What 10 seconds of AI video costs on 11 models through ElevenLabs, checked against each model's own API, and how to use it to pick the model and quote a client clip without guessing.
Every generation has a price before you press run. In an ElevenLabs flow (or the ElevenLabs connector inside Claude Code), set the node exactly as you will run it: model, seconds, resolution, audio. Then run it as an estimate: nothing is generated and nothing is charged. Do it per shot, not per project. Proof: the car clip in the reel was estimated at 10,180.8 credits and charged exactly that, $2.02.
02
02Step 2
Know the three dials that move the bill
Price is set by seconds, resolution and audio, and every model on the sheet bills per second. Measured on ElevenLabs the same day: Seedance 2.5 is $5.55 for 10 s at 720p and $8.31 at 1080p. Kling 3.0 Pro is $1.34 with audio off and $2.02 with it on. Veo 3.1 is $0.48 a second, so 4 s is $1.92 and 8 s is $3.84. Draft cheap (720p where the model offers it, audio off) and pay for 1080p and native audio only on the take you deliver. Know each model's native resolution too: Seedance 2.5 renders at 480p and 720p, so any 1080p Seedance tier you buy is an upscale.
03
03Step 3
Match the model to the shot
The most expensive model is not automatically the right one. Kling 3.0 Pro ($2.02 per 10 s on ElevenLabs) made the reel's clip: one continuous camera move off a locked keyframe. Seedance 2.5 earns its price when the spot changes angle and scale between shots, or has to hold a face and a product from reference images. Veo 3.1 is the pick for synced dialogue. LTX 2 Pro ($0.72) and Veo 3.1 Fast ($0.18 a second) are the draft and b-roll tier. Same 10 seconds, more than 11x apart in price.
04
04Step 4
Lock the look with a keyframe first
A rejected still costs cents, a rejected video costs dollars. Make the first frame in Nano Banana Pro (2K, about $0.24) with the realism layer: a real lens, golden-hour light, road dust, grain, and no logos, no badges, no license plate. QC it at full size before you animate: one of our two stills had brand-like badges on the wheels, so it was dropped. Then animate the keeper with a motion-only prompt (camera move, action, sound) that ends with the car's shape, color and lighting stay exactly the same. The whole clip, two stills plus one video: $2.50.
05
05Step 5
Turn the sheet into a quote
Cost per delivered clip = price per take x the takes you expect + the stills. Budget two or three takes per shot on client work, because the first take is not always the one. Then check where you buy it: going direct to the model's own API ran about 17% below ElevenLabs for Veo 3.1, FLUX 3 and Kling 3.0 Pro, Sora 2 Pro was actually cheaper on ElevenLabs, and Seedance 2.5 at its native 720p was $2.31 to $4.73 direct versus $8.31 for the 1080p tier on ElevenLabs. One login is convenient; at volume, price both routes. Paste the prompt below into Claude Code with the ElevenLabs connector, give it your shot list, and it prices every shot with estimates only, then totals the job for two takes. Re-run it before every quote: prices change, and a sheet is only true for the day it was measured.
The cost sheet, the direct API check, the Claude Code prompt that prices your own shot list, and the two prompts behind the clip
THE AI VIDEO COST SHEET · priced Sep 19 2026 on an ElevenLabs plan · USD
MODEL 10 s · 1080p · audio on PER SECOND Seedance 2.5 $8.31 $0.83 Seedance 2.0 $8.16 $0.82 Sora 2 Pro $6.00 * $0.60 Veo 3.1 $4.80 * $0.48 FLUX 3 $3.48 $0.35 Kling 3.0 Pro $2.02 (this clip) $0.20 Veo 3.1 Fast $1.80 * $0.18 Wan 2.6 $1.80 (no audio option) $0.18 Kling O3 Pro $1.68 $0.17 LTX 2 Pro $0.72 $0.07
* no 10 s option: Veo runs 4, 6 or 8 s, Sora 4, 8 or 12 s. Priced per second x 10. Same model, other settings: Seedance 2.5 at 720p $5.55 · Kling 3.0 Pro audio off $1.34 Seedance 2.0 Fast at 720p $2.90 · Nano Banana Pro 2K still $0.24
---- DIRECT API CHECK · the 5 models in the reel · public list prices, Sep 19 2026 ----
MODEL ON ELEVENLABS DIRECT, 10 s WHERE Seedance 2.5 $8.31 (1080p) $2.31 to $4.73 at 720p BytePlus/Replicate, fal Sora 2 Pro $6.00 $7.00 at 1080p ($3.50 batch) OpenAI Veo 3.1 $4.80 $4.00 at 1080p with audio Google ($0.40/s) FLUX 3 $3.48 $2.90 at 1080p Black Forest Labs Kling 3.0 Pro $2.02 $1.68 image-to-video, audio on fal ($0.168/s)
Seedance 2.5 renders natively at 480p and 720p. 1080p tiers on resellers are upscales, and they range from $0.21/s to $1.14/s. OpenAI shuts the Sora 2 API down on Sep 24 2026.
---- PASTE INTO CLAUDE CODE (with the ElevenLabs connector) ----
Price my shot list before anything renders. For every shot below, add a video node to one ElevenLabs flow with exactly these settings and run it with estimate_only. Never start a real generation. Price each shot on these models where the setting exists: kling-3-pro, bytedance-seedance-v2.5, veo-3.1-generate-001, sora-2-pro, flux-3-video, ltx-v2. Then give me one table: shot, model, seconds, resolution, audio, credits, USD. Mark the cheapest model per shot, then total the job for two takes per shot, plus one 2K Nano Banana Pro keyframe per shot.
Shot list: 1. [10 s] [16:9] [1080p] [audio on] [what happens in the shot] 2. [8 s] [9:16] [1080p] [audio off] [what happens in the shot] 3. [5 s] [9:16] [720p] [audio off] [what happens in the shot]
---- THE TWO PROMPTS BEHIND THIS CLIP ----
KEYFRAME · Nano Banana Pro · 16:9 · 2K · $0.24 Ultra-realistic cinematic film still from a car commercial, real-world photography, candid moving shot. A deep navy blue two-door sports coupe with no badges, no logos and no license plates drives along a winding coastal cliff road at golden hour. Captured from a low camera car at wheel height, front three-quarter angle, the coupe sitting in the right third of the frame, the road curving ahead along the cliff edge with the sea far below catching the low sun. Shot on an ARRI Alexa with a 35mm anamorphic lens, shallow depth of field, natural bokeh on the distant headland. The low warm sun sits behind the car and rim-lights the roofline, realistic long shadows stretch across the asphalt. Natural imperfections: fine road dust on the lower doors and sills, a few tiny stone chips on the front splitter, faint water spots on the side glass, worn tar seams and loose gravel at the road edge, dry coastal grass bending in the wind at the verge. Natural color grading, muted warm tones, soft highlights and deep shadows, restrained palette, subtle film grain, slight sensor noise in the shadows, gentle motion blur in the wheels and the road surface. No text, no logos, no badges, no license plate, no watermark, no CGI, no 3D render, no plastic look.
MOTION · Kling 3.0 Pro · image-to-video from the keyframe · 10 s · 1080p · audio on · $2.02 The coupe drives toward the camera along the curving cliff road, wheels turning and the suspension flexing over the worn tar seams. The camera car tracks alongside at wheel height, keeping pace so the coupe stays in the right half of the frame, then slowly drifts wider to reveal more of the coastline and the sea below, and settles. Dust lifts off the asphalt behind the rear wheel, dry coastal grass whips in the wind at the verge, low sunlight flickers across the paintwork and flares at the roofline. Real camera-car vibration, natural motion blur, cinematic live-action realism. The car's shape, color and the golden-hour lighting stay exactly the same. Sound: a deep engine note rising through the gears, tires on warm asphalt, wind rushing past the camera. Negative prompt: morphing, warping wheels, extra wheels, distorted car body, meltin g metal, logos, badges, text, license plate, flicker, CGI, 3D render, plastic look
Want this running for you?
Build it step by step inside AI Creative OS, with me in the thread.
