Why are AI videos so expensive? What drives the cost

AI videos get expensive because you pay for every second of output, the per-second rate climbs with resolution on most models, and every finished take you throw away is billed like the one you keep. On Sume, before the agent fee, 10 seconds of wan-3.0 is priced at $1.25 at 720p and $2.50 at 1080p, and 10 seconds of seedance-2.5 at 1080p 16:9 at $14.22.

This post explains how Sume prices a clip, from its pricing code and the Video generation docs, read on 2026-09-27. It does not cover what providers spend to run their models. Per-model rates are in How much does an AI video cost to generate?

What makes an AI video cost more?

Every model is billed at the provider's list price × 1.25, reserved when you submit, plus a 5.5% agent fee by default. These move the amount:

Why does resolution raise the price so much?

Because the rate is set per resolution. On wan-3.0, a second costs $0.125 at 720p and $0.25 at 1080p. On gemini-omni-flash-1.1, it costs $0.125 at 720p and $0.375 at 4K.

Seedance prices pixels directly. Sume's pricing code currently counts 2.25 times as many video tokens in a second of 1080p 16:9 as in 720p, and seedance-2.5 also charges a higher per-token rate at 1080p, so its 10-second 16:9 clip goes from $5.78 at 720p to $14.22 at 1080p. How much does an AI video cost to generate? shows the token math.

Do failed or rejected takes cost money?

A failed job doesn't: Sume refunds the reserved amount, as Do failed AI video jobs cost money? explains.

A take you reject is different. It completed, so it is billed like the one you keep, and once generation work has started a job can no longer be canceled: the API returns 409 job_generation_already_started and the job runs to completion. So the number of takes you need, not only the rate, sets what a usable clip costs.

How do I spend less on AI video?

Pay for fewer seconds, a lower rate, or fewer takes:

• Test a prompt short and small. wan-3.0 accepts clips from 2 seconds and lists 480p, and a 2-second 480p test reserves $0.13.
• Generate at the resolution you will publish, not above it.
• Turn sound off where you don't need it: on kling-3, send generate_audio: false.
• Settle the opening frame as a still first, then send it as the clip's first frame, so each take starts from a picture you have already approved.
• Reuse finished clips instead of regenerating them. To make a clip you already have bigger, Video Upscale 1.0 is listed at $0.009 per video second on API pricing; see the AI video upscaler API.
• See the price before you pay, and cap it: estimate AI video cost before you run and set spend caps on unattended runs.