New API vs Pika Labs
Side-by-side comparison · Updated October 2026
| Description | New API is a self-hosted AI gateway and model-management project maintained in the QuantumNous repository. It brings provider channels, access tokens, model restrictions, usage statistics and cost accounting into one interface. Teams supply their own authorized model-provider access and operate the gateway in their chosen environment. The gateway supports several API formats, including OpenAI-compatible requests, Claude Messages and Google Gemini. Compatibility has boundaries: the README marks Gemini-to-OpenAI conversion as text-only without function calling, and OpenAI-compatible to Responses conversion as in development. Test the exact endpoints, streaming behavior and tool calls your application uses before switching traffic. Routing features include weighted channel selection, automatic retry after failures and user-level model rate limits. The dashboard supports request-based, usage-based and cache-hit cost accounting, with token grouping and model-access controls. These controls can help organize usage, but retries and a common API format do not guarantee uninterrupted service or identical behavior across providers. The current repository license is AGPLv3. Docker Compose is the recommended quick-start path in the README, which also documents Docker commands with SQLite or MySQL. Running the software still involves infrastructure, operations and upstream model charges. Review the current license, secure your deployment and validate accounting against provider bills. Compare LiteLLM if you also want a Python SDK or a documented gateway for MCP servers and agents. | Pika is an AI video service for creating short clips from images or text and transforming existing footage. It is operated by Mellis, Inc. A useful starting task is animating one still image with a single movement, such as a slow camera push or a change in the background. Keep the subject and framing clear, then review the clip for continuity, unwanted changes and legible product details before adding it to a finished edit. Pika's current pricing page lists Pika 2.5 alongside Pikascenes, Pikadditions, Pikaswaps, Pikatwists, Pikaffects and Pikaframes. These features have separate credit tables; the monthly allowance is not a count of completed videos. For Pika 2.5 text-to-video and image-to-video, the table labels a five-second 480p generation as 12 credits on Free and a ten-second 480p generation as 24 credits on Paid. A five-second 1080p generation is 40 credits on Paid. Higher resolution and longer clips consume more of the allowance, and retries need their own budget. The monthly billing view lists Basic at $0 with 80 monthly credits, Standard at $10 with 700, Pro at $35 with 2,300 and Fancy at $95 with 6,000. The annual view displays monthly equivalents of $8, $28 and $76 for the three paid plans, billed yearly. Basic lists Pika 2.5 at 480p only; the paid cards list all resolutions. Taxes may apply. Check the selected billing interval before subscribing, and check the generation screen's current cost before starting a job. There is a material inconsistency in Pika's public documentation. Its pricing cards advertise commercial use and watermark-free downloads, including Basic, while the FAQ still describes 150 Basic credits and restricts commercial use and watermark-free downloads to higher plans. Use the current pricing table to compare the offers, but confirm the account's allowance, export behavior and applicable terms before promising a free or Standard deliverable to a client. The current Pro card and FAQ both describe commercial use and watermark-free downloads. The terms say users retain their rights in inputs and outputs, subject to the terms, while warning that outputs may not be copyrightable or unique. Content may be used to train models unless a written exception applies. That matters when choosing reference material: use images you have permission to process, and assess the terms before submitting confidential assets. We reviewed the public pricing and terms rather than benchmarking generated output. Pika fits short motion experiments; a separate video editor is useful for precise cuts, captions and a multi-shot sequence. |
| Category | Developer Tools | Generative Video |
| Rating | No reviews | No reviews |
| Pricing | Open Source | Freemium |
| Starting Price | N/A | Free |
| Plans | — |
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| Use Cases |
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| Tags | AI gatewayLLM routingmodel managementrate limitingusage accounting | AI video generationimage to videotext to videoshort clipsvideo effects |
| Features | ||
| Self-hosted AI gateway and model management | ||
| Provider channels, token groups and model restrictions | ||
| OpenAI-compatible, Claude Messages and Gemini format support | ||
| Documented limits on protocol conversion | ||
| Weighted channel selection and failure retries | ||
| User-level model rate limiting | ||
| Request, usage and cache-hit cost accounting | ||
| Docker Compose deployment documentation | ||
| Text-to-video and image-to-video generation | ||
| Pika 2.5 with resolution and duration-based credits | ||
| Pikascenes, Pikadditions, Pikaswaps and Pikatwists | ||
| Pikaffects for short visual transformations | ||
| Pikaframes for longer frame-based sequences | ||
| Pikaformance audio-driven animation | ||
| Free Basic and three paid monthly plans | ||
| View New API | View Pika Labs | |
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