Veo 3 pricing — how much one clip costs through the API, without a subscription

There are two ways to pay for Veo 3: a subscription (Google AI Pro / Ultra, with Flow credits) and the API, which is paid per clip. Through the API on Kunavo, Veo 3.1 Lite costs $0.18+, Veo 3.1 Fast costs $0.36+, and Veo 3.1 Quality costs $1.60+ per 720p clip, with no monthly fee and no Google Cloud project. Which option pays off is determined by one division: monthly fee ÷ price per clip = break-even point.

If you search for “how much does Veo 3 cost,” almost everything that appears compares subscription plans. That half of the answer is covered; the other half — the cost of paying clip by clip through the API — is still missing. This page fills it in with numbers.

Two ways to pay for Veo 3

Plan prices and credit amounts change frequently, so we do not reproduce them here: check the official Google page. For comparison, all you need is the division below.

Veo 3 API pricing, per clip and by tier

The prices below are read from the model catalog: if the price changes, the table changes with it.

The “+” means “starting at”: it is the minimum price for a 720p clip, and a higher resolution may cost more. The IDs remain those of the veo-3 family; the current generation shown in the table runs behind the scenes. Billing is in dollars, clip by clip, against a prepaid balance.

Break-even point: monthly fee ÷ price per clip

Subscription or API: it depends on the number of clips you generate per month. Convert the monthly fee to dollars and divide it by the price of the tier you use: that is the break-even point. Below it, the API is cheaper; above it, month after month, the subscription wins. As a reference, here is what $10 of subscription equals:

Multiply by the number of times your subscription contains $10 and you have the break-even point for your plan. One more figure is worth checking: if the subscription credits cover fewer clips than that break-even point, the API is always cheaper. Conversely, if you generate in Flow almost every day and use up the credits each month, stick with the subscription, especially if you also use the rest of the plan.

The biggest saving: combining tiers

The biggest reduction in the bill comes from separating testing from the final version. Refine the prompt with Veo 3.1 Lite as many times as needed, then run only the approved prompt with Veo 3.1 Quality. With 10 drafts and 1 final version, doing everything with Veo 3.1 Quality costs $17.60; moving the drafts to Veo 3.1 Lite, $3.40. In the code, only one word changes: the model name.

The call: just watch out for asynchronous processing

Unlike text, video is an asynchronous task. POST /v1/videos first returns the task ID; then you query GET /v1/videos/{id} until the status is completed or failed.

# Lo mínimo para generar un clip y esperar el resultado.
# Sin suscripción y sin proyecto de Google Cloud: una sola clave.
import os, time, requests

KEY = os.environ["KUNAVO_API_KEY"]
H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {KEY}"}

# 1. Envío: devuelve al momento el id de la tarea (estado "queued").
job = requests.post(
    "https://api.kunavo.com/v1/videos",
    headers=H,
    json={
        "model": "veo-3-lite",  # borradores con Lite; la versión final con "veo-3-quality"
        "prompt": "una calle del barrio gótico de Barcelona al anochecer, farolas encendidas, la cámara avanza despacio",
        "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
    },
    timeout=60,
).json()

# 2. La generación de video es asíncrona: consulta la tarea hasta que termine.
while True:
    r = requests.get(
        f"https://api.kunavo.com/v1/videos/{job['id']}", headers=H, timeout=30
    ).json()
    if r["status"] in ("completed", "failed"):
        break
    time.sleep(5)

print(r["output"]["url"] if r["status"] == "completed" else r["error"])

Failed requests are not charged. Regenerating because you are not satisfied with the result, however, is a successful generation and is charged each time. The response format, image-to-video process, and webhooks are covered in the video API documentation (in English).

Payment is made with Stripe: card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Link. SEPA direct debit is not available; a debit card works normally. It is prepaid balance from $10, with no subscription, and the balance does not expire.

Frankly: when this approach is not right for you

With the gateway, you can get started without a Google billing account or a Cloud project, but you use shared capacity, not a quota dedicated to your project. If your volume requires a guaranteed quota or a contractual SLA, the right choice is to contract directly with Google: this page is not intended to replace that.

The complete guide, in English, is at Veo 3 API, and the comparison with the other video models is in the text-to-video API guide.

Frequently asked questions