Runway

A powerful tool for video creators, but you'll need to invest time and money to take advantage

-  NIGEL POWELL

The AI video battle is hotting up. While OpenAI’s Sora has not yet manifested, one of the AI video diehards – Runway, the New York pioneer that produced its first product a full 18 months ago – has just released its third-generation engine.

Runway offers five plans, ranging from a free account with 525 credits up to an Unlimited Plan for $95 a month that gives you 2,250 credits and the ability to train a model in a specific style. The Standard Plan at $15 a month with 625 credits is the cheapest way to guarantee access to the Gen-3 engine; those on the Free plan must often make do with the Gen-2 engine as this is more likely to have capacity. Other video AI startups, such as Kling AI (klingai.io), are more generous.

Then again, Runway’s services are more comprehensive and more mature than rivals. Once you log in, you’ll see a dashboard that offers instant access to the tools most users will need on a daily basis. Text to video, video to video, Lip Sync Video and background removal are in prominent positions, but Runway’s appeal to businesses is reflected by the presence of Assets and Workspace sections in the sidebar.

Here it’s possible to organise and share all your creations in folders, and to build a portfolio of business assets that can be reused easily. In addition, Projects offer team users a huge amount of control over their workflow.