Quick Answer: On real production cost, OpenAI Sora 2 ($0.10/sec) is dramatically cheaper than both Google Veo 3.1 ($0.40/sec) and Runway Gen-4.5 ($0.50/sec) — one quarter and one fifth respectively. Sora 2 Pro ($0.15/sec) still undercuts Veo 3.1 by more than half. For most product and marketing video, Sora 2 offers the best capability-per-dollar of the three; Runway and Veo earn their premium only on flagship hero content.
The three flagship models, priced honestly
Most comparisons of these three argue about output aesthetics. The more decision-relevant fact is that they are not priced anywhere near each other. These are the real per-second inference costs we pay to run them in production:
| Model | $/second | 5-sec clip | 10-sec clip | vs Sora 2 |
|---|
| OpenAI Sora 2 | $0.100 | $0.50 | $1.00 | baseline | | OpenAI Sora 2 Pro | $0.150 | $0.75 | $1.50 | 1.5x | | Google Veo 3.1 Fast | $0.200 | $1.00 | $2.00 | 2x | | Google Veo 3.1 | $0.400 | $2.00 | $4.00 | 4x | | Runway Gen-4 Turbo | $0.500 | $2.50 | $5.00 | 5x | | Runway Gen-4.5 | $0.500 | $2.50 | $5.00 | 5x |
Runway Gen-4.5 costs 5x what Sora 2 costs. That is the single most important number in this comparison, and it is the one most articles omit because they quote consumer subscription tiers rather than per-generation cost.
What each is actually good at
OpenAI Sora 2 — $0.10/sec — best capability per dollar
Sora 2's strengths are physical realism and coherence over longer sequences — it holds scenes together where cheaper models drift. Combined with mid-market pricing, that makes it the default choice when you want frontier-tier output without frontier-tier cost.
Choose it for: narrative or scene-based video, longer generations, anything where motion has to stay believable.
Google Veo 3.1 — $0.40/sec — realism and integration
Veo is strong on photorealism and benefits from Google's ecosystem integration. There is also a Veo 3.1 Fast variant at $0.20/second — half the price of full Veo 3.1 and frequently indistinguishable in short social formats. If you want Veo, start with Fast.
Choose it for: photorealistic scenes, work already inside Google's stack.
Runway Gen-4.5 / Gen-4 Turbo — $0.50/sec — creative control
Runway's reputation rests on creative tooling and cinematic control rather than raw output alone. For a hero asset where you need directorial control over the result, that tooling justifies the price.
Choose it for: flagship hero video, campaigns with budget behind them, work needing fine creative control.
The decision, by what you're making
| What you're making | Model | Cost per 5s |
|---|
| Testing an idea | Sora 2 | $0.50 | | Regular social/product video | Sora 2 | $0.50 | | Photorealistic scene, cost-aware | Veo 3.1 Fast | $1.00 | | Photorealistic scene, quality-first | Veo 3.1 | $2.00 | | Homepage hero / funded campaign | Runway Gen-4.5 | $2.50 | | High-volume catalog | None of these — use Kling 2.6 ($0.35) or Seedance 1 Lite ($0.15) | |
That last row matters. All three of these models are the wrong choice for catalog work. A 100-product run costs $50 on Sora 2 and $250 on Runway Gen-4.5, versus $15 on Seedance 1 Lite — and at thumbnail size the difference is largely invisible.
The mistake to avoid
Assuming price tracks quality linearly. It doesn't:
- Sora 2 is classified ultra-tier and costs $0.10/s — the same as premium-tier Kling Avatar v2.
- Veo 3.1 Fast at $0.20/s delivers most of Veo 3.1's benefit at half the cost.
- Runway at $0.50/s is 5x Sora 2 — a gap that is very hard to justify for short-form social video.
Match the model to where the video will be seen, not to which brand you've heard of most.
How we got these numbers (and what they do not include)
Methodology, stated plainly so you can judge the figures: every cost above is the per-second rate we are charged to run that model through our inference providers — Replicate and fal — read directly from our production model configuration. They are what a real platform pays per generation, not scraped vendor marketing pages.
Two caveats that matter when you compare this table to other sources:
- These are aggregator prices, not vendor-direct list prices. Running Runway through Replicate is not the same commercial arrangement as buying Runway credits from Runway. Direct-from-vendor pricing, enterprise agreements, and credit-bundle discounts can all differ — sometimes substantially. If you see a different number elsewhere, that is the most likely reason, and it does not make either figure wrong.
- This is generation cost only. It excludes storage, bandwidth, post-processing, and — the big one — failed or discarded generations. In practice your effective cost per usable clip is higher than the sticker rate, because you rarely keep the first output. If it takes three attempts to get a shot you ship, your real cost is roughly 3x the number in this table.
Provider pricing also changes. Treat this as a dated snapshot (July 2026) rather than a permanent quote, and verify before making a large commitment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sora better than Runway?
On value, decisively — Sora 2 costs $0.10 per second versus Runway Gen-4.5 at $0.50 per second, a 5x difference. On raw creative control Runway's tooling remains excellent and justifies its price for flagship work. For the large majority of product and social video, Sora 2 offers better capability per dollar.
How much do Sora, Veo, and Runway cost compared to each other?
Real per-second inference costs: OpenAI Sora 2 $0.10, Sora 2 Pro $0.15, Google Veo 3.1 Fast $0.20, Google Veo 3.1 $0.40, Runway Gen-4 Turbo and Gen-4.5 both $0.50. For a 5-second clip that's $0.50, $0.75, $1.00, $2.00, and $2.50 respectively.
Which is best for product videos?
For most product video, none of these three — Kling 2.6 at $0.07/second delivers the best balance for everyday e-commerce work. Among the three flagships, Sora 2 at $0.10/second is the value pick. Reserve Veo 3.1 and Runway Gen-4.5 for hero assets that will be seen enough times to earn back a $2.00–$2.50 per-clip cost.
Is Google Veo 3.1 worth 4x the price of Sora 2?
For photorealistic hero content where realism is the deciding factor, it can be. For short-form social video, usually not — and Veo 3.1 Fast at $0.20/second captures much of the benefit at half of full Veo's cost, which is the more sensible middle option.
What is the cheapest of the three?
OpenAI Sora 2 at $0.10 per second, making a 5-second clip $0.50. It is one quarter the cost of Google Veo 3.1 and one fifth the cost of Runway Gen-4.5, despite being classified in the same top capability tier.
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