What every number here assumes
- One ad is 4 to 6 shots, cut to 15 to 30 seconds, 9:16.
- A usable shot takes 3 to 5 generations. Failed and off-brand takes are paid for too.
- Credits are priced at the plan's own monthly rate, not a first-month promo.
- Prices from each vendor's own pricing page and help docs, checked October 2, 2026.
Kling or Seedance?
Kling for price, Seedance for building on an API. Kling is $7.81 to $20 per finished ad; Seedance through BytePlus is $34 to $85 but never charges for a failed generation.
| Tool | One generation | Price per generation | Generations per ad | Spent per ad | Dollars per ad | If every take worked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kling | Kling 3.0, 1080p, 5s, audio | 60 credits ($0.65 on Pro) | 12 to 30 | 720 to 1,800 credits | $7.81 to $20 | $2.60 to $3.91 |
| Seedance | Seedance 2.5 API, 1080p, 5s | $0.57/s x 5s = $2.84 | 12 to 30 | 60 to 150 seconds of generation | $34 to $85 | $11 to $17 |
| Tool | Failed and unusable generations | Commercial use | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kling | Credits are deducted when a generation starts and refunded if it fails. Once the paid service is activated, fees are non-refundable, and nothing refunds a generation that completes. | Paid members may use output commercially and remove the watermark. Free users may not use output commercially without written permission, and must keep the Kling brand on it. | Kling AI Credits Policy and Terms of Paid Service; Kling AI Terms of Paid Service 3.1.2 and 7.2, and Terms of Service 4.6 |
| Seedance | On the API, "You are only charged for successfully generated videos." Dreamina, the consumer app, publishes no policy on credits for failed generations, and nothing refunds a completed one. | You own the outputs, but Dreamina's terms make commercial use conditional: eligibility "depends on the applicable Dreamina terms, the content you create, and the models or assets involved". Free downloads are watermarked. | BytePlus ModelArk model pricing and Dreamina Terms of Service; Dreamina Terms of Service and Dreamina pricing FAQ |
What one finished ad costs in credits
Assuming 4 to 6 shots per ad and 3 to 5 generations per usable shot, at each vendor's published rate. Editing is not included.
| Tool | One generation | Price per generation | Generations per ad | Spent per ad | Dollars per ad | If every take worked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kling | Kling 3.0, 1080p, 5s, audio | 60 credits ($0.65 on Pro) | 12 to 30 | 720 to 1,800 credits | $7.81 to $20 | $2.60 to $3.91 |
| Seedance | Seedance 2.5 API, 1080p, 5s | $0.57/s x 5s = $2.84 | 12 to 30 | 60 to 150 seconds of generation | $34 to $85 | $11 to $17 |
The Kling arithmetic, step by step:
- One Kling 3.0, 1080p, 5s, audio generation costs 60 credits. Pro is $33 a month for 3,000 credits, so a credit costs $0.01 and a generation costs $0.65.
- An ad is 4 to 6 shots. A usable shot takes 3 to 5 generations. That is 4 x 3 = 12 to 6 x 5 = 30 generations.
- 12 to 30 generations x 60 credits = 720 to 1,800 credits, or $7.81 to $20 per finished ad.
- If every take were usable, the same ad would cost $2.60 to $3.91. The difference is what variance costs you.
- Pro's 3,000 monthly credits cover 1 to 4 finished ads a month at this rate.
Why 3 to 5 generations a shot: the same prompt gives a different clip every run. Hands melt, a logo warps, the product changes colour, the actor looks at the wrong spot. The vendors say it themselves. Runway leaves its fixed-seed option off by default "to give you a wide variety of results". Dreamina's terms say outputs "may exhibit unpredictable behavior". Kling's own credit guide tells you to reserve credits for retries.
Plans and where to buy each
Kling sells its own plans. Seedance is sold through Dreamina, the BytePlus API and resellers like Higgsfield and Runway.
| Plan | Monthly price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $8.80 | 660 credits a month |
| Pro | $33 | 3,000 credits a month |
| Premier | $81 | 8,000 credits a month |
| Ultra | $160 | 26,000 credits a month |
| Plan | Monthly price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Dreamina Basic | $15 | 1,575 credits a month |
| Dreamina Standard | $36 | 3,885 credits a month |
| Dreamina Advanced | $159 | 17,600 credits a month |
Can you run the output as an ad?
Kling: yes on a paid plan, no on free. Seedance on Dreamina: you own the output, but commercial use is conditional on the content, models and assets involved.
More on each: the Kling review, Kling alternatives and Seedance alternatives.
To see the output, every clip each model made on the same ad prompts is in the Creative Arena: Kling 3.0 and Seedance 2.0.
Do you get credits back for bad generations?
For a generation that errors out, mostly yes. For one that finishes and is unusable, no. That second kind is most of the waste.
| Tool | Failed and unusable generations | Commercial use | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kling | Credits are deducted when a generation starts and refunded if it fails. Once the paid service is activated, fees are non-refundable, and nothing refunds a generation that completes. | Paid members may use output commercially and remove the watermark. Free users may not use output commercially without written permission, and must keep the Kling brand on it. | Kling AI Credits Policy and Terms of Paid Service; Kling AI Terms of Paid Service 3.1.2 and 7.2, and Terms of Service 4.6 |
| Seedance | On the API, "You are only charged for successfully generated videos." Dreamina, the consumer app, publishes no policy on credits for failed generations, and nothing refunds a completed one. | You own the outputs, but Dreamina's terms make commercial use conditional: eligibility "depends on the applicable Dreamina terms, the content you create, and the models or assets involved". Free downloads are watermarked. | BytePlus ModelArk model pricing and Dreamina Terms of Service; Dreamina Terms of Service and Dreamina pricing FAQ |
The refund covers the crash, not the miss. A clip with a warped product, the wrong motion or an off-brand look is a completed generation, and every vendor here charges for it in full.
Plan prices, tool by tool
Every plan, what a credit buys and what one finished ad costs, next to UGC creators and done-for-you.
When a tool is the wrong answer
Every tool on this page sells generations. An advertiser needs ads.
A generation is a 5 to 8 second clip. An ad is a hook, a script, 4 to 6 shots that match, a cut, captions, a voice, a brand check. Then a new one next week, for every angle you want to test.
On Meta that cadence is not optional. Meta Andromeda reads the creative to pick who sees an ad, and a winner now lasts 2 to 4 weeks, so the next one has to be ready.
- You need several new ads a week, not one good clip.
- Nobody on the team edits video.
- You already pay for credits on two or more of these tools.
- You judge creative by CPA and ROAS, not by how a clip looks in a demo.
If two of those are true, the tool is the wrong layer. That is what Director is for. Director by Sprites is a full creative team. Every Monday you get finished, on-brand video ads, reviewed by a human. You pick the winners. Sprites ships the campaigns. You never write a prompt.
Director is in private beta. The application asks for your monthly ad spend.
More on AI video tools for ads
Frequently asked questions
Is Kling or Seedance better for ads?
Kling is cheaper per finished ad ($7.81 to $20 against $34 to $85 on the Seedance API). Seedance's API never charges for a failed generation. Neither writes, edits or tests the ad.
Can I use Seedance inside Higgsfield or Runway?
Yes. Higgsfield sells Seedance 2.5 at 33 credits per 5 second generation with audio. Runway offers Seedance in its app at its own credit rates.
Stop buying credits. Start getting ads.
Director by Sprites: every monday you get finished, on-brand video ads, reviewed by a human. You pick the winners. Sprites ships the campaigns. In private beta.