Between 5 and 60 cents per second of video, depending on the model and the resolution. Google prices Veo 3.1 by the second, not by the clip, and there is no free tier for it. How that compares with Gemini Omni and Grok Imagine is on the video model comparison.Google, Gemini Developer API pricing, read in a browser 16 Sep 2026 (the docs refuse automated fetches): Veo 3.1 Standard “$0.40 (720p and 1080p)” and “$0.60 (4k)” per second; Fast “$0.10 (720p) $0.12 (1080p) $0.30 (4k)”; Lite “$0.05 (720p) $0.08 (1080p)” with 4K “not supported”. Free tier: “Not available”.
Price per second, three quality tiers, audio included in the default price.
- Standard: $0.40 a second at 720p and 1080p, $0.60 at 4K.
- Fast: $0.10 a second, Lite: $0.05 — both at 720p, against Standard’s $0.40.Google, Gemini Developer API pricing, read in a browser 16 Sep 2026: Standard “$0.40 (720p and 1080p)” and “$0.60 (4k)”; Fast “$0.10 (720p)”; Lite “$0.05 (720p)”.
- No free tier. Google lists Veo as not available on it.
- An 8-second Standard clip is about $3.20. The same clip on Lite is about 40 cents.Reasoning: 8 seconds at Google’s published per-second prices, 16 Sep 2026 — see Gemini Developer API pricing.
Every price here was correct when this site last checked it, on 16 Sep 2026. Prices change often and this site no longer updates them, so check the vendor’s own page before you rely on one: Google pricing.
What does it cost per second?
| Model and resolution | Per second |
|---|---|
| Standard — 720p and 1080p | $0.40 |
| Standard — 4K | $0.60 |
| Fast — 720p | $0.10 |
| Fast — 1080p | $0.12 |
| Fast — 4K | $0.30 |
| Lite — 720p | $0.05 |
| Lite — 1080p | $0.08 |
| Lite — 4K | not supported |
Google, Gemini Developer API pricing, read in a browser 16 Sep 2026. Prices are for “video with audio price (default)”.
What does one clip cost?
Multiply by the length. An 8-second clip works out at $3.20 on Standard 1080p, 96 cents on Fast 1080p, and 64 cents on Lite 1080p. Ten of them, which is a realistic number for one usable shot, is $32 against $6.40.Reasoning: arithmetic on the per-second prices above, at 8 seconds, done 16 Sep 2026 — not a Google figure.
The cost of Veo is not the clip you keep. It is the nine you throw away — which is why the Fast and Lite tiers exist.
How do you spend less?
Iterate on the cheap tier and finish on the expensive one. Draft the shot on Lite or Fast at 720p until the motion, framing and timing are right, then re-run the settled prompt once on Standard at the resolution you actually need. The prompt structure that survives that move is on the Veo cheat sheet.
Nothing here is a quality claim about the cheaper tiers. Google describes them as faster and cheaper, not equal; this page has not compared their output.
What this page could not verify
- Whether audio is ever billed separately. Google notes an audio processing case in a footnote this page did not fully read.
- Quality differences between Standard, Fast and Lite. Not tested here.
- Prices outside the Gemini Developer API. Enterprise pricing is quoted elsewhere.
Google, Gemini Developer API pricing, read in a browser on 16 September 2026.
Prices move. This is a dated snapshot, not a quote.