AI image and video pricing: subscriptions, credits and cost per delivery
Track the actual charge, credit consumption and accepted outputs together. A displayed monthly rate, a generation quote and cost per usable delivery measure different things.
Quick answer
Confirm currency, region, taxes, billing cycle and refund terms on official pricing or checkout pages, then budget a representative task. Magic Hour and Topaz present different plan and credit structures. We do not turn regional prices into universal quotes or promise a fixed usable-output yield.
Build a cost checklist
Record the subscription, upfront annual amount, credit refresh and expiry, task quote, extras, download conditions and commercial restrictions. Recheck checkout totals after switching billing cycles. An effective monthly rate is not necessarily the next monthly charge.
Measure accepted deliveries
Cost per accepted delivery = (subscription allocated to these jobs + actual extra or usage charges) / accepted deliveries. Define acceptance first. For a fictional example, 40 of subscription and 20 of extras fund 30 attempts, but only 12 pass: cost is 5 per delivery, not 2. These are invented units, not a brand quote. Track labor separately.
Normalize video comparisons
Hold duration, resolution and export conditions constant. Record each candidate quote, failure-credit rules, audio and export inclusion. A finished film may require several shots and attempts; a preview quote is not the final production budget.
Validate before scaling
Use one representative input with explicit acceptance criteria, and confirm plan coverage. After a real run, retain billing, settings and output before expanding spending. If the task cannot run, this guide helps planning but cannot verify actual costs.