I Compared the Cost of Every AI Video API: Here’s What Each Clip Actually Costs

The real dollar cost of MiniMax, Kling, Sora, and Veo from someone running them all in production

I run a platform that integrates six different AI video models behind one API, and I can tell you exactly how much each five-second clip costs to generate. Not the marketing price. Not the “starting at” price. The actual dollar amount that leaves my account every time a user clicks “Generate.”

Nobody publishes this data. If you have searched for an AI video model comparison that includes real dollar figures, you know what I mean. And I think I know why.

The Pricing Transparency Problem

Most AI video reviews come from people who signed up for a free trial, generated three clips, and wrote a blog post. They can tell you which model makes the prettiest output. They cannot tell you what it costs to run that model a thousand times a day.

I am not that reviewer. I am the guy staring at API invoices at 2 AM trying to figure out why Tuesday’s costs spiked 40%. I built Apatero (app.apatero.com), an AI generation platform that lets users pick from multiple video models. Every generation hits a real API. Every API call has a real cost. And…