The Production Studio That Also Hosts Its Rivals
Runway is no longer just a video generator. Gen-4.5 is its flagship model, Aleph 2.0 edits footage you already have, Studio finishes the cut, and Agent 2.0 turns a brief into a whole campaign. The twist: one subscription also puts rival models—Google Veo 3.1, Kling O3 and Kling 3.0, ByteDance Seedance 2.0, Black Forest Labs FLUX.2—inside the same workspace. That roster is a rental, not a guarantee: OpenAI’s Sora 2 and Sora 2 Pro were removed from Runway on April 3, 2026, and Google’s Veo 3 is sunset on August 4, 2026 — the day after this guide was verified.
A studio, an aggregator and a marketing agent in one
The old mental model—“Runway is where you make Gen-4 clips”—is out of date. In 2026 Runway is three things at once: a first-party model maker, a place that hosts other vendors’ best models, and an agent that produces finished campaigns. Choosing Runway means choosing a pipeline, not a single generator.
Control-first and production-leaning
Runway rewards direction: references, camera paths, motion brushes and edit-grade tools that slot into a real pipeline rather than sitting beside it.
- Reproducible shots, not just vibes
- Character and location consistency
- Web app, editor and API
Finished, on-brand video
Campaign assets, product and brand video, social cut-downs, avatars and explainer beats that have to survive review and ship.
- Agencies and in-house brand teams
- Repeatable campaigns, not one-offs
- Generation through final export
You need the pipeline, not one clip
Use Runway when you want generation, a deep bench of third-party models, editing and finishing under one login—and when brand consistency matters more than novelty.
- Many models, one workspace
- Edit and finish in the same tool
- Brand systems and approvals
Gen-4.5, Aleph 2.0, Studio and an Agent that ships campaigns
Read the deprecation line first: Runway’s API model guide states that “Veo 3 is deprecated and will be officially sunset on August 4th, 2026” — one day after this guide was verified. Everything else is steadier. Gen-4.5 is still the flagship video model; Aleph 2.0 and Edit Studio replaced the older editing path; Studio added a real timeline; and Runway Agent reached 2.0 with Agent Skills in July. Meanwhile the hosted third-party roster keeps moving in both directions—Kling O3 arrived, Sora left, Veo 3 is going.
veo3 is sunset — Runway names Veo 3.1 as the upgradeGen-4.5 Flagship
Runway’s highest-quality video model for text- and image-to-video, introduced December 1, 2025 and still the top of the line—there is no Gen-5. Runway markets it as the world’s best video model; treat that as vendor positioning.
- Text or image to video
- Supply a first frame to steer
- Vendor claim — test on your shots
Aleph 2.0 and Edit Studio Editor
Edit one frame and Aleph 2.0 modifies the rest of your video to match, up to 30 seconds. Edit Studio previews the edit as an image so you can shape the look before you commit to generating. The API model is aleph2.
- Edit-grade video-to-video
- Preview before you generate
- gen4_aleph is marked deprecated
Agent 2.0 Campaign engine
Runway’s product page calls Agent a chat-based marketing agent that builds and scales the work: concepts, ads, full campaigns and variants. Agent Skills shipped in July 2026 to run those jobs from one command.
- Brief to finished campaign
- Ad campaigns, commercials, localization
- Agent Skills, July 2026
Studio Finishing
A built-in timeline to trim, stitch, reorder and export a final video without leaving Runway. Generation and finishing now live in one tool.
- Real editing timeline
- One-tool round trip
- Export production-ready cuts
Characters and GWM-1 Real-time
Launched in March 2026: real-time intelligent avatars you can talk with, powered by Runway’s GWM-1 general world model. Runway quotes roughly 1.75s response, 24fps and 37ms per frame—vendor figures, not independent tests.
- Conversational avatars
- API model gwm1_avatars
- Consent and likeness rules apply
Veo 3 sunset August 4, 2026
Runway’s API model guide states: “Veo 3 is deprecated and will be officially sunset on August 4th, 2026,” followed by “We recommend upgrading to Veo 3.1. Or try Model Routers to never need to manage deprecations again.” If veo3 is hardcoded in a script, a job template or a client preset, it stops working tomorrow. veo3.1 and veo3.1_fast are not affected — Veo 3.1 is the stated upgrade path.
- Search your code for
veo3today - Move to
veo3.1orveo3.1_fast - Model Routers are Runway’s other suggestion
Hosted third-party models Rented
One subscription includes outside models: Kling O3 and Kling 3.0, Google Veo 3.1, ByteDance Seedance 2.0 and Seedream 5.0, FLUX.2, GPT Image 2, ElevenLabs audio and more. Sora 2 and Sora 2 Pro were removed on April 3, 2026, and Veo 3 goes on August 4, 2026.
- Best model per shot
- No second subscription
- Models can be pulled — keep a fallback
Runway-native models, the rivals it hosts, and the API that hosts fewer
Three lists matter now: Runway’s own models, the third-party models exposed inside the web app, and the noticeably shorter set reachable through the API. Picking the right one per shot is the craft; knowing which list your workflow actually lives on is the procurement question.
Gen-4.5
Highest-quality Runway video. Reach for it when the shot ships.
- Text or image to video
- First-frame conditioning
Gen-4 Turbo
Faster, cheaper Runway video for iteration and look-finding before you commit credits.
- Image to video
- Test cheap, then upgrade
Act-Two
Motion-capture performance with head, face, body and hand tracking—drive a character from a reference performance.
- Performance capture
- Consent required
Gen-4 Image and References
Runway’s image model with reference-driven characters and locations, plus Layout Sketch for composition control.
- Consistent characters
- Draw to compose
Aleph 2.0
Prompt-driven editing of footage you already have, up to 30 seconds, with an image preview in Edit Studio before you generate.
- API model aleph2
- Preview then commit
Characters and GWM-1
Real-time conversational avatars built on Runway’s general world model, available on the web and through the API.
- API model gwm1_avatars
- Rights and consent first
| Category | Hosted in the app, observed July 27, 2026 — only the Veo 3 row was re-read on August 3 | Reach for it when |
|---|---|---|
| Video | Kling O3; Kling 3.0 Pro and Std; Kling 2.6 Pro; Google Veo 3.1 and Veo 3 (sunset August 4, 2026 per the API model guide — but still listed here with no deprecation marker); ByteDance Seedance 2.0, 2.0 Fast and 2.0 Mini; Alibaba WAN 2.6 and WAN 2.6 Flash; Alibaba HappyHorse 1.0; xAI Grok Imagine | A shot needs motion, audio or a look Gen-4.5 is not giving you |
| Image | ByteDance Seedream 5.0 Pro and Lite; Google Nano Banana, Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana Pro 2 and Pro 2 Lite; OpenAI GPT Image 2, 1.5 and 1 Mini; Black Forest Labs FLUX.2 Max and Klein; xAI Grok Imagine; Magnific Style Transfer | You are building stills, first frames or style references |
| Audio | ByteDance Seed Audio 1.0; Google Lyria 3 Pro and Lyria 3 Clip; ElevenLabs text-to-speech, sound effects, dubbing, isolation and speech-to-speech | Voice, music, sound design, dubbing or cleanup |
| Upscale | Topaz 4K; Magnific Precision | A finished cut has to hit delivery resolution |
| Language | Google Gemini 2.5 Flash; Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5, Opus 4.5 and Opus 4.8 | Scripting, briefs and copy inside the same workspace |
Veo negative prompts
The API added an optional negativePrompt field on veo3, veo3.1 and veo3.1_fast, for both text-to-video and image-to-video, up to 1,000 characters. Useful for suppressing recurring artifacts without rewriting the whole brief. From August 4, 2026 only the veo3.1 pair remains.
- Text-to-video and image-to-video
- Up to 1,000 characters
- veo3 is sunset August 4, 2026
Seedream 5.0 Lite in the API
seedream5_lite joined the API: prompts up to 4,000 characters, up to 14 reference images, 4 credits per image. The cheap end of the image bench is now reachable from code, not just the app.
- 4,000-character prompts
- Up to 14 reference images
- 4 credits per image
gen4_aleph is on the way out
The original Gen-4 Aleph API model is now marked deprecated. Aleph 2.0 ships as aleph2. Anyone with a running integration should migrate rather than wait for the shutoff notice.
- Move to aleph2
- Check running jobs and scripts
- Do not start new work on gen4_aleph
veo3 is the one model with a date on it
Runway’s API model guide states that Veo 3 “is deprecated and will be officially sunset on August 4th, 2026” and recommends upgrading to Veo 3.1, or using Model Routers to avoid managing deprecations. It is the only model in that guide carrying a sunset date — there are no September 2026 sunsets. veo3.1 and veo3.1_fast are unaffected.
- Hardcoded
veo3breaks tomorrow - Upgrade path is
veo3.1 - No other model in the guide has a date
From a clip generator to a campaign engine
The most consequential 2026 change is not a model—it is Agent. Runway now describes it as a chat-based marketing agent that builds and scales the work: concepts, ads, full campaigns and variants. Agent Skills, shipped in July 2026, collapse those jobs into single commands. That moves the human’s job from prompting to briefing and reviewing.
A marketing agent, not a prompt box
Agent develops the direction with you, produces finished video, and builds and scales campaigns across platforms, formats and markets from the same concept.
- Concepts, ads, campaigns and variants
- Multi-format and multi-market output
- Chat-based, so the brief is the interface
Agent Skills
Runway’s framing: build an ad campaign, create a commercial, localize your ads and more with a simple command. Skills turn repeated campaign work into named, callable jobs instead of freehand prompting.
- Named jobs, repeatable output
- Ad campaigns and commercials
- Localization as a standing command
The controls that separate direction from luck
Runway’s real advantage is control. When brand, character or composition matters, these are the features that make a shot reproducible instead of a lucky roll.
References
Reference-driven characters and locations for consistency across shots and scenes—key for brand and narrative continuity.
- Consistent characters
- Reusable locations
- Brand-safe recurrence
Layout Sketch
Draw on a blank canvas or over an image to control composition and place new elements before generating.
- Compose deliberately
- Guide placement
- Less trial and error
Camera & motion brush
Define how the camera and individual objects move through a scene rather than hoping the model guesses your intent.
- Camera paths
- Per-object motion
- Intentional movement
Keyframes
Set first, middle and last frames to control how a shot evolves across its duration. Kling O3 extends the idea with timed keyframe guidance and multi-shot output with audio, up to 4K.
- Start and end control
- Timed guidance in Kling O3
- Predictable arcs
Negative prompts
On the Veo 3 and 3.1 API models you can pass an optional negative prompt of up to 1,000 characters to name what must not appear, instead of over-loading the positive brief. Write new work against veo3.1: veo3 is sunset on August 4, 2026.
- veo3.1 and veo3.1_fast
- Text-to-video and image-to-video
- Added July 10, 2026
Aleph 2.0 editing
Edit one frame and Aleph 2.0 modifies the rest of the video to match, up to 30 seconds—edit-grade transformation, not a filter, with an image preview first.
- Prompt-based edits
- Preview in Edit Studio
- Up to 30 seconds
Slow handheld close-up of a ceramic coffee cup on a wooden cafe table, morning light through large windows, shallow depth of field, soft filmic grade, gentle steam rising. Five-second product hero shot for a social ad, 9:16.
Use these character and location references for every shot in this sequence. Keep the character’s face, wardrobe and the set consistent across all six clips; vary only the action and camera.
Take this existing 8-second clip and change the time of day to golden-hour sunset while preserving the subject’s motion and the camera move. Do not alter the composition.
Habits that protect your credits and your brand
The biggest gains here are behavioral: treat generation as a budgeted, staged process, design for the edit rather than the single magic clip, and never assume a hosted model will still be there next quarter. Two dated items belong in this quarter’s budget conversation — the August 4 Veo 3 sunset and the September 1 move from Unlimited to Max.
Storyboard before you spend
Lock the shot list and look before committing credits to long, high-quality runs.
Test cheap, then commit
Find the look with Turbo or short durations; upgrade to Gen-4.5 only for shots that ship.
Think in shots, not films
Design 3–10 second clips you will cut together later; do not force a whole narrative into one run.
Pick the model per shot
Match Veo 3.1, Kling O3, Seedance 2.0 or Gen-4.5 to the shot instead of defaulting to whatever opened.
Budget = seconds × model
Treat duration times the model’s per-second credit rate as your cost lever and plan runs against it.
Exploit references
Use References and Layout Sketch whenever brand or character consistency matters.
Edit, don’t regenerate
When you almost have it, reach for Aleph 2.0 rather than rolling a fresh generation.
Keep a deprecation watchlist
Runway announced the Sora removal and the Veo 3 sunset in advance, with dates. Both were missable only because nobody was reading. Put the API model guide and the help center on a monthly check, and name a fallback for every hosted model in a standing workflow.
| API model | Credits per second | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Gen-4 Turbo | 5 | The cheap seat — find the look here first |
| Gen-4.5 | 12 | Flagship rate; reserve it for shots that ship |
| Seedance 2 Mini | 16 | 64-credit minimum per generation |
| Veo 3.1 | 40 with audio, 20 without | Audio doubles the rate — turn it off when you will score the cut yourself |
| Aleph 2.0 (aleph2) | 28 | 56-credit minimum per generation |
| Seedance 2 (720p) | 36 | Rate is quoted at 720p |
| Plan | Annual, per month | Billed monthly | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Trial the tools, not a production seat |
| Standard | $12 | $15 | Entry paid tier |
| Pro | $28 | $35 | The common team tier |
| Max | $76 | $95 | 9,500 credits per month — the destination for Unlimited subscribers |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Contract terms, contact Runway |
| Unlimited | Gone | Gone | No longer appears on the pricing page; existing subscribers move to Max on September 1, 2026 |
Before the final run, tell me the plan: how many seconds at which model and resolution, the estimated credit cost including any per-generation minimum, and which shots are cheap tests versus final deliverables.
For each shot in this list, recommend the single best model currently available in Runway and why—Gen-4.5, Veo 3.1, Kling O3, Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.0 or another—given the motion, realism and audio needs. Flag any recommendation that is app-only and not reachable through the API.
Assemble the approved clips in Studio in this order, match durations to the storyboard, and export a 4K master plus a 9:16 social cut.
Range and speed do not equal cleared, finished or affordable
Runway’s breadth creates its own risks: credits burn fast, models are deprecated and swapped on published dates, hosted third-party models can be removed outright, plans themselves get retired, the API covers less than the app, and generated people and claims carry rights and truth obligations. Two dates are live right now — August 4 for Veo 3 and September 1 for the Unlimited plan.
Veo 3 is sunset on August 4, 2026
Runway’s API model guide states that “Veo 3 is deprecated and will be officially sunset on August 4th, 2026,” and recommends upgrading to Veo 3.1 or using Model Routers. Anyone with veo3 hardcoded in a script, template or preset breaks the day after this guide was verified. veo3.1 and veo3.1_fast are unaffected, and no other model in that guide carries a sunset date.
Two Runway pages, two answers
The API model guide gives Veo 3 an August 4, 2026 sunset. The Academy models-and-pricing page, checked the same day, still lists Veo 3 under Google with no deprecation, sunset or legacy marker — only the descriptor “Previous-gen video generation with audio.” Both are first-party. Do not treat any single vendor page as the vendor’s position.
Hosted models can be removed — but you do get notice
Sora 2 and Sora 2 Pro were removed on April 3, 2026 at 12:00 pm ET and the Sora 2 Pro model page now 404s. Runway published that in advance: the help article names both models with a date and a time in the future tense. The failure mode is not silent removal — it is that nobody on the buyer side was watching the page. A standing watchlist of vendor deprecation pages genuinely works. A hosted model is still a vendor relationship rather than a permanent feature, so name a fallback anyway.
The API is narrower than the app
No Kling model is available through the API, and neither is Sora. A model your creative team picked in the web app may be impossible to automate. Confirm API coverage before you scope an integration.
Deprecations
Models move. gen4_aleph is marked deprecated in favor of aleph2; anything you standardize on can be retired. Keep a migration path and check the API changelog.
Credit burn
Long, high-quality, high-resolution runs consume credits quickly, and some models carry a per-generation minimum on top of the per-second rate. Test cheap and lock the look before committing.
Plan and region gates
Some models and features are paid-only or limited by region. Verify availability before you promise a client a specific model. Plans move too: Unlimited is being phased out, holds through August 31, 2026, and converts to Max on September 1, 2026.
Likeness and voice
Act-Two and Characters capture performance and can clone voices. Get explicit consent and clear rights before anything ships.
| Task type | Minimum check | Human responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Client deliverable video | Watch the full render at target resolution; check artifacts and on-screen text | Approve the final cut |
| Character or avatar | Confirm likeness rights and voice consent | Legal sign-off |
| Hosted third-party model | Confirm it is still offered on your plan and region, and reachable in the API if you automate it | Own the tool decision |
| Agent-built campaign | Fact-check every claim, statistic, logo and localized line | The brand owner approves |
| Credit-heavy run | Estimate seconds × per-second rate, plus any per-generation minimum | Own the budget |
First-party evidence behind this guide
Runway ships weekly and removes models on real dates. These official pages anchor the current model, editor, Agent, plan and platform claims. Hosted third-party availability is the most volatile item here—the app roster was observed on July 27, 2026 from a rolling, undated table, so re-check it before you rely on a specific model. On August 3, 2026 only one row of that Academy table was re-read — the Veo 3 entry, which still carried no deprecation marker. Every other row in the app roster remains a July 27 reading and has not been re-observed. The deprecation, plan and price pages below were re-checked on August 3, 2026.
veo3 sunset and names Veo 3.1 as the upgrade↗Models and PricingRunway Academy · the app-side model and credit table · checked August 3, 2026 · still lists Veo 3 with no deprecation marker↗Unlimited plan is switching to MaxRunway Help Center · last updated June 1, 2026 · Unlimited subscribers move to Max on September 1, 2026↗Runway PricingRunway · current plan and price table · checked August 3, 2026↗Sora DeprecationRunway Help Center · Sora 2 and Sora 2 Pro removed effective April 3, 2026, 12:00pm ET · written in the future tense, so it was published in advance · the page shows no publication date↗Kling O3Runway · multi-modal, timed keyframes, multi-shot with audio, up to 4K · no dated announcement exists↗Aleph 2.0Runway · the current video-editing model and Edit Studio↗Runway AgentRunway · the chat-based marketing agent, Agent 2.0 and Agent Skills · undated product page↗API PricingRunway API Docs · per-model, per-second credit costs and per-generation minimums↗Introducing Runway Gen-4.5Runway Research · flagship video model, page dated December 1, 2025 · returned a 500 on one fetch July 27, 2026 and loaded normally on re-test, so treat the link as intermittent↗Runway CharactersRunway · real-time avatars, launched March 2026 · undated product page↗Introducing Runway GWM-1Runway Research · the general world model behind Characters↗Introducing Act-OneRunway Research · the performance-capture lineage behind Act-Two↗AI Mindset