Correction, 2026-10-02: Kling's membership prices ($6.99, $25.99, $64.99, $127.99) were given as monthly prices; Kling labels them a first-subscription discount, and the plans renew at $8.80, $32.56, $80.96 and $159.99. The page now shows both. We also said Kling's app gets Kling's newest features first, which we could not source; Kling's guide says Pro and higher list priority access to new features, and that is what the page now says. We also gave Adobe Firefly Standard as $11.99 a month; Adobe's US plans page, checked 2026-10-02, lists it at $9.99 a month for the same 2,000 generative credits, and the page now says so. Finally, the costed clip assembled two talking shots and a music bed with Merge Videos, whose merged file has no sound, so the voice and music would have been lost. Assembly now goes on the timeline in 8frame's Video Editor mode, the Merge Videos row is gone, and the total drops from 738 to 728 credits.
Correction, 2026-10-01: this page sent consistent-character shots to Wan 3.0 reference-to-video at 34 credits for 5 seconds at 480p (68 at 720p) and costed the 30-second clip with it. That was wrong: on the canvas, base Wan 3.0 animates one start image and takes no reference images, and its 34-credit reference-to-video mode exists only through the 8frame MCP connector, driven by a reference clip. The cheapest reference-image route on the canvas is Grok Imagine's reference mode, from 35 credits for 5 seconds at 480p and 48 at 720p. The costed clip now uses it, so its total drops from 938 to 738 credits.
The best AI animation generator depends on which of three jobs you mean: generating animated-style video from a prompt, animating artwork you already made, or driving a character with a real performance. Paid tools split along the same lines. Runway (from $12 a month billed yearly) has tools for performance transfer (Act-Two) and for editing existing video (Aleph); Kling's own app (from $6.99 for the first month, $8.80 after) lists priority access to new features on Pro and higher; Adobe Firefly Standard ($9.99 a month for 2,000 credits) suits teams already in Adobe. On 8frame you run the pieces on one board and pay per clip: a 30-second animated clip with a consistent character and two spoken lines costs about 738 credits.
TL;DR
- Performance to a character: Runway Act-Two (on Runway, or on 8frame as Runway Act Two at 8 credits a second of reference)
- Kling in its own app: memberships from $6.99 for the first month ($8.80 after) for 660 credits a month; Pro and higher list priority access to new features; the free plan is watermarked and not for commercial use
- Inside Adobe: Firefly Standard, $9.99 a month for 2,000 generative credits
- Consistent character across shots on 8frame: Grok Imagine's reference mode (1 to 10 reference images), from 35 credits for 5 seconds at 480p, 48 at 720p
- A character that talks: Hailuo H3 Max Lip Sync animates a still to an audio track, 54 credits for 5 seconds at 768p
The three jobs
Generated animated video. Describe a scene and a model generates it in an animated style. Cheap and fast, weakest on keeping a character the same between shots.
Animating your own artwork. Draw or generate a still, then animate it: a push, a camera move around it, a looping element, a character turning. Far more controllable, and usually what people mean.
Performance-driven animation. A real actor's timing and expression drive a character. The most directable of the three, and the one where the tool matters most.
The picks
Runway
Runway's plans, as listed on its pricing page: Standard $12 a month billed yearly for 625 credits a month, Pro $28 for 2,250, Max $76 for 9,500 ($15, $35 and $95 billed monthly). Gen-4.5 costs 12 credits a second on Runway's API, so 625 credits is about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5. Act-Two transfers a performance from a driving video to a character, 5 credits a second on the API, and Aleph edits an existing video: adding, removing and transforming objects, generating new angles, changing style and lighting.
Pick it for: performance-driven characters and editing clips you already have. On 8frame, Runway Act Two and Gen-4 Turbo image-to-video run at 8 credits a second each; Aleph and Gen-4.5 are on Runway only.
Kling's own app
Kling's credit guide lists these memberships:
| Kling plan | First month | Monthly renewal | Credits a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $6.99 | $8.80 | 660 |
| Pro | $25.99 | $32.56 | 3,000 |
| Premier | $64.99 | $80.96 | 8,000 |
| Ultra | $127.99 | $159.99 | 26,000 |
Kling marks the first-month prices "first-subscription discount only" and lists the renewal price next to each, so verify at checkout. Pro and higher list priority access to new features. Kling's credits policy lists watermark removal and 1080p as premium-only, and free-plan content is not for commercial use. Membership credits last a month; purchased credits two years.
Pick it for: steady Kling-only work in Kling's own app, with priority access to new features on Pro and higher. Kling v3 on 8frame is 57 credits for 5 silent seconds, 86 with audio; Kling O1 Reference, which holds a subject from up to 7 reference images, is 73 silent.
Adobe Firefly
Adobe's plans page lists free daily generations across image, video and audio, including partner models such as Nano Banana, and Firefly Standard at $9.99 a month for 2,000 generative credits.
Pick it for: teams whose animation already runs through Adobe tools.
The 8frame canvas route
Every step of an animated piece on one board, from the character design to the talking shot, paid per generation:
| Job | Tool | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Design the character | Nano Banana 2 at 1K / Seedream 5 Lite | 11 / 6 |
| Same character across shots | Grok Imagine reference mode, 1 to 10 reference images, 5 s at 480p / 720p | from 35 / 48 |
| Animate a still | Wan 3.0, 5 s at 480p / 720p | 24 / 48 |
| Camera move around an illustration | Hailuo H3 Max Camera Controls, 5 s at 480p | 34 |
| A character speaking a line | Hailuo H3 Max Lip Sync, 5 s at 768p | 54 |
| The voice for that line | ElevenLabs text to speech, per started 1,000 characters | 13 |
| Performance from an actor | Runway Act Two, per second of reference | 8 |
| Join the shots, picture only (the merged file has no sound) | Merge Videos | 10 |
A credit is $0.01 at pack rate. The canvas is free and unlimited; generation is paid from $19/month.
A 30-second animated clip, costed
Five shots of a recurring character, two of them with a spoken line, and a music bed:
| Item | Tool | Count | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Character sheet variants | Nano Banana 2, 1K | 3 | 33 |
| Shots, 5 s at 720p, 2 takes each | Grok Imagine reference mode, one reference image | 10 | 480 |
| Voice lines | ElevenLabs text to speech | 2 | 26 |
| Talking shots, 5 s at 768p | Hailuo H3 Max Lip Sync | 2 | 108 |
| Music bed | ElevenLabs Music | 1 | 81 |
| Total | 728, about $7.30 |
Assemble the shots, the voice lines and the music bed on the timeline in 8frame's Video Editor mode (video, text, caption and sound layers) or in your own editor. Merge Videos would join the picture only and drop the talking shots' voices.
What to check: the character's face, colours and proportions against the sheet in every shot, the mouth shapes on the talking shots in your art style (test one line before committing), and whether the style holds when the camera angle changes.
How to choose
You need a character to act. Runway Act-Two, on Runway or as Runway Act Two on 8frame.
You want priority access to Kling's new features. Kling's app, on Pro or higher.
You live in Adobe. Firefly.
You're building a whole short piece and want design, consistency, dialogue and assembly in one place, paying per clip. The canvas route.
For the free options in each category, see best free AI animation generators.
FAQ
Can AI make a full animated short? Short sequences, yes; a long film with timing, performance and many consistent characters is still a production job. Plan for short pieces, idents, loops and beats inside something larger.
How do I keep my character the same across shots? Design it as a still first, then use that still as the reference for every shot: Grok Imagine's reference mode (1 to 10 images), Kling O1 Reference (up to 7) or Seedance (up to 9). Describing the character in more words doesn't make a model remember it between generations.
Can an animated character lip-sync? On 8frame, Hailuo H3 Max Lip Sync animates a still to an audio track, billed on the audio's length (5-second minimum). Test it on your art style with one line first.
Is AI animation a replacement for an animator? For backgrounds, loops and stylised inserts, often. For character animation with timing and performance, it's a tool an animator directs.
Sources
- Runway plans: runway.com/pricing, fetched 2026-09-05
- Runway API pricing (Gen-4.5, Act-Two): docs.dev.runwayml.com/guides/pricing, fetched 2026-09-30
- Runway Aleph: runway.com/research/introducing-runway-aleph, checked 2026-09-30
- Kling credits policy: kling.ai/docs/point-policy, fetched 2026-09-29
- Kling VIDEO 3.0 credit cost guide (2026-07-28; first-month and renewal membership prices, priority access to new features on Pro and higher): kling.ai/blog/kling-video-3-0-credit-cost-guide, fetched 2026-10-02
- Adobe Firefly plans: adobe.com/products/firefly/plans.html, fetched 2026-10-02
- 8frame prices: the 8frame app, checked 2026-09-30; Grok Imagine reference mode and Wan 3.0 inputs re-read 2026-10-01
- Merge Videos (Montage) output has no audio track: the 8frame app, checked 2026-10-02; Video Editor mode layers: the 8frame app, checked 2026-10-02
Design first, then animate from the design. The 8frame canvas is free and unlimited; generation is paid from $19/month.