By CompareBestAI Editorial Team
Quick Answer Focal pricing starts at $0 with a free plan for personal use, then Starter at $10/month (1,000 credits), Standard at $30/month (3,900 credits) and Pro at $100/month (15,000 credits). Every paid plan adds 50 daily credits, premium models such as Veo and Seedance, and commercial use. In Focal's Pro quality mode, Starter covers about 5 minutes of video a month, Standard about 20 minutes and Pro about 79 minutes. Best value for most creators: Standard ($30/month) · CBAI score: 8.0/10
Focal is an agentic AI video platform from Fluorescent Labs, Inc. that turns an idea or script into a multi-scene story video. Focal pricing is credit-based, not per user: you pay for how much video you generate, and the quality mode you choose decides how fast credits run out. This guide shows each plan, what it produces in minutes of video, the real cost per minute, and how Focal compares with other AI video tools. All prices are in USD for US customers and were checked on focalml.com on September 29, 2026.
Focal pricing at a glance
| Plan | Price | Monthly credits | Daily credits | Models | Commercial use | ≈ Pro-mode minutes* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | None | None | Basic models, slower generations | No | n/a |
| Starter | $10/mo | 1,000 | 50 | Premium models incl. Veo and Seedance | Yes | ~5 min |
| Standard | $30/mo | 3,900 | 50 | Premium models incl. Veo and Seedance | Yes | ~20 min |
| Pro | $100/mo | 15,000 | 50 | Premium models incl. Veo and Seedance | Yes | ~79 min |
*CBAI estimate: monthly credits divided by ~190 credits per minute in Pro mode, excluding daily credits. Focal advertises "up to" 1,000, 3,900 and 15,000 seconds of video per month on its cheapest settings. Source: Focal's pricing page, September 29, 2026.
See Focal's full score and plan details →
Key Takeaways: Focal Pricing in 2026
- Four plans: Free, Starter ($10), Standard ($30) and Pro ($100). There are no per-user seats or Team tiers.
- Credits, not seats, set the price. The same plan buys very different amounts of video depending on the quality mode.
- Commercial use starts at $10/month. The free plan is for personal use only.
- Standard is the best value for regular creators, at roughly $1.46 per minute of Pro-mode video.
- Focal is one of the cheapest story-video tools to start with. Most competitors start at $15 or more.
How Focal Pricing Works: Credits and Quality Modes
Every paid Focal plan gives you a monthly credit allowance plus 50 daily credits. Generating video, images, voices and sound uses credits. The biggest factor in how far your credits go is the quality mode, which decides the video model Focal runs:
| Mode | Video model | Approx. cost | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast | LTX | ~18 credits/min | Testing scripts and pacing |
| Pro | Seedance 1.5 | ~190 credits/min | Most production work, strong character consistency |
| Max | Seedance 2.0 Fast | ~600 credits/min | Final cuts that need the best motion and consistency |
Source: Focal Quality Modes documentation, September 2026. Focal marks these costs as approximate and notes that Fast mode often shows inconsistent motion and characters.
A minute in Max mode costs about three times a minute in Pro and more than 30 times a minute in Fast. For how each mode affects output, see Focal features explained.
Focal Plans Explained
Focal Free plan: $0
The free plan lets you try Focal's script-to-video workflow with basic models and slower generations. It includes no monthly or daily credits on Focal's pricing table and no commercial use, so anything you make is for personal projects only.
Best for: testing the workflow before paying.
Focal Starter plan: $10/month
Starter gives you 1,000 monthly credits, 50 daily credits, access to premium models such as Veo and Seedance, and commercial rights. That's about 5 minutes of Pro-mode video, or about 1.7 minutes in Max mode, each month.
Best for: social clips, short skits and one short film a month.
Focal Standard plan: $30/month
Standard gives you 3,900 monthly credits plus 50 daily credits. That's about 20 minutes of Pro-mode video or 6.5 minutes in Max mode, enough for two 10-minute YouTube videos or several shorter pieces each month.
Best for: YouTube creators and storytellers who publish every week or two.
Focal Pro plan: $100/month
Pro gives you 15,000 monthly credits plus 50 daily credits. That's about 79 minutes of Pro-mode video or 25 minutes in Max mode, enough for a short web series or a weekly faceless YouTube channel.
Best for: high-volume channels, series creators and small studios.
Focal Cost Per Minute of Video
Dividing each plan's price by the minutes its monthly credits produce gives a real cost per finished minute (before re-generations and excluding daily credits):
| Plan | Pro mode (~190 credits/min) | Max mode (~600 credits/min) |
|---|---|---|
| Starter ($10) | ~5.3 min, ~$1.90 per min | ~1.7 min, ~$6.00 per min |
| Standard ($30) | ~20.5 min, ~$1.46 per min | ~6.5 min, ~$4.62 per min |
| Pro ($100) | ~78.9 min, ~$1.27 per min | ~25 min, ~$4.00 per min |
CBAI calculation from Focal's published plan credits and approximate per-minute mode costs, September 29, 2026.
The jump from Starter to Standard cuts the per-minute cost by about 23%. The jump from Standard to Pro saves another 13%, so Pro only pays off if you'll actually use most of its credits.
Which Focal Plan Should You Choose?
Pick the plan by how many minutes of finished video you publish each month, then add 50 to 100% for re-generations while you learn.
| If you make… | Monthly Pro-mode minutes | Credits with 1.5× buffer | Plan that fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 social clips of 60 seconds | ~4 min | ~1,140 | Starter ($10), tight; Standard for headroom |
| One 5-minute short film | ~5 min | ~1,425 | Standard ($30) |
| Two 10-minute YouTube videos | ~20 min | ~5,700 | Pro ($100), or Standard with careful drafting in Fast |
| A weekly 10-minute YouTube channel | ~40 min | ~11,400 | Pro ($100) |
| A 3-episode web series (8 min each) | ~24 min | ~6,840 | Pro ($100) |
CBAI estimates from Focal's approximate Pro-mode rate of ~190 credits per minute.
Drafting scripts in Fast mode first (about a tenth of Pro's cost) is the easiest way to fit more finished video into a smaller plan. For real project examples at each length, see our guide to Focal AI video use cases.
Compare Focal plans and try it free →
Costs to Plan For Beyond the Subscription
Focal's pricing is simple, but a few real costs aren't on the plan card:
- Re-generations. Budget 1.5 to 2 times your estimated credits for your first projects, because you'll regenerate scenes while you learn prompting and chat editing.
- Quality mode choice. Rendering everything in Max mode triples your cost versus Pro. Save Max for the shots that need it.
- Commercial rights. Monetized YouTube, ads and client work need a paid plan; the free plan is personal use only.
- Tools Focal doesn't include. Focal has no built-in transcription, captioning or upscaling, according to its FAQ. Many creators add an editor such as Descript (from $8/month) for captions, or an upscaler such as Topaz Video AI.
- No API tier. Focal has no public API yet, so there is no developer or automation pricing. See Focal integrations for details.
What we couldn't confirm: Focal's site doesn't state annual billing discounts, credit rollover, extra credit packs or refund terms. Check the live pricing page or ask Focal through the in-app Support button before you commit. For general tips on catching price changes, see how to monitor AI tool pricing changes, and for add-on traps across AI tools, see our analysis of the hidden costs of popular AI tools.
Focal Pricing vs Other AI Video Tools
| Tool | Free plan | Starting paid price | What the entry plan includes | Commercial use from | CBAI score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focal | Yes (basic models) | $10/mo | 1,000 credits, ~5 min Pro-mode video | $10/mo | 8.0/10 |
| LTX Studio | Yes (800 one-time credits) | $15/mo ($12 yearly) | 8,000 credits, personal use | $35/mo (Standard) | 7.5/10 |
| Runway | Yes (125 one-time credits) | $15/mo | 625 credits, ~52 s of Gen-4.5 | Not listed on CBAI page | 8.0/10 |
| Higgsfield AI | Yes (watermarked) | $15/mo | 200 credits, 1080p | $15/mo | 8.0/10 |
| Hedra AI | Yes (watermarked) | $15/mo | 1,500 credits | $15/mo | 7.5/10 |
| Google Flow | Yes (100 credits + 50 daily) | $19.99/mo | 1,000 credits, part of Google AI Pro | Not listed on CBAI page | 8.0/10 |
| Synthesia | No | $22/mo | 10 min of avatar video | $22/mo | 8.0/10 |
| InVideo | Yes (watermarked) | $25/mo | 50 AI videos/week, stock footage | $25/mo | 7.5/10 |
| Pictory AI | 14-day trial | $29/mo ($25 yearly) | 200 video minutes, stock footage | $29/mo | 7.0/10 |
| HeyGen | Yes (3 videos/mo) | $29/mo ($24 yearly) | 600 credits, avatar video | $29/mo | 7.5/10 |
Competitor prices from CompareBestAI tool pages, checked September 29, 2026. Credits aren't comparable across tools, so compare what each plan produces.
The takeaway: Focal has the lowest paid entry price among story-first AI video tools here, and it includes commercial rights at that price. Runway's $15 plan buys under a minute of its top model, while Focal's $10 plan buys about 5 minutes in Pro mode. They're different models, so it isn't a quality test, but Focal wins clearly on volume. For deeper comparisons, read Focal vs Runway, Focal vs Pictory, LTX Studio pricing or our list of the cheapest AI video generators.
Is Focal Worth the Price?
Yes, if you make story-driven video. At $10 to $30 a month, you get script adaptation, consistent characters, chat editing and access to Veo, Seedance, Kling and ElevenLabs in one account. Buying those models separately would mean several subscriptions.
Probably not, if you need:
- AI avatar presenters for training or sales. Synthesia or HeyGen fit better.
- Stock-footage videos from blog posts. Pictory AI or InVideo are faster.
- An API or automation. Focal doesn't have one yet.
- Long videos at the highest quality every day. Max mode costs about $4 to $6 per minute, which adds up fast.
For a full rundown of options, see our Focal alternatives guide, or read the full Focal review.
How We Researched Focal Pricing
CompareBestAI scores every tool with the same framework, described in how we rank tools. For this guide we:
- Checked Focal's plans, credits, daily credits, free plan and commercial-use terms on focalml.com on September 29, 2026
- Used Focal's Quality Modes documentation for approximate credit costs per minute
- Calculated minutes and cost per minute ourselves from those published figures, and labeled them as estimates
- Took competitor prices from CompareBestAI's tool pages
- Removed plans, discounts, trial terms, add-on fees and refund terms from the earlier version of this page that we couldn't confirm on Focal's site
We didn't run a new hands-on credit-usage benchmark for this update. Where a figure is our calculation rather than Focal's published number, we say so.
Focal Pricing FAQs
How much does Focal cost?
Focal costs $0 on the free plan, $10/month for Starter (1,000 credits), $30/month for Standard (3,900 credits) and $100/month for Pro (15,000 credits). Each paid plan adds 50 daily credits, premium models such as Veo and Seedance, and commercial use rights.
Is Focal free?
Yes. Focal has a free plan that uses basic models with slower generations and is for personal use only. To use Focal videos commercially, such as on a monetized YouTube channel or for clients, you need a paid plan, starting with Starter at $10/month.
How many minutes of video does each Focal plan include?
In Focal's Pro quality mode (about 190 credits per minute), Starter covers about 5 minutes a month, Standard about 20 minutes and Pro about 79 minutes. Max mode costs about 600 credits per minute, so the same plans cover roughly 1.7, 6.5 and 25 minutes.
Which Focal plan is best value?
Standard at $30/month is the best value for most creators. It costs about $1.46 per minute of Pro-mode video, 23% less per minute than Starter, and covers roughly two 10-minute videos a month. Choose Pro only if you'll use most of its 15,000 credits.
Does Focal charge per user?
No. Focal pricing is based on credits, not seats. Each plan gives a monthly and daily credit allowance, and generating video, images, voices and sound uses those credits. Focal's site doesn't list team or per-user plans as of September 2026.
Is Focal cheaper than Runway?
Yes, at the entry level. Focal Starter costs $10/month and covers about 5 minutes of Pro-mode video. Runway Standard costs $15/month for 625 credits, about 52 seconds of its Gen-4.5 model. Runway offers finer shot-level control, but Focal produces far more minutes per dollar.
Final Verdict: Focal Pricing in 2026
Focal's pricing is simple and competitive: a free plan to test the workflow, then $10, $30 and $100 plans that differ only in credits. Commercial rights start at $10/month, lower than any other story-first AI video tool we compared. Standard at $30/month is the sweet spot for most creators, and Pro makes sense only for high-volume channels and series.
Budget carefully around quality modes and re-generations, since they decide how far your credits go, and check the live pricing page for billing terms Focal doesn't publish on its main site.
CBAI score: 8.0/10. Best value plan: Standard ($30/month).
Compare Focal plans and try it free → · Compare Focal with other AI video tools →
Read next: every tool in our Video Generation category.
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