Is the Runway API free?

No. Runway's developer API bills credits bought in its developer portal, and its own pricing page lists the per-second rate for each model. Here Gen-4.5 bills per clip from a prepaid balance, from $10, and a clip that fails to render is refunded in full.

Is the Runway ML API free?

Runway ML is the same company; the API is the paid developer product at dev.runwayml.com and the consumer app at runway.com has its own plans. Neither includes free API generation. The route on this page is a prepaid key that covers Gen-4.5 and the other video models in the table.

How much does it cost to use the Runway API?

Here, Runway Gen-4.5 is $0.4688 for a 5-second clip ($0.0938 per second), against Runway's list of $0.60 for the same clip, 21% under. The longer clip is in the table. Runway's own page prices in credits per second; the link on this page goes to it, read on 2026-10-27.

How much does Runway cost?

Two different prices. The Runway app sells monthly plans with credits for the editor; the Runway API sells credits per second of generated video to developers. This page is about the API price: a Gen-4.5 clip from one key that also covers Veo, Kling, Seedance and Wan.

Can I get a Runway API key for free?

Not a key that generates for free. The videos and forum posts that promise one route to trial credits or a shared proxy. The honest floor is a $10 top-up here, by card or in USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL; the per-clip figure above says how many clips that is.

How do I get a Runway API key without a Runway account?

Open an account here with an email address, top up, create a key. The key starts sk-relay- and is sent as a Bearer token to https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/generations with model runway-gen-4.5. No Runway account, no identity documents, no card for crypto top-ups. The account holds the email, the top-ups and one generation record per request; request bodies are kept only as part of that record for 30 days.

Which Runway models are on the key?

Runway Gen-4.5 (runway-gen-4.5), text to video and image to video, 5 or 10 seconds, with aspect_ratio and seed. Runway's docs cover its wider model list; the catalog at GET https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/catalog/media says what is on the key today.

Models / Media / Runway

Runway API without a Runway account

A Runway API key with no Runway account: Gen-4.5 on the same prepaid key as Veo, Kling, Seedance and Wan, priced per clip and read live next to Runway's own page. Paid by card or in USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL, no KYC, nothing added on the top-up.

Top up with crypto Open an account

$0.4688Gen-4.5, 5-second clip$0.60 on Runway's list

$0.0938Per second21% under list

$10Minimum top-up

0Runway accounts needed

Runway API pricing

Gen-4.5 per clip, read live

USD per clip from the catalog at render, with the per-second figure beside it. Runway prices the same model in credits per second on its own pricing page (read 2026-10-27); the list column is the catalog's record of that price in USD.

Model	Clip	Per clip	Per second	Runway's list
Runway Gen-4.5runway-gen-4.5	5 seconds	$0.4688	$0.0938	$0.60 (21% under)
Runway Gen-4.5runway-gen-4.5	10 seconds	$0.9375	$0.0938	$1.20 (21% under)

The charge is fixed when the request is accepted and refunded in full if the clip fails. Text to video and image to video bill the same.

Beside it on the key

The other video models, per second

Same endpoint, same key, same balance. Change the model id to compare a shot across developers.

Model	Setting	Price	Per second
Veo 3.1 Fast	resolution 720p	$0.48 per generation	$0.06
Kling 3.0 Pro	sound false	$0.2438 per second	$0.2438
Seedance 2	resolution 480p	$0.125 per second	$0.125
Wan 3.0 Text to Video	resolution 480p	$0.20 per second	$0.20
Hailuo 2.3	resolution 768p, duration 6	$0.2188 per generation	$0.0365

Lowest base tier of each. The AI video API page has every video model and every tier.

Runway API key

Get a key and render a clip

Three steps, then one POST and a poll.

01
Open an account
An email address. No Runway account, no identity documents, no phone number.
02
Top up
From $10 by card, Apple Pay, PayPal or in USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL. The balance is USD and does not expire.
03
Create a key
In the console. Send it as a Bearer token to https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/generations with model runway-gen-4.5.

Submit with curl

bash

1curl https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/generations \

2 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_RELAYSWITCH_KEY" \

3 -H "Content-Type: application/json" \

4 -d '{

5 "model": "runway-gen-4.5",

6 "input": {

7 "prompt": "A cyclist crossing a wet city street at dusk, neon reflections",

8 "duration": 5,

9 "aspect_ratio": "16:9"

10 }

11 }'

202 with a generation id and the charge. Poll GET https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/generations/{id} until succeeded; outputs[0].url is the MP4, served for 30 days.

Image to video in Python

python

1import os, time, requests

3BASE = "https://api.relayswitch.io/v1"

4HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['RELAYSWITCH_KEY']}"}

6gen = requests.post(f"{BASE}/generations", headers=HEADERS, json={

7 "model": "runway-gen-4.5",

8 "input": {"prompt": "A cyclist crossing a wet city street at dusk", "duration": 5,

9 "aspect_ratio": "16:9", "image_urls": ["https://example.com/first-frame.jpg"]},

10}, timeout=30).json()

11print(gen["id"], "charged", gen["charge"]["amount_usd"])

13while gen["status"] not in ("succeeded", "failed"):

14 time.sleep(5)

15 gen = requests.get(f"{BASE}/generations/{gen['id']}", headers=HEADERS, timeout=30).json()

17print(gen["status"], gen["outputs"][0]["url"] if gen["status"] == "succeeded" else gen["charge"]["refunded"])

The input fields are Runway's own: prompt, duration, aspect_ratio, image_urls for a first frame, seed. Runway's developer documentation describes what Gen-4.5 does with each; the catalog at GET https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/catalog/media lists the values the key accepts and the price of each.

What is stored: the email address, the top-ups, the keys, and one generation record per request with its file for 30 days. Not stored: a name, an ID, a phone number, a card for crypto top-ups. The privacy page has the full list.

FAQs

Runway by API: questions

Free tiers, cost and the key.

Open the console

A key in under a minute

Get a key

Or email hello@relayswitch.io

Gen-4.5 on a prepaid key

From $10 by card or in USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL. No Runway account, no KYC.

Every video model Top up with crypto