Hailuo AI Review 2026: Pricing, Features, Pros & Cons
Hailuo AI is MiniMax's video generator, now running the H3 model with 2K output, 21:9 framing, and up to twelve reference images per shot. It is one of the very few generators that publishes what a second of video actually costs. It is also one where the free plan renews nothing at all. Here is the honest picture for 2026.
Quick Verdict
Best for: Creators who generate video regularly and want to forecast the bill from a published per-second rate rather than guess at credit packs. Skip it if you need a free plan that renews, or if you want generation and editing inside one suite.
What Is Hailuo AI?
Hailuo AI is the consumer-facing video product from MiniMax, the Chinese AI lab behind the MiniMax model family. You describe a shot, optionally attach reference images, and it generates video. The current model is MiniMax H3, described as open-weight and omni-modal — a single model doing native multimodal generation and precise multimodal editing rather than separate pipelines bolted together.
The create panel defaults to 2K output, 5-second clips, and aspect ratios up to 21:9, with a reference slot that accepts up to twelve images and an Omni Reference mode for holding a character or style steady across generations. Twelve references is a lot of headroom — most competitors cap out well below that, and reference count is the practical lever for consistency across a sequence of shots.
The product splits into three surfaces: Create Video, Create Image, and Hailuo Agent. Around them sits a library of preset templates — ad generation, pet videos, style transfer, cinematic looks, ASMR — which is a strong signal about the intended audience. This is a creator tool aimed at short-form social output, not a post-production suite.
Built a Hailuo AI alternative? People land on this review while they are still comparing generators.
Add it to the video category — a free listing publishes after review, and it is the same page ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google read when someone asks which AI video generator to use. Want it live in minutes with a Verified badge instead? That option is on the form, one-time, no subscription.
The Number That Actually Matters
Almost every AI video generator prices in credits and leaves you to reverse-engineer what a credit buys. Hailuo publishes the per-second rate directly on every tier, at both 2K and 768P, and then tells you roughly how many seconds the monthly grant buys. That is the single most useful thing about the product page.
Billed monthly, 2K generation runs $0.126 a second on Standard, $0.102 on Pro and Master, and $0.096 on Max. Billed yearly, those fall to $0.101 on Standard and $0.081 on Pro, Master and Max. Dropping to 768P roughly halves it — $0.074 a second monthly on Standard down to $0.047 a second on the yearly higher tiers.
Run that against a realistic workflow. A 5-second 2K clip costs about 40 to 63 cents depending on your plan. If you accept one shot in three, a usable 5-second clip costs $1.20 to $1.90. Standard's 1,000 credits — about 84 seconds of 2K — therefore yield roughly five usable clips a month, not seventeen. That arithmetic, not the sticker price, is what should pick your tier.
Hailuo AI Pros & Cons
✓ Pros
- •Pricing is fully published and unusually granular — every tier states its monthly credit grant, its per-second rate, and roughly how many seconds of video that buys
- •The per-second rate is the honest unit of cost for video generation, and Hailuo publishes it at both 2K and 768P for every plan instead of hiding it behind a credit abstraction
- •H3, the current MiniMax model, is described as open-weight and omni-modal, so the underlying model is not a pure black box the way most video generators are
- •Up to 12 reference images per generation, with an Omni Reference mode, which is far more reference headroom than most competitors allow
- •Character and motion consistency has been MiniMax's differentiator since Hailuo 2 — human movement holds together across a shot better than most rivals
- •Every paid tier includes access to Veo 3.1 and Sora 2 alongside the in-house models, so one subscription covers three model families
- •Three distinct surfaces in one product — Create Video, Create Image, and Hailuo Agent — rather than a single text-to-video box
- •Annual billing genuinely changes the unit economics, dropping 2K generation from $0.126/sec to $0.081/sec, a 36% cut rather than a token discount
✗ Cons
- •The free tier renews nothing — it grants one-time trial credits and 0 credits monthly, so it is a demo rather than a usable free plan
- •The site header advertises 'From $9.99/mo' but no tier is actually priced at $9.99; the cheapest monthly figure shown at checkout was $10.50 and the cheapest annualised was $8.40
- •Standard buys about 84 seconds of 2K video a month — under a minute and a half, which is one or two usable clips after retries
- •Prices are shown as discounts off list ($14.99, $54.99, $119.99), and promotional pricing can end, so budget against list rather than the sale figure
- •The unlimited third-party image models (Nano Banana Pro, Seedream, GPT Image 1.5) appear on the yearly Pro and Master cards but not the monthly ones — the monthly plan is materially thinner than the annual one at the same tier name
- •Credits are consumed per second of output, so resolution and clip length compound: a few 2K retries can burn a meaningful share of a month's grant
- •Unlimited Hailuo 2.0/2.3 generation is gated to the Max tier at $216 a month, which is a steep step up from Master
- •This is a consumer creative tool first — there is no published enterprise or team tier on the subscription page, only individual plans
Hailuo AI Pricing 2026
Prices below are the monthly-billed figures shown on the subscription page, with the annualised equivalent noted. Every paid tier includes access to Veo 3.1 and Sora 2 alongside the MiniMax models. One caveat worth knowing before you pick a billing cycle: the yearly Pro and Master cards list unlimited use of Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2, Seedream 5.0 Lite, Seedream 4.5, GPT Image 1.5, Light Studio and AnyAngle, and the monthly cards at those same tiers do not.
Free
- •0 credits monthly
- •One-time trial credits only
- •Hailuo models only
- •No Veo 3.1 or Sora 2 access
- •Effectively a demo
Seeing whether the output quality suits you at all
Standard
- •1,000 credits monthly
- •H3 2K at $0.126/sec (~84s)
- •H3 768P at $0.074/sec (~143s)
- •Veo 3.1 and Sora 2 access
- •$8.40/mo if billed yearly
Occasional creators making a clip or two a month
Pro
- •4,500 credits monthly
- •H3 2K at $0.102/sec (~375s)
- •H3 768P at $0.059/sec (~643s)
- •Yearly adds unlimited image models
- •$30.40/mo if billed yearly
Regular social or ad output — the sensible default tier
Master / Max
- •10,500 / 27,000 credits monthly
- •~875s / ~2,250s of 2K video
- •Max adds unlimited Hailuo 2.0/2.3
- •Max adds 4K image generation
- •$71.20 / $184 per mo if yearly
Studios and agencies producing daily
Hailuo AI vs Runway vs Kling
| Feature | Hailuo AI | Runway | Kling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid entry | ✅ $10.50/mo ($8.40 yearly) | ⚠️ Higher entry point | ⚠️ Credit packs |
| Per-second cost published | ✅ $0.081–$0.126/sec at 2K | ❌ Credit abstraction | ❌ Credit abstraction |
| Reference images per shot | ✅ Up to 12 | ⚠️ Limited | ⚠️ Limited |
| Free tier renews monthly | ❌ One-time credits only | ✅ Small monthly grant | ✅ Daily credits |
| Third-party models bundled | ✅ Veo 3.1 and Sora 2 | ❌ In-house only | ❌ In-house only |
| Max resolution | ✅ 2K video, 4K images on Max | ✅ 4K upscale | ✅ 1080p+ |
| Human motion consistency | ✅ Long-standing strength | ✅ Strong | ✅ Strong |
| Best fit | Cost-sensitive creators who want transparent per-second maths | Editors who want a full timeline suite | Creators chasing cinematic realism |
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Hailuo AI cost in 2026?
Four paid tiers, checked directly on the subscription page. Billed monthly: Standard $10.50, Pro $38.00, Master $89.00, and Max $216.00. Billed yearly the same tiers work out to $8.40, $30.40, $71.20 and $184.00 a month, or $100.80, $364.80, $854.40 and $2,208 a year. Those monthly figures are promotional discounts off list prices of $14.99, $54.99 and $119.99, so treat list as the number that could return.
Is Hailuo AI free?
Not in any renewing sense. The Free plan is listed at $0.00 with 0 credits monthly and one-time free trial credits, restricted to Hailuo models. You can evaluate output quality on it, but you cannot use it as an ongoing free plan the way you can with some rivals that grant credits every day or month. Once the trial grant is spent, generation stops until you subscribe or top up.
How many videos do you actually get per month?
Hailuo publishes the maths, which is unusual and useful. Standard's 1,000 credits buy roughly 84 seconds of 2K video or 143 seconds at 768P. Pro's 4,500 credits buy roughly 375 seconds at 2K. Master's 10,500 credits buy roughly 875 seconds, and Max's 27,000 credits buy roughly 2,250 seconds. Because credits burn per second of output, retries count — plan for two or three attempts per usable shot.
What is MiniMax H3?
H3 is the current MiniMax generation model behind Hailuo, described as open-weight and omni-modal — one model handling native multimodal generation and multimodal editing rather than separate text-to-video and image pipelines. In the create panel it runs at 2K, defaults to 5-second clips, supports aspect ratios up to 21:9, and accepts up to 12 reference images with an Omni Reference mode. The earlier Hailuo 2.0 and 2.3 models remain available and are unlimited on the Max tier.
Hailuo vs Kling: which is better?
They are close on output, so the decision is usually economic. Hailuo's advantage is transparency and reference headroom: a published per-second rate at two resolutions for every tier, and up to 12 reference images per generation. Kling's advantage is a free tier that actually renews, which matters if your usage is sporadic. If you generate regularly, Hailuo's per-second maths lets you forecast the bill in a way credit-pack pricing does not.
Is Hailuo worth it over Runway?
Different products despite the overlap. Runway sells a full creative suite — editing, timeline, and post work around the generation step. Hailuo sells the generation step at a sharply published price, plus bundled access to Veo 3.1 and Sora 2, which is genuinely unusual. If your workflow already lives in a real editor and you only need clips coming in, Hailuo is the cheaper input. If you want generation and editing in the same tool, Runway still wins.
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Compare Hailuo AI Against the Rest of the Category
Per-second cost is the only fair way to compare video generators. See how the others price up.
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