editor projects
Unlimited	$76 per user per month	2250 credits monthly; unlimited generations; Explore Mode; unlimited video generations; unlimited asset usage