Draw Things vs Runway
Side-by-side comparison · Updated September 2026
| Description | Draw Things is a local AI image and video creation app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It suits creators who want to choose their models, work with existing images and keep local generation on their own Apple hardware. Its free local workflow does not require a subscription or token allowance. Download the app and the models you need before relying on offline access; optional Cloud Compute is a separate workflow with account and network requirements. Start with a text prompt or an existing image, choose a compatible model and refine the result. The official app listing describes image-to-image, inpainting, outpainting, ControlNet, pose editing and an infinite canvas. You can import community diffusion models and LoRAs, or train LoRAs on-device. The current product also supports image-to-video workflows. These options make it useful for testing visual concepts and editing selected regions, but model choice, available memory and device performance affect what you can practically generate. We have not benchmarked rendering speed or output quality. The provider lists a Free Edition for local compute and a free Community account for Cloud Compute and Lab Hours. Draw Things+ is advertised at US$8.99 per month, with higher cloud limits, custom LoRA uploads and additional cloud features. Numeric cloud quotas are not published on the reviewed pricing page. The US App Store also lists optional Boost Bundles, but check their current in-app entitlements before buying. Enterprise access is available by contacting the provider for organization deployment, on-premise inference and application integration; no public enterprise price is shown. Local and cloud privacy should be considered separately. Draw Things describes local creation as offline and says most creations and data can stay on the device. Its policy documents an optional Apple sign-in identifier for Cloud Compute and subscription transaction information for paid access. Uploaded LoRAs are stored on cloud servers until you delete them or the account. The app release history also mentions Google sign-in, while the policy still describes Apple sign-in; check the current account flow rather than assuming that every sign-in method has identical data handling. The policy says it does not use third-party analytics or advertising frameworks for tracking. Use the official Apple listing for Draw Things, Inc., app ID 6444050820, to distinguish it from similarly named apps. The US listing carries an 18+ age rating. For a first project, use a non-sensitive reference image, confirm the chosen model fits your device and test a modest output before attempting larger images or video. Review imported model, LoRA and source-image licenses before commercial work: free software access does not itself grant rights to every model or generated asset. Draw Things is the stronger fit here when model control and local editing matter; compare a simpler fixed-model generator if you mainly want to turn short text prompts into images. | Runway is a creative platform for generating and editing video, images and related media. It is operated by Runway AI, Inc. For an image-to-video experiment, begin with a reference image and a short motion brief, then choose a model available in your account. A generated shot can help explore a scene or campaign direction, but it still needs review for continuity, faces, text and product details before joining a finished sequence. The Free plan provides 125 credits once and 5GB of asset storage. Runway's help page says these deposited credits do not expire, but they do not replenish after spending; a Free account cannot buy additional credits without upgrading. Videos generated on Free carry a watermark. The available free models change, so the initial balance does not guarantee a particular image-to-video model, duration or resolution. Check the current tool selector and the charge shown for the intended generation. Current individual monthly plans are Standard at $15 for 625 credits, Pro at $35 for 2,250 credits and Max at $95 for 9,500 credits. Annual billing displays monthly equivalents of $12, $28 and $76. Standard lists 20GB storage, up to three projects, five parallel video/image generations, no watermarks and 4K upscaling. Pro lists 100GB storage, up to five projects, fifteen parallel generations, a Brand Kit, a custom voice clone and Runway MCP. Max lists 500GB storage, up to ten projects, twenty parallel generations and one-month credit rollover. These are separate plan allowances, not unlimited video-generation promises. The paid model table provides a useful cost example: Gen-4.5 is listed at 60 credits for five seconds. On that setting, ten attempts would use 600 of Standard's 625 monthly credits. That calculation does not measure success rate or include other work, and it does not establish Free access to Gen-4.5. Budget retries and finishing work separately. Model choices and credit prices should be checked again when the project starts. Team and Enterprise have a separate pricing view. Team is shown at $69 per seat per month on monthly billing with a minimum of two users; Enterprise asks customers to contact sales for custom credits and requirements. Compare storage, shared projects, account controls and delivery needs before selecting a team plan. Developer API pricing is also separate from the individual plan comparison. Runway's terms say it does not claim ownership of compliant inputs or outputs and does not restrict commercial use of outputs under the agreement. This does not clear third-party rights or guarantee copyright protection. The terms also describe using content to improve or train models; Enterprise advertises a separate no-training condition, so assess the agreement applicable to your account before submitting confidential assets. We reviewed published product and plan information without benchmarking generated clips. Pika and Vheer offer alternative starting points for short image-to-video experiments with their own credits and export conditions. |
| Category | Art Generator | Generative Video |
| Rating | No reviews | No reviews |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting Price | Free | Free |
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| Tags | local AIimage generationimage-to-imageinpaintingvideo generation | AI video generationimage to videovideo editingcreative productionAI images |
| Features | ||
| Local image generation on iPhone, iPad and Mac | ||
| Offline creation after downloading compatible models | ||
| Image-to-image, inpainting, outpainting and ControlNet | ||
| Infinite canvas and image-to-video workflows | ||
| Imported diffusion models and LoRAs | ||
| On-device LoRA training | ||
| Optional Community and paid Cloud Compute | ||
| AI video and image generation | ||
| Reference-based image-to-video workflows | ||
| Music, voice and sound effects generation on listed paid plans | ||
| Free tier with 125 one-time credits | ||
| Plan-dependent 4K upscaling and parallel generations | ||
| Shared Team and Enterprise workflows | ||
| Runway MCP on listed Pro and Max plans | ||
| View Draw Things | View Runway | |
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