Is Runway Free? 125 One-Time Credits, Plans From $12, and Runway Gen-4.5 Without a Subscription (November 2026)

Runway sells its app through monthly plans from $12 a month billed yearly (625 credits), gives new accounts 125 free credits once, and lets you buy extra credits that never expire, from 1,000 at a time. Gen-4.5 uses 12 credits a second. If you want neither a plan nor a credit pack, you can pay per clip on a platform that runs Gen-4.5 for you, at a price you see before you generate.

This guide covers Runway's plans and credits, what a Gen-4.5 clip costs there, Runway's developer API, paying per clip with no subscription, and which route fits which kind of maker.

A note on who wrote this: GenMagic is one of the routes compared here, and its prices come from its live catalog. Runway's plans were read on Runway's pricing page on November 9, 2026. Runway's API prices come from our Runway API guide, which cites Runway's developer documentation.

Table of contents

1. The short answer
2. Runway's plans and credits
3. What a Gen-4.5 clip costs in Runway's app
4. Runway's developer API
5. Paying per clip, with no subscription
6. Which route to pick
7. Questions

The short answer

• Free: 125 credits once, which do not expire: about 10 seconds of Gen-4.5.
• Plans: Standard $12 a month billed yearly for 625 credits, Pro $28 for 2,250, Max $76 for 9,500; paying monthly costs more (the page shows $15, $35 and $95 struck through). Standard and Pro credits reset every cycle.
• Extra credits never expire, with a minimum of 1,000 per purchase. Runway's page does not say whether you need a plan to buy them.
• Runway's API charges $0.12 a second for Gen-4.5, from $10 of prepaid credits. It needs code.
• Per clip on GenMagic, Gen-4.5 costs $0.18 a second at 720p, with the price shown before you generate. Top-ups start at $5, and top-up credit never expires.

Runway's plans and credits

The page shows $15, $35 and $95 struck through beside the yearly prices, with "-20% off" for paying yearly. Extra credits "never expire", and "the minimum purchase is 1,000 credits"; Pro lists "Top-up credits anytime".

What a Gen-4.5 clip costs in Runway's app

Runway's FAQ states that "Gen-4.5 uses 12 credits per second of generated video", so a 5-second clip is 60 credits and a 10-second clip 120. On Standard, 625 credits make about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 a month; at $12 a month billed yearly, that is about $0.23 a second if you use every credit.

Runway's app also runs other makers' models, such as Kling 4.0 and Seedance 2.0, on the same credits.

Runway's developer API

Runway sells the same models to developers as Runway Dev: Gen-4.5 at $0.12 a second, Gen-4 Turbo at $0.05 and the Aleph 2.0 editor at $0.28, from prepaid credits at one cent each with a $10 minimum. It needs a project, an API key and code. Details and working requests: our Runway API guide.

Paying per clip, with no subscription

On GenMagic you make a Gen-4.5 clip in the studio and pay for that clip from a balance you top up once:

• The price before you generate, fixed by the length.
• Clips of 2 to 10 seconds, from a prompt or from a picture you upload as the first frame.
• Top-ups from $5, and top-up credit never expires. Nothing renews.
• $0.50 free when you verify your email.
• Runway beside Seedance, Veo, Kling, Wan and more on the same balance, and from n8n, Make, Zapier, Claude or ChatGPT and code.

What a Gen-4.5 clip costs on GenMagic today:

Every Runway model GenMagic runs: Runway without a subscription. The same question for other makers: AI video generators without a subscription.

Which route to pick

• You make Runway video every week: a Runway plan. A fully used allowance is usually the lowest price per second, and only Runway's app has its editing tools.
• You want a few Gen-4.5 clips for one project: Runway's free credits first, then pay per clip, or Runway's extra credits if 1,000 of them match what you need.
• You want to compare Gen-4.5 with other video models: pay per clip on one balance.
• You build workflows or apps: Runway's API, or one API key for every model.

Questions

Is Runway free? Runway gives new accounts 125 free credits once, which do not expire: about 10 seconds of Gen-4.5 at 12 credits a second. After that, Runway's plans start at $12 a month billed yearly. GenMagic gives $0.50 of free credit when you verify your email, about 2 seconds of Gen-4.5 at 720p.

Can I use Runway without a subscription? Yes, in three ways. New accounts get 125 free credits once; Runway sells extra credits that never expire, though its page does not say whether a plan is needed first; and per-clip platforms such as GenMagic charge each Gen-4.5 clip from a balance you top up, with no plan and no renewal.

How many credits does Gen-4.5 use? 12 credits a second in Runway's app, so 60 for a 5-second clip.

Do Runway credits roll over? Standard and Pro credits reset each billing cycle; Max rolls up to one month over; extra credits you buy never expire.