Luma vs Pika
We give Luma a 2.0 GPA and Pika a 2.6, out of 4.0. Luma grades higher on the free plan. Pika grades higher on value for money, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Luma
Creative agents for video and images, built on Luma's Ray models
How we grade them
| 2.0GPALumaFair | 2.6GPAPikaGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DPlus is $25 a month on yearly billing ($30 monthly), against $8 to $12 for Pika, Runway and LTX Studio, and in this category's dearest tenth. It does buy 10,000 credits: about 2 minutes of Ray3.2 at 1080p or 8 at 720p. There's no cheaper plan. | BStarter is $8 a month on yearly billing ($10 monthly) for 900 credits, about 7 five-second Seedance 2.5 clips or 112 Nano Banana 2 images. That's the cheapest start among its listed video rivals, Runway at $12 and Luma at $25, but there's no commercial license until Creator at $28. |
| Free plan and trial | CNew accounts get trial credits, but the pages don't say how many, and there's no free plan after that. | FThe Free plan has 0 credits a month and only works with bought packs, at $25 for 1,500 credits. So nothing is free, and payments aren't refunded. |
| Features | BAgents that plan and build across video, image and audio, Ray3.2 with HDR and EXR export, video-to-video, reframe and extend, the Uni-1 image model, plus Veo, Kling, Seedance and ElevenLabs. The whole video job. | BVideo Studio for up to 30-second multi-shot videos on Pika 2.5, Seedance and MiniMax, apps to extend, regrade and rework footage, image tools, saved characters, product shots and soundtracks matched to the action. The whole job. |
| Ease of use | CNo app-store rating on record. Working with agents across a project is a new habit, and Ray3.2 costs anything from 100 to 400 credits per 5 seconds depending on resolution. | A4.73 from about 4,300 App Store ratings, in the top band. Each tool does one thing, like Extend Video or Color Grade, so it's clear where to start. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only: the site lists no desktop or phone apps. There's a developer API, but no integrations in the listing. | BWeb and iPhone, with ChatGPT and other agents through MCP and a separate developer API. No Android or desktop app, and top-up credits don't work in the iPhone app. |
| Best for | agent-built video for production work | short social clips with sound |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Luma and Pika. How we grade
Price against what you get
Luma starts at $25 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Pika starts at $8 a month and scores 3.3.
Pika scores higher and starts $17 a month lower. Of the other AI image and video generators on the chart, 11 score higher than Luma for less, and none scores higher than Pika for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Luma starts at $25 per month for 10,000 credits, billed annually ($30 billed monthly). Pika starts at $8 per month for 900 credits, billed annually ($10 billed monthly).
- Only Pika lists an iOS app.
- Luma also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Luma | Pika | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $25 per month for 10,000 credits, billed annually ($30 billed monthly) | $8 per month for 900 credits, billed annually ($10 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | Free trial credits to start; the amount is not stated | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | Luma AI, Inc. | Mellis, Inc. |
| Price read from | lumalabs.ai | pika.art |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Luma
- Creative teams producing many variants of a campaign or product shot
- Video work that needs HDR or EXR files for a production pipeline
- People who want an agent to plan and assemble the work, not just one clip
Pika
- Social and ad creators who want task-specific video and image tools
- Adding sound and music to generated clips in the same app
- Trying several partner video models without separate accounts
Worth knowing
Luma
- There is no free plan; new accounts get trial credits, and the pages read do not say how many.
- Credit costs vary widely: Ray3.2 at 1080p costs 400 credits per 5 seconds, so Plus's 10,000 credits make about 2 minutes of it.
- Team and Enterprise prices are given only through sales, and SSO and shared credits need the Team plan.
- Luma is a web app; the site lists no desktop or mobile apps.
Pika
- There are no free credits: the Free plan includes 0 credits a month and works only with bought packs, at 60 credits per $1 ($25 for 1,500).
- The Starter plan has no commercial license; commercial use starts at Creator.
- Plan credits reset each period without rollover; top-up credits expire after 365 days and work only on pika.art, not the API, MCP or iOS app.
- Payments are non-refundable. The developer API is a separate membership at $10 a month, with $10 of credit in the first month.
Key features
Luma
- Luma Agents
- Agents research, generate and refine work across video, image, audio and text while keeping a project's context; Luma Skills save a workflow to rerun.
- Ray3.2 video model
- Text- and image-to-video in draft, 540p, 720p or 1080p, with HDR and EXR export for production work and up to 16 keyframes through the API.
- Video-to-video, reframe and extend
- Change existing footage with video-to-video and Modify, reframe a clip to a new shape, extend it, and stitch clips with captions into a finished piece.
- Uni-1 image model
- Luma's image model carries style references, character references and brand guidance into each image; GPT Image and Nano Banana are also offered.
- Partner video and audio models
- Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.5 and MiniMax H3 for video, lip sync from Sync, and ElevenLabs voice, music and sound effects.
- Team workspaces
- Share credits and manage usage in one place, with projects, team-wide sharing, usage analytics and SSO on the Team plan.
Pika
- Video Studio
- Makes anything from a short clip to a 30-second multi-shot video, using Pika 2.5, Seedance 2.5, MiniMax H3, Wan 3.0 or Gemini Omni.
- Editing apps for footage
- Extend Video adds frames to a clip, Color Grade changes its look, and Swap Anything and Motion Transfer rework existing video.
- Image Studio and Edit Image
- Generate images with models such as GPT Image 2.5, Nano Banana 2 and Seedream, then swap, remove or restyle parts of them.
- Characters and product shots
- Character Studio saves a character to reuse across creations, and Product Shot stages a product without a photoshoot.
- Pika Soundtrack and audio
- Soundtrack scores a clip with music, ambience and sound effects matched to the action; separate studios handle speech, music and SFX.
- MCP, ChatGPT and API
- Pika can be used from ChatGPT and other agents through its MCP server, and developers reach the same models through the Pika API Club.
Plans
Luma
Plus$25
per month for 10,000 credits, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
Luma and partner image and video models, commercial use and edit access for guests. Ray3.2 at 720p costs 100 credits per 5 seconds.
Pro$75
per month for 40,000 credits, billed annually ($90 billed monthly)
Everything in Plus, with four times the usage of Luma Agents.
Ultra$250
per month for 150,000 credits, billed annually ($300 billed monthly)
Everything in Pro, with 15 times the usage of Luma Agents.
TeamCustom
Shared team credits, projects and team-wide sharing, member management, usage analytics and SSO.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Team, plus enterprise commitments, dedicated training and custom fine-tuning.
Pika
Starter$8
per month for 900 credits, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)
Enough for about 7 five-second Seedance 2.5 clips at 720p or 112 Nano Banana 2 images; no commercial license.
Creator$28
per month for 3,150 credits, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
About 25 Seedance 2.5 clips or 393 Nano Banana 2 images, a commercial license and 8 video jobs at once.
Fancy$76
per month for 8,550 credits, billed annually ($95 billed monthly)
About 70 Seedance 2.5 clips, priority queue and unlimited parallel jobs. Larger credit steps run to $880 a month.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom monthly credits for studios and teams, with dedicated support and early access to new models.
Ways to pay less
Luma
- Annual discount
Lower monthly rate with yearly billing
Yearly billing costs $300 a year for Plus, $900 for Pro and $3,000 for Ultra, against $30, $90 and $300 a month; the page says up to 20% saved.
Pika
- Annual discount
Save 20% with yearly billing
The pricing page lists yearly billing at 20% off: Starter $8 instead of $10 a month, Creator $28 instead of $35, Fancy $76 instead of $95.
