Hailuo AI
videoby minimax
The best budget AI video generator. MiniMax's cost effective tool produces 1080p clips from text and images at a fraction of competitor pricing.
Key features
Free tier available, Standard at $14.99/mo
Budget conscious creators who want AI video generation without paying $20 to $250 per month for premium tools
Most cost effective AI video generator on the market; roughly one sixth the cost of Veo per clip (approximately $0.49 per 6 second clip)
What it does
Text to Video Generation
Generate 1080p video clips from natural language text descriptions. Describe a scene, action, lighting, and mood, and Hailuo creates a video clip (typically around 6 seconds per generation).
Learn moreImage to Video Generation
Upload a reference image and animate it into a video clip. Useful for bringing still photos, illustrations, or generated images to life.
Multiple Style Options
Experiment with different visual aesthetics for your generations, allowing varied looks across projects.
Rapid Iteration
Quick generation times enable fast iteration cycles, letting you refine prompts and regenerate until you get the result you want.
Free Tier
Try Hailuo without any financial commitment. The free tier provides limited daily generations with watermarks, enough to test quality before upgrading.
Pricing
Free
Limited generations per day with watermarks. Enough to test video quality before committing to a paid plan.
- Limited daily generations
- 1080p output
- Text to video
- Image to video
- Watermarks on all output
Lite
More generations, faster processing, and reduced watermarks for casual users.
- More generations than free
- Faster processing
- Reduced watermarks
- Text to video
- Image to video
Standard
Best value for regular users. Higher generation limits, no watermarks, and priority queue.
- Higher generation limits
- No watermarks
- Priority queue
- Text to video
- Image to video
- All style options
Pro
Highest limits and fastest processing for power users and professional creators.
- Highest generation limits
- Fastest processing
- No watermarks
- All features
- Priority support
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Most cost effective AI video generator on the market; roughly one sixth the cost of Veo per clip (approximately $0.49 per 6 second clip)
- Free tier available for testing quality before committing to a subscription
- 1080p output quality is solid for the price point
- Both text to video and image to video generation supported
- Rapid iteration cycles with quick generation times
- Backed by MiniMax, a well funded publicly traded company with over $1.5 billion raised, ensuring continued model improvements
- No Google, OpenAI, or other Big Tech account required; standalone product
Cons
- Video quality does not consistently match top tier output of Veo 3.1 or Runway Gen 4.5 on the most demanding prompts
- No native audio generation; clips are silent (unlike Veo 3 which generates synchronized dialogue and sound effects)
- Shorter maximum clip length (around 6 seconds) compared to some competitors
- Limited camera control options compared to Google's Flow or Runway's director tools
- Free tier includes watermarks on all generated content
- MiniMax is based in China, which may raise data privacy considerations for some users
How to get started
Create your account
Go to hailuoai.video and create a free account. The free tier provides limited daily generations with watermarks, enough to test quality before committing.
Generate your first video
Describe the scene you want in natural language. Include details about the subject, action, lighting, camera angle, and mood. You can also upload a reference image for image to video generation.
Experiment and iterate
Try different levels of detail in your prompts. More specific descriptions (camera angle, lighting, mood) generally produce better results. Use the style options to explore different visual aesthetics.
Upgrade when ready
Standard ($14.99/mo) offers the best balance of generation limits and features. Pro ($29.99/mo) provides the highest limits and fastest processing. Lite ($9.99/mo) is a middle ground with more generations than free.
Deep dive
Detailed guides with comparisons, tips, and visuals for each feature.
Hailuo Version History
From basic text to video in 2024 to refined 1080p generation with improved prompt understanding in version 2.3.
Cost per Clip Comparison
How Hailuo's per clip pricing stacks up against Veo, Runway, Kling, and Sora.
MiniMax: The Company Behind Hailuo
MiniMax's broader AI model ecosystem including frontier language models, audio synthesis, character AI, and their Hong Kong IPO.
Hailuo vs Other Video Generators
Detailed comparison with Veo, Runway, Kling, Sora, and Seedance across quality, features, and pricing.
Links
Documentation
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Last updated: 2026-02-19