# Runware > Low-cost media generation across image, video, audio and 3D behind one request schema. Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/runware · By The Subconscious Team · Updated October 11, 2026 - Founded: 2023 - Example models: Seedance 2.5, Qwen-Image-3.0 - Website: https://runware.ai ## Overview Runware sells what it calls the lowest-cost API for media generation, and it claims more than 1M developers. One endpoint covers image, video, audio, 3D and text. Every request is a task with the same shape, so switching from a Kling video to a Seedream image mostly means changing the model ID. The published rate sheet lists 300+ priced models, with images from fractions of a cent to a few cents each and video billed per second, like Seedance 2.5 at about $0.10 a second at 480p. Under the API sits the Sonic Inference Engine, custom hardware and software built as one system. Sonic Inference Pods pack about 1 MW of compute per container, go from order to live in roughly three weeks, and draw power straight from the source, which Runware says cuts capital cost 90% against a traditional data center. A Model Lake keeps 400K+ models resident and routes each request to the right pod, which Runware says lands prices around 10x lower. Runware Serverless, launched in October 2026, bills GPUs by the second, with launch pricing from $1.60 a GPU-hour pay-as-you-go and H100s at $3.95 an hour. Bare-metal Sonic Pod clusters start at 72 GPUs. ## Upsides - Aggressive per-generation pricing across a huge media catalog. - One request schema across every modality, plus batching many tasks in one call. ## Core use cases - High-volume consumer apps generating images or short video. - Teams running fine-tuned diffusion models or community checkpoints at scale. ## Downsides - Output URLs expire after seven days by default, so apps need their own storage. - LLM hosting is a side line next to media, so text workloads fit better elsewhere. ## At a glance | Attribute | Value | |---|---| | Model access | Hosted media models | | Flagship models | Seedance 2.5, Qwen-Image-3.0 | | Speed | - | | Price | Images from fractions of a cent | | Customization | Fine-tuned diffusion checkpoints | | Deployment | Unified API, serverless GPUs, bare metal | | Long context | Not applicable | ## FAQ ### What is Runware? Runware sells what it calls the lowest-cost API for media generation, and it claims more than 1M developers. One endpoint covers image, video, audio, 3D and text. Every request is a task with the same shape, so switching from a Kling video to a Seedream image mostly means changing the model ID. The published rate sheet lists 300+ priced models, with images from fractions of a cent to a few cents each and video billed per second, like Seedance 2.5 at about $0.10 a second at 480p. ### What is Runware best for? High-volume consumer apps generating images or short video; Teams running fine-tuned diffusion models or community checkpoints at scale. ### How much does Runware cost? Runware pricing at a glance: Images from fractions of a cent. Rates change often, so check Runware's pricing page before committing. ### How much context does Runware support? Runware's long-context support: Not applicable. ### What are the downsides of Runware? Output URLs expire after seven days by default, so apps need their own storage; LLM hosting is a side line next to media, so text workloads fit better elsewhere. ### What are the best alternatives to Runware? Common alternatives include Subconscious, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Vertex AI, Amazon Bedrock. Each has a head-to-head comparison with Runware on this site. ## Comparisons - [Subconscious vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-runware.md) - [OpenAI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/openai-vs-runware.md) - [Anthropic vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/anthropic-vs-runware.md) - [Google Vertex AI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/google-vertex-vs-runware.md) - [Amazon Bedrock vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/aws-bedrock-vs-runware.md) - [Together AI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/together-ai-vs-runware.md) - [Fireworks AI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/fireworks-vs-runware.md) - [Baseten vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/baseten-vs-runware.md) - [Groq vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/groq-vs-runware.md) - [Cerebras vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/cerebras-vs-runware.md) - [DeepInfra vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepinfra-vs-runware.md) - [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/hugging-face-vs-runware.md) - [Modal vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/modal-vs-runware.md) - [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-runware.md) - [xAI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/xai-vs-runware.md) - [Mistral AI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/mistral-ai-vs-runware.md) - [DeepSeek vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-runware.md) - [Moonshot AI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/moonshot-ai-vs-runware.md) - [Z.ai vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/z-ai-vs-runware.md) - [Alibaba Cloud vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/alibaba-cloud-vs-runware.md) - [Meta vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/meta-vs-runware.md) - [Cohere vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/cohere-vs-runware.md) - [SambaNova vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/sambanova-vs-runware.md) - [Nebius vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/nebius-vs-runware.md) - [Crusoe vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/crusoe-vs-runware.md) - [fal vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/fal-vs-runware.md) - [Novita AI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/novita-ai-vs-runware.md) - [Venice vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/venice-vs-runware.md) - [Parasail vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/parasail-vs-runware.md) - [Inference.net vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/inference-net-vs-runware.md) - [GMI Cloud vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/gmi-cloud-vs-runware.md) - [Thinking Machines vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/thinking-machines-vs-runware.md) - [Sail Research vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/sail-research-vs-runware.md) - [Morph vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/morph-vs-runware.md) - [Relace vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/relace-vs-runware.md) - [TypeSafe AI vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/typesafe-ai-vs-runware.md) - [StepFun vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/stepfun-vs-runware.md) - [Runware vs StreamLake](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/runware-vs-streamlake.md) - [Runware vs Wafer](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/runware-vs-wafer.md) - [Runware vs RunInfra](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/runware-vs-runinfra.md) - [Runware vs Particle.AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/runware-vs-particle-ai.md) - [Runware vs Luminal](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/runware-vs-luminal.md) - [Runware vs Infron](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/runware-vs-infron.md) - [Runware vs Inception](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/runware-vs-inception.md) - [Runware vs Dolphin](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/runware-vs-dolphin.md) ## Sources - [Runware pricing](https://runware.ai/pricing) - [Sonic Inference Engine](https://runware.ai/sonic-inference) - [Runware docs](https://runware.ai/docs/platform/introduction) - [Runware Serverless](https://runware.ai/serverless) Pricing and model lineups change often; figures are a snapshot.