How Much Does Hailuo AI Cost in 2026? (Free vs Paid, Real Numbers)

Today we're publishing the honest, numbers-first answer to a question creators keep asking: how much does Hailuo AI actually cost in 2026? MiniMax's Hailuo (the video engine behind Hailuo / Hailuo 02) is genuinely impressive at motion and physics, but the pricing is a credit system - and credit systems are where the surprises hide. Below is the real price table, the catch nobody mentions, and a fully free alternative for creators who just want to generate video without watching a meter.

Short version: Hailuo AI is free to try, with a small daily trial pool of watermarked, 6-second, lower-resolution clips. To remove the watermark, unlock 1080p, and get commercial rights, you move to a paid plan that starts around $8-15/month for roughly 1,000 credits. That sounds like a lot until you do the math - a full-quality 1080p clip can burn about 80 credits, so 1,000 credits is closer to 12 or 13 finished clips a month. And failed or off-prompt generations still spend credits.

We build ZSky AI, a free, unlimited AI image and video generator, so we'll be upfront about our bias - but every Hailuo number here is sourced and we'll show our work. If you only need the price table, it's the first thing below.

How much does Hailuo AI cost? (2026 price table)

Bottom line up front: Hailuo AI is free to try with a small daily pool of watermarked 6-second clips, and paid plans start around $8-15/month for about 1,000 monthly credits - enough for roughly 12 to 13 full-quality 1080p clips. Here are the real numbers as of June 2026. (No credit card is needed to test the free tier.)

Why the ranges? Hailuo's Standard list price has drifted between $7.99 and $14.99 across 2025-2026 depending on promotions, and quarterly billing can knock up to ~40% off while annual billing saves roughly 20%. Treat the price you see at checkout as the source of truth - but the credit math below holds regardless of which promo you catch.

Is Hailuo AI free?

Yes - Hailuo AI has a free tier, but it's a trial, not a production tool. On the free plan you get a small daily pool of generations (commonly cited as around 3 to 8 short videos a day) with these constraints baked in:

• Watermarked output - every free clip carries a Hailuo watermark.
• 6-second cap and lower resolution - no 1080p on free.
• Lowest queue priority - free generations wait behind every paying user, so renders can be slow at peak times.
• No commercial rights - free output is for personal testing only.

It's a fine way to see whether Hailuo's motion quality fits your project. But the moment you want a clean, watermark-free, commercially-usable 1080p clip, you're on a paid plan. That's normal for this category - the pattern across Hailuo, Kling, Pika, Runway and Veo is that the free tier is a demo, and real work is metered.

What the free plan actually includes

Here's the unvarnished version of the Hailuo free plan, so there are no surprises:

• A handful of short clips per day. The exact count fluctuates, but plan on roughly 3-8 generations daily before you're cut off until tomorrow.
• 6 seconds, lower resolution. Great for a quick motion test, not for anything you'd publish at full quality.
• A visible watermark on every export. Removing it requires a paid plan.
• Personal use only. You can't legally use free-tier clips in client work, ads, or monetized content.
• Slowest queue. Free renders are deprioritized, which matters when you're iterating.

None of this is a knock on Hailuo specifically - it's how most credit-based AI video tools structure the funnel. The free tier exists to show you the quality and nudge you toward credits. Just go in knowing the free plan is a sampler.

How many credits does a Hailuo AI video cost?

This is the number that actually determines your monthly bill. A full-quality 1080p 6-second Hailuo clip costs in the neighborhood of 80 credits. So the Standard plan's 1,000 monthly credits works out to about 12 or 13 finished 1080p clips per month - far fewer than the headline "1,000 credits" suggests. Shorter, lower-resolution, or faster-mode generations cost fewer credits; longer or higher-fidelity ones cost more.

Two catches that quietly raise the real price:

• Credits do not roll over. They reset monthly. Unused credits vanish, so you're paying for a ceiling whether you hit it or not.
• Failed and off-prompt generations still burn credits. If Hailuo misreads your prompt or the output isn't what you wanted, those credits are gone. With AI video, where you often re-roll a prompt several times to get a usable take, this adds up fast - your effective cost per good clip can be well above the sticker math.

Translate that to the upper tiers: Pro's 4,500 credits is roughly 56 full-quality clips; Master's 10,000 is ~125; Max's 20,000 is ~250. If you're a heavy creator re-rolling prompts, even Pro can feel tight by month's end.

Is Hailuo AI worth it?

Hailuo is worth it if your workflow matches its economics. It's a strong fit when:

• You value its specific motion and physics quality and have tested it against rivals.
• You generate in focused bursts and can stay inside a credit budget.
• You're on Pro or above, where the per-clip cost gets reasonable.

It's a harder sell when you generate unpredictably - lots of experimentation, lots of re-rolls, lots of "let me try one more idea." That's exactly the behavior that drains a non-rolling credit pool, and where credit fatigue sets in: you start rationing your own creativity to protect your balance. For comparison context, Runway runs about $15/mo (free tier is 720p, no audio), Pika's free tier is 720p with no audio, OpenAI's standalone Sora was discontinued in 2026, and Grok's free tier ended in March 2026. Against that field, Hailuo's quality is competitive - but it's still a metered, paid-for-real-work model.

If you'd rather not think about credits at all, that's where a genuinely unlimited free option changes the calculation. More on that below.

The limits that actually matter

Stripping away the marketing, here are the constraints that actually affect Hailuo creators day to day:

• 6-second clip cap on the Standard tier - short for narrative or social storytelling without stitching clips together.
• Credits don't roll over - you lose what you don't use each month.
• Failed generations still cost credits - re-rolling a tricky prompt is not free.
• Watermark + no commercial rights on free - you can't ship free-tier output.
• Price volatility - the Standard list has bounced between ~$7.99 and ~$14.99, so budget on a range, not a fixed figure.

These aren't dealbreakers for everyone. But they're the things creators wish they'd known before subscribing - which is the whole point of reading the math before you pay.

Best free alternative to Hailuo AI: ZSky AI (1080p + audio, no credits)

We make ZSky AI, and we built it specifically for creators who are tired of metering their own ideas. ZSky's free tier is ad-supported and unlimited - there is no credit card, no daily cap, no per-generation credits, and commercial use is included. Here's how it stacks up against Hailuo for the things creators actually care about:

What's available now, free on ZSky in any browser at zsky.ai:

• Unlimited AI video - text-to-video and image-to-video, up to 1080p, with native synchronized audio on every clip (~5-8s). ZSky is the only free tool that pairs 1080p with real audio.
• Unlimited AI image generation via ZSky's Signature Image Engine.
• Director - describe your idea in plain language and ZSky's AI creative director writes the prompt and generates it for you. Anti-slop and beginner-friendly.
• Studio (Beta) - an advanced creative suite (Workflow Builder, Scene Builder, cinematic shots, camera control, motion brush, consistent Characters, talking Avatars), free for a limited time while in beta.
• Photo Editor - in-browser adjustments, presets, one-tap auto-enhance, and an AI background remover.
• Explore feed (remixable) and Templates to start from a look.

Two honest caveats so you know exactly what you're getting: the free tier is ad-supported (not ad-free), and ZSky applies a small "MADE WITH / zsky.ai" plate to free output. Creating also requires a free sign-in. What you won't find is a credit meter or a daily cap. ZSky is 18+ and home to 120,000+ creators, founded by photographer Cemhan Biricik.

What's next for ZSky

The full ZSky creative suite is available now, free, in any phone browser at zsky.ai - so you can generate 1080p video with audio on your phone today without installing anything. Native apps are on the way:

• ZSky for iPhone (iOS) - in final beta, launch imminent. Voice prompting (speak your idea), the full Create loop, Director chat, Explore, Photo Editor, a home-screen widget, and Spotlight + Visual Intelligence search.
• ZSky for Android - native app in closed beta on Google Play, with Create, Explore, Director, Photo Editor, a widget, and share-to-Stories.

On the longer roadmap we're building ZSky for Mac, an Apple Vision Pro spatial "Dreamspace," and a Meta Quest experience. Until the native apps land, the move is simple: open zsky.ai in your browser, sign in free, and start generating unlimited video and images - no credit card, no daily cap, no credits to ration.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many credits does a Hailuo AI video cost?

A full-quality 1080p 6-second Hailuo clip costs roughly 80 credits. So the Standard plan's 1,000 monthly credits equals about 12 to 13 finished clips. Shorter or lower-resolution clips cost fewer credits; longer or higher-fidelity ones cost more. Credits reset monthly and do not roll over.

Can I use Hailuo AI videos commercially?

Not on the free plan - free output is watermarked and limited to personal use. Commercial rights unlock on paid plans starting around $8-15/month (Standard), which also removes the watermark and enables 1080p. By contrast, ZSky AI includes commercial use on its free tier.

Is Hailuo AI free?

Hailuo has a free trial tier: a small daily pool of around 3 to 8 short clips, capped at 6 seconds and lower resolution, watermarked, with the lowest queue priority and no commercial rights. It's good for testing quality but isn't a production tool. No credit card is required to try it.

How much does Hailuo AI cost per month?

Hailuo's Standard plan lists around $8-15 per month for 1,000 credits (the price has drifted between $7.99 and $14.99 across 2025-2026). Pro runs roughly $25-55, Master about $64-95, Ultra $124.99, and Max $199.99. Quarterly billing can save up to ~40% and annual roughly 20%.

Do unused Hailuo credits roll over?

No. Hailuo credits reset every month and do not carry over, so you lose whatever you don't spend. Worse, failed or off-prompt generations still consume credits, which raises your real cost per usable clip when you re-roll a prompt several times to get the take you want.

What is the cheapest way to make AI video for free?

For genuinely unlimited free AI video, ZSky AI generates text-to-video and image-to-video up to 1080p with native synchronized audio - no credit card, no daily cap, no per-generation credits, and commercial use included. The free tier is ad-supported and adds a small zsky.ai plate, and creating needs a free sign-in.

Hailuo AI vs ZSky AI - which is better for free video?

Hailuo's free tier is a watermarked, 6-second, non-commercial trial. ZSky's free tier is unlimited 1080p video with native audio and commercial rights, no credits and no daily cap. Hailuo is a strong paid tool; ZSky is the better fit if you want to generate freely without metering every clip.

Does Hailuo AI add a watermark?

Yes - free-tier Hailuo clips carry a watermark, which is removed only on paid plans (Standard and up). Note that ZSky also applies a small "MADE WITH / zsky.ai" plate on free output; the difference is ZSky's free tier is otherwise unlimited at 1080p with audio and commercial use, with no credits to spend.