A 30-second AI-generated product ad costs $7.40 in API fees. A 150-second art-house short film costs $35. These are real numbers from real API pricing in March 2026, broken down to the cent per shot. Nobody else publishes these numbers because credit systems are designed to prevent exactly this kind of comparison.
The Credit System Problem
Every AI video platform hides costs behind credits.
Runway charges $76/month for Gen-3 Turbo access with 625 seconds of video included. Divide that out: $0.12 per second at minimum, but only if you use all 625 seconds. Generate 100 seconds in a month and your effective rate is $0.76 per second. The subscription costs the same whether you produce one video or twenty.
Pika charges $58/month for 250 credits. What does one credit buy? It depends on resolution, duration, and which model you select. The credit abstraction makes unit pricing invisible.
Kling Creator uses credit packs. Buy 660 credits for $7.99. A standard 5-second generation costs 35 credits at 720p, 50 credits at 1080p. Do the math yourself, the platform will not do it for you.
The pattern is consistent: credits obscure unit economics. You cannot budget a 12-shot production because you do not know the per-shot cost until after you have spent the credits.
Real API Pricing: March 2026
Video generation accounts for 95% or more of AI production costs. Image generation is negligible at $0.045 per image. The primary cost driver is video duration, every additional second of generated video costs $0.224 (Kling O3 Standard) or $0.280 (Kling O3 Pro).
Telos Engine uses FAL’s API for generation. FAL exposes direct model pricing without credit abstraction. Here is what each component costs:
| Component | Model | Rate | Pricing Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image generation | Flux 2 Pro | $0.045/image | Per-megapixel (1080p) |
| Video generation (Standard) | Kling O3 Standard | $0.224/second | Duration-based |
| Video generation (Pro) | Kling O3 Pro | $0.280/second | Duration-based |
| Video generation (v1.5 Pro) | Kling v1.5 Pro | $0.070/second | Duration-based |
| Audio surcharge | , | +25-50% of video cost | When audio enabled |
| Creative direction | Gemini 3.1 Pro | ~$0.50/production | Casting + prompt refinement |
| Composition | FFmpeg | $0.00 | Local processing |
Duration-based pricing means a 5-second shot costs $1.12 and a 10-second shot costs $2.24. This is transparent and predictable. No credits to decode.
Three Productions, Three Price Points
30-Second Product Ad (8 shots)
| Component | Model | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keyframe images | Flux 2 Pro | 8 × $0.045 | $0.36 |
| Video generation | Kling O3 Standard | 30s × $0.224 | $6.72 |
| Creative direction | Gemini 3.1 Pro | 1 production | $0.30 |
| Composition | FFmpeg | Local | $0.00 |
| Total | $7.38 |
Traditional production equivalent: $500-5,000 for a comparable 30-second spot with storyboarding, talent, filming, and editing.
150-Second Art-House Film (17 shots)
In March 2026, a 30-second AI-generated ad costs approximately $7.40 in API fees using Flux 2 Pro for images ($0.045/image) and Kling O3 Standard for video ($0.224/second). A 150-second art-house film costs approximately $35.
| Component | Model | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keyframe images | Flux 2 Pro | 17 × $0.045 | $0.77 |
| Video generation | Kling O3 Standard | 150s × $0.224 | $33.60 |
| Creative direction | Gemini 3.1 Pro | 1 production | $0.50 |
| Composition | FFmpeg | Local | $0.00 |
| Total | $34.87 |
Traditional production equivalent: $5,000-50,000 depending on crew size, location, and post-production.
75-Second Viral Clip (12 shots)
| Component | Model | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keyframe images | Flux 2 Pro | 12 × $0.045 | $0.54 |
| Video generation | Kling O3 Standard | 75s × $0.224 | $16.80 |
| Creative direction | Gemini 3.1 Pro | 1 production | $0.40 |
| Composition | FFmpeg | Local | $0.00 |
| Total | $17.74 |
Traditional production equivalent: $1,000-10,000.
Pre-Production Cost Estimates
Telos shows you the bill before you pay it. telos run --plan previews every step with estimated costs:
Pipeline Plan
┌─────┬──────────────────────┬─────────┬───────────┐
│ # │ Step │ Status │ Est. Cost │
├─────┼──────────────────────┼─────────┼───────────┤
│ 1 │ Film Brief │ Pending │ $0.01 │
│ 2 │ Casting │ Pending │ $0.30 │
│ 3 │ Shot Planning │ Pending │ $0.01 │
│ 4 │ Visual Generation │ Pending │ $17.10 │
│ 5 │ Assembly │ Pending │ -- │
│ 6 │ Final Export │ Pending │ -- │
└─────┴──────────────────────┴─────────┴───────────┘
Summary
──────────────────────────────────────────────
Profile: Film Maker
Est. shots: 15
Est. cost: $17.42
Image: $0.045/shot | Video: $1.12/shot (5s @ $0.224/s)
──────────────────────────────────────────────Telos Engine provides pre-production cost estimates via telos run --plan, showing per-shot breakdowns before any API call fires, unlike credit-based systems that reveal costs only after generation.
The estimation uses hardcoded rates from the actual FAL API pricing: $0.045 per image, $0.224 per second of video at Kling O3 Standard with audio. If you have already completed some steps (casting, brief generation), those show as “Done” with no cost, the engine tracks what has been paid for.
Five Ways to Reduce Costs
1. Duration is the primary lever. Every second of video costs $0.224. Trimming 1 second per shot across a 17-shot production saves $3.81, a 10% reduction. If your shots average 8.8 seconds and 7 seconds communicates the same content, the savings compound.
2. Standard before Pro. Kling O3 Standard produces 80% of Pro quality at 80% of the cost ($0.224/s vs $0.280/s). Use Standard for drafts and iteration. Switch to Pro for the final production run.
3. Audio decisions matter. Enabling audio generation adds 25-50% to video cost. For some productions, generating silent video and layering audio from a library via FFmpeg is cheaper and gives more control over the result.
4. Choose the right profile.
A clip profile (15-90 seconds, 12 shots) costs $5-20. A documentary profile (180-600 seconds, 25 shots) costs $40-130. Choosing clip instead of film for a 60-second piece saves 40% because the profile uses shorter shot durations and fewer shots.
5. Use --plan before --run.
Always preview costs first. telos run --plan costs nothing, it calculates estimates from your blueprint without calling any API. Adjust your blueprint until the estimate fits your budget.
The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions
Iteration cost. Your first production run will probably need changes. A character description that reads well might cast poorly. A transition that works in the blueprint might feel wrong in the assembled video. Budget 2-3x the single-run cost for iteration. A $35 film might cost $70-100 before you are satisfied.
Failed shots. Content filters reject shots that the engine considers safe. API timeouts happen during peak hours. Telos recovers automatically, it adjusts the prompt and retries, but the retry costs money. A 5% failure rate on a $35 production adds $1.75 in retry costs.
Character casting. Gemini evaluates three casting options per character. For a blueprint with 2 characters, that is 6 image generations ($0.27) plus two Gemini evaluation calls. Negligible per production, but it accumulates across dozens of productions.
Storage. Raw production assets, keyframe images, video clips, casting options, assembled output, total approximately 500MB per production. Not a cost concern for occasional use, but a consideration if you are running batch productions.
Model pricing changes. These numbers are March 2026 pricing. FAL can change rates. Kling can change rates. The pricing tables in this post will drift. Telos tracks the current rates in its cost engine, run telos run --plan for up-to-date estimates.
Check what your next production will cost before spending:
pipx install telos-engine
telos new myproject --profile ads
telos run --plan myprojectThree commands. Zero API calls. Exact cost estimate.