New API vs Runway
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. | 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 | Developer Tools | Generative Video |
| Rating | No reviews | No reviews |
| Pricing | Open Source | Freemium |
| Starting Price | N/A | Free |
| Plans | — |
|
| Use Cases |
|
|
| Tags | AI gatewayLLM routingmodel managementrate limitingusage accounting | AI video generationimage to videovideo editingcreative productionAI images |
| 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 | ||
| 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 New API | View Runway | |
Modify This Comparison
Also Compare
Explore more head-to-head comparisons with New API and Runway.