Pictory vs Runway
We give Pictory a 2.0 GPA and Runway a 2.6, out of 4.0. Runway grades higher on value for money, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Pictory
Turns scripts, articles and slides into narrated stock-footage videos
Runway
AI video, image and audio studio with its own Gen-4.5 model
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAPictoryFair | 2.6GPARunwayGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DStarter is $25 a month on yearly billing ($29 monthly), the dearest start among its listed rivals: invideo at $10, Runway and LTX Studio at $12, Synthesia at $18 and HeyGen at $24. It buys 2,400 video minutes a year of stock-footage editing, but only about 12.5 minutes of generated video. | CStandard is $12 a month on yearly billing ($15 monthly) for 625 credits, about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 or 78 Gen-4 images. Against its listed video rivals, Pika at $8, Firefly at $9.99 and Luma at $25, that's the middle. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 14-day trial with 15 video minutes, 50 AI credits and exports up to 720p. The listing doesn't say whether it needs a card. | C125 credits once, which never refill, with a selection of models and 5GB of storage. At 12 credits a second that's about 10 seconds of Gen-4.5, then you pay. |
| Features | CScript, blog link, PDF or slides into a narrated video with stock footage, text-based editing of recordings, ElevenLabs voices and brand kits. It does that job fully, but it's a smaller one: generated footage is about 12.5 minutes a year on Starter. | BIts own Gen-4.5 next to Kling, Seedance and Nano Banana, Aleph 2.0 for editing real footage by describing the change, an agent that builds whole videos, music, effects and voice clones, plus plugins. The whole video job. |
| Ease of use | CNo app-store rating on record. Pasting a script or link gets a first cut, but scenes, templates and brand kits take some setting up. | B4.5 from about 17,700 App Store ratings. The app itself is friendly, but working out what a month of credits buys takes some sums. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and a Chrome extension, with Zapier, Make, ElevenLabs, Getty and Storyblocks, and an API. No desktop or phone app. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, plugins for Premiere Pro, After Effects and Resolve, links to ChatGPT, Claude, Figma, Dropbox and Notion, and a developer API. No desktop app, which an A needs. |
| Best for | turning articles and slides into videos | making and editing AI video |
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: Pictory and Runway. How we grade
Price against what you get
Pictory starts at $25 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Runway starts at $12 a month and scores 3.0.
Runway scores higher and starts $13 a month lower. Of the other AI image and video generators on the chart, 11 score higher than Pictory for less, and 2 score higher than Runway 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
- Pictory starts at $25 per month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly). Runway starts at $12 per month for 625 credits, billed annually ($15 billed monthly).
- Only Pictory lists a browser extension.
- Only Runway lists iOS and Android apps.
- Pictory also covers transcription and templates.
- Runway also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Pictory | Runway | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $25 per month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly) | $12 per month for 625 credits, billed annually ($15 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial with 15 video minutes, 50 AI credits and exports up to 720p | Free plan with 125 one-time credits that do not refill, a selection of models and 5GB of storage |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Pictory | Runway AI, Inc. |
| Price read from | pictory.ai | runway.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Pictory
- Turning blog posts and slide decks into narrated videos
- Training and course teams producing many explainer videos
- Trimming long recordings into short clips by editing text
Runway
- Video makers who want to edit real footage by describing the change
- Creators who want several leading video models under one subscription
- Small creative teams sharing one credit pool and brand kits
Worth knowing
Pictory
- Generated footage is limited: Starter's 1,200 yearly AI credits make about 12.5 minutes of AI video; most minutes are stock-footage edits.
- Paid subscriptions are not refunded; cancelling only stops the next renewal.
- Monthly billing gives fewer AI credits: Professional includes 500 a month when billed monthly against 12,000 a year when billed annually.
- The trial exports at up to 720p and allows 15 video minutes.
Runway
- Credits run out fast on video: Gen-4.5 costs 12 credits a second, so Standard's 625 credits make under a minute of it.
- Standard and Pro credits reset each month with no rollover; extra credits are sold in packs of at least 1,000 and never expire.
- The Team plan needs at least 2 seats and stops at 9; larger groups are sent to Enterprise sales.
- The free plan's 125 credits are a one-time grant and are not refilled.
Key features
Pictory
- Script, URL and slides to video
- Paste a script or link, or upload a PDF, PowerPoint or audio file, and Pictory splits it into scenes matched with stock footage, captions and voiceover.
- AI Studio
- Generate images from prompts and animate images into clips with Veo 3.1, Veo 3.1 Fast or PixVerse 5.5, then drop them into scenes in the editor.
- Edit video with text
- Upload a recording and cut it by editing its transcript, pull out highlight clips automatically, and add captions.
- Voices and avatars
- ElevenLabs voices in 29 languages, voice cloning and custom avatars on Professional and above, with uploaded voiceovers synced to scenes.
- Brand kits and templates
- Saved fonts, colors and logos keep videos on brand, and templates set the layout, text and timing of each scene.
- Zapier, Make and API
- Start videos from other apps through Zapier or Make, make a video from any web page with the Chrome extension, or build on the API.
Runway
- Gen-4.5 and partner models
- Runway's own Gen-4.5 video and Gen-4 image models sit beside Kling, Seedance, Wan, FLUX and Nano Banana, each with its own credit price.
- Aleph 2.0 video editing
- Change a shot's lighting, restyle it, or add and remove elements by describing the change; edit one frame and carry it through the clip.
- Runway Agent
- An agent on every paid plan that plans and generates a whole video from a conversation, with shared agent skills on the Team plan.
- Audio and voice
- Music, sound effects and text-to-speech from models such as Lyria 3 and Eleven v4, plus custom voice clones on Pro and Max.
- Plugins and MCP
- Generate and extend footage inside Premiere Pro, After Effects and Resolve, or call Runway from ChatGPT, Claude and other MCP agents.
- Developer API
- Runway Dev sells the same models to developers at $0.01 a credit, with a model router that picks a model per request.
Plans
Pictory
Starter$25
per month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)
2,400 video minutes and 1,200 AI credits a year (about 12.5 minutes of generated video or 2,000 images), 1 brand kit. Monthly: 200 minutes, 100 credits.
Professional$35
per month, billed annually ($59 billed monthly)
7,200 video minutes and 12,000 AI credits a year (about 125 minutes of generated video), custom avatars and voice cloning. Shown as a Pictory 2.0 offer.
Team$119
per month for 3+ users, billed annually ($199 billed monthly)
21,600 video minutes and 28,800 AI credits a year, 10 brand kits and a shared team workspace. The page does not say if the price is per user.
EnterpriseCustom
10+ users, custom minutes and credits, SSO, interactive video hosting with quizzes, SCORM export and done-for-you video creation.
Runway
Free$0
125 one-time credits that do not refill, a selection of models and 5GB of storage.
Standard$12
per month for 625 credits, billed annually ($15 billed monthly)
Enough for about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 video or 78 Gen-4 images at 1080p; all models, no watermarks, 3 projects.
Pro$28
per month for 2,250 credits, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
About 187 seconds of Gen-4.5 or 281 Gen-4 images; credit top-ups, a Brand Kit, a voice clone and the Runway MCP.
Max$76
per month for 9,500 credits, billed annually ($95 billed monthly)
About 791 seconds of Gen-4.5; one month of unused credits rolls over, early model access, and HDR and ProRes output.
Team$55
per seat / month, billed annually ($69 billed monthly)
Everything in Max, with 6,900 credits per seat in a shared pool, shared projects and frame-accurate comments. For 2 to 9 seats.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited members and workspaces, SSO, roles and permissions, legal indemnification and dedicated onboarding.
Ways to pay less
Pictory
- Annual discount
Save up to 40% with annual billing
Annual billing costs $25 a month for Starter against $29, $35 for Professional against $59, and $119 for Team against $199.
Runway
- Annual discount
Save 20% with yearly billing
The pricing page marks yearly billing as 20% off: Standard falls from $15 to $12 a month, Pro from $35 to $28 and Max from $95 to $76.
- Education
25% off for students and educators
Students and educators who verify their status through SheerID get 25% off any paid plan; classes of 3 or more licenses can ask for up to 25% off.
- Other savings
Bonus credits for new Enterprise customers until Oct 31, 2026
New Enterprise customers signing by October 31, 2026 get bonus credits matching what they use in the first 60 days. A minimum spend applies.
