How VisionStory Credits Work

Credits are VisionStory's usage currency: almost every generation — a talking video, an AI image, a voice preview, a Kling or Seedance clip — spends credits. This guide covers four things: how each feature spends credits, what a credit is actually worth in US dollars, what a finished video really costs, and how the different credit types in your account are used.

How each feature spends credits

V-Character 4.0 talking videos in Presenter are billed per 4-second interval, with partial intervals rounded up. At 720p, each interval costs 1 credit: 1–4 seconds cost 1 credit, 5 seconds cost 2, and 16 seconds cost 4. Resolution and Green Screen add separate charges.

AI Presentation also uses 4-second intervals but has its own rate. Podcast and AI Video Agent (Avatar Story) are billed per second, each at its own rate; see Combined formats below. External models (Kling, Seedance, Wan), standalone Tools, Viral Music, video face swap, and OpenAPI also use separate pricing.

Talking video (AI Avatar / Talking Photo)

This section covers V-Character 4.0 in Presenter. V-Character 5.0 Pro in Cinematic has the per-second rates listed below. The number of intervals is calculated for the whole video, and each charge is then calculated separately:

intervals    = duration ÷ 4 seconds, rounded up
base credits = intervals × 1
video total  = base credits + rounded resolution add-on + rounded Green Screen add-on

Each add-on is rounded up separately to a whole credit, then added to the base credits. Both add-ons use the base credits; Green Screen is not calculated on a total that already includes HD. A 1-minute video (15 intervals) costs 15 credits at 720p, 23 at 1080p, or 53 at 2K. Green Screen adds 4 credits at any of those resolutions. Creating an avatar from your photo is free — credits are only spent when you generate a video.

Other native features

• AI image: billed per model and available on Pro or higher — 1 credit per image for Nano Banana, 2 for Nano Banana 2, and 3 for Nano Banana Pro.
• HD upgrade on a generated talking video: only the resolution add-on is charged, using the same 4-second intervals as talking-video generation. The charge is the number of intervals × 0.5 for 1080p or × 2.5 for 2K, rounded up to a whole credit. Upgrading a 1-minute video costs 8 credits to 1080p or 38 to 2K.
• Standalone Video Upscale tool: separate pricing of 10 credits per 15-second interval, with partial intervals rounded up — 40 credits for 1 minute.
• Background removal tools: 1 credit per image cutout; the standalone video background-removal tool costs 1 credit per 15-second interval, with partial intervals rounded up. This is separate from the Green Screen option during talking-video generation.
• Face swap (video): 4 credits per second at 720p or 6 at 1080p, counting each rounded-up second of the source video (up to 60 seconds). Requires an active subscription and can only use Subscription or Permanent credits.
• Viral Music has different prices for Solo Lip-sync Performance, Story and Duet, detailed below. Eligible new accounts can use 10 sign-up credits for a 15-second Solo Lip-sync Performance preview at 720p when offered. Other Bonus rewards cannot pay for this preview. Paid Solo generation, Story and Duet require an active subscription. Subscribers can use Bonus credits for Viral Music.
• Voice preview: the first 50,000 characters every 24 hours are free; beyond that, 1 credit per 500 characters (rounded up).
• Voice cloning: free — limited only by the number of clones your plan allows.

V-Character 5.0 Pro in Cinematic

V-Character 5.0 Pro in Cinematic is billed per second of output, with partial seconds rounded up. The rates are 1 credit per second at 720p, 2 at 1080p and 4 at 2K. Including a reference video doubles those rates to 2, 4 and 8 credits per second. Image and audio references do not change these rates. A 6-second 720p clip without a reference video costs 6 credits. It accepts Subscription and Permanent credits, plus sign-up credits when an eligible account is offered a trial. Weekly visit rewards and other promotional Bonus credits cannot pay for it.

Viral Music Solo, Story and Duet

Solo Lip-sync Performance and Duet video generation cost 1, 2 or 5 credits per second at 720p, 1080p or 2K. Story video generation costs 1.5, 3 or 6 credits per second at those resolutions. Story and Duet have a separate storyboard preparation charge of 1 credit per 5 seconds, with partial intervals rounded up. Generating a new storyboard image costs 1 credit. Rendering new or edited clips costs credits, while reusable completed clips are excluded from the render charge. Check the estimate for each action before submitting.

For an initial Story or Duet render, the durations being rendered are totaled before rounding up to a whole second. An editing copy can quote per clip. Review the displayed Credit Details for the selected operation. A 27.7-second Duet at 1080p uses 6 credits to prepare the storyboard and 56 credits for the initial render.

For two singers, use one mixed song and one photo containing both performers. Follow the Duet tutorial to prepare the storyboard and select shots.

External video models (billed per second)

These run on third-party providers, so they cost more than native features and are billed per second of output.

Kling and Wan use the listed output rate without a reference-material surcharge. For Seedance 2.5, reference video up to half the output duration is included. Each second above that allowance adds 60% of the selected resolution's per-second rate, and the combined total is rounded up to a whole credit. For example, 10 seconds of 1080p output with 8 seconds of billable reference video costs 150 + (8 − 5) × 9 = 177 credits. The quote uses the reference duration shown in Credit Details. Image and audio references do not add this surcharge. Examples: a 5-second Kling 3.0 clip at 1080p is 15 credits; a 5-second Wan 3.0 clip at 1080p is 25 credits; a 15-second Seedance 2.0 clip at 1080p is 120 credits. The API offers one extra tier these models do not expose in the app — a cheaper 480p option on Seedance and Wan.

Combined formats

Podcast, Presentation, Campaign, and Avatar Story have different billing rules. Campaign uses the V-Character rate above; Presentation has an independent rate per 4-second interval. Podcast and Avatar Story are billed per second of video, each at its own rate, and neither one charges extra for two-person shots.

• Podcast: the base charge is 0.5 credits per second. 720p has no resolution add-on; 1080p adds 0.5 credits per second, and 2K adds 1.5 credits per second. One minute costs 30 credits at 720p, 60 credits at 1080p, or 120 credits at 2K. Two-host (dual) shots cost the same as single-host shots and are not charged double. All shot durations are added together and the total is rounded up to a whole second. The base and resolution charges are calculated on that duration, each is rounded up separately to a whole credit, and the two are added together. For example, 13 seconds at 1080p costs 7 base credits plus 7 resolution credits, for a total of 14; shots are not rounded individually. Generating a scene costs 2 credits per generation, which covers the full set of shot images plus the two-host cover image.
• Presentation (PPT video): the durations of the slides being rendered are added together, divided by 4 seconds, and rounded up to get the number of intervals. The base charge is the number of intervals × 1.5 credits; 2K adds the number of intervals × 2 credits. The base and 2K add-on are each rounded up separately, then added together. A 60-second presentation costs 23 credits at 1080p or 53 credits at 2K. Slides themselves do not carry an additional charge.
• Campaign (AI ads): billed per creative — each a fixed-1080p talking video — with a volume discount as you generate more in one batch.
• AI Video Agent (Avatar Story): only two things cost credits — storyboard images at 1 credit each, and the final render, billed per second of video: 720p costs 1 credit per second, 1080p costs 2 credits per second, and 2K costs 5 credits per second. Two-person shots are not charged double, and a shot you have already rendered is not charged again unless it has to be re-rendered — for example if you change the resolution or edit that shot. Chatting and planning with the agent are free; a paid plan is required.

What a credit is worth in US dollars

Credits come bundled with your plan, so the real cost of a credit depends on two things: your plan tier and whether you pay monthly or annually. Higher tiers and annual billing both lower the price per credit. Here are the two extremes.

In other words, a credit is worth roughly 4 to 8 US cents depending on your plan — and an Ultra annual credit is about 1.9× cheaper than a Pro monthly credit. To make it concrete, a 1-minute 720p talking video (15 credits) works out to about $1.25 on Pro monthly or $0.65 on Ultra annual.

These are standard list prices as of mid-2026 and exclude limited-time promotions. Your actual charge, current prices, and any active discount are always confirmed on the pricing page and the checkout screen.

What a 1-minute video actually costs

The question most people really have is simpler: what does a finished video cost? Here is a 1-minute clip at 720p, priced across VisionStory's own models and two popular alternatives. VisionStory figures use our lowest per-credit rate (Ultra, billed annually, about 4.3 cents per credit).

For a talking-avatar video, VisionStory's native V-Character is by far the most affordable — well under HeyGen and Synthesia. Kling and Seedance are cinematic video generators (a different job than talking avatars), billed per second, so a full minute costs much more. Competitor figures are each platform's lowest published per-minute rate; your exact VisionStory cost always appears on the generation screen before you submit.

The three kinds of credits — and the order they are used

Your balance can hold three kinds of credits. They come from different places and follow different rules.

In the app, your sign-up gift and activity rewards are shown together as Bonus credits. For new subscriptions, starting with the first renewal, unused Subscription credits carry over up to 2 times the renewing plan's monthly-equivalent allowance. Any excess expires, then the full new cycle's credits are added. For annual plans, the monthly equivalent is the annual allowance divided by 12, while the full year's credits are issued upfront. Existing subscriptions under the previous rules keep those rules through continuous renewal, upgrades, downgrades and resuming auto-renewal before the paid period ends. After a subscription ends, subscribing again uses the new rules. Purchased credit packs, sign-up credits and other Bonus credits are unaffected. Remaining Subscription credits are reclaimed when a canceled subscription expires.

Which credits can pay for what

Most generation accepts any credit type, but some higher-cost features are restricted to paid credits:

• Native avatars and talking videos, Viral Music, and images generated inside an agent conversation: any credit, including Bonus.
• External video models (Kling, Seedance, Wan), video face swap, and standalone image generation: Subscription or Permanent only — not Bonus. V-Character 5.0 Pro accepts paid credits and eligible sign-up credits, while weekly rewards and other promotional Bonus credits are excluded.

Sign-up gifts and activity rewards appear together as Bonus in the app, but feature previews can use only the sign-up portion. The accepted credit types depend on the selected feature.

The order credits are spent

For native generation, credits are spent Subscription → Permanent → Bonus. Subscription credits go first on purpose: they are reclaimed if your plan ends, so using them first means you get full value from what you already paid for, while your never-expiring Permanent and Bonus credits wait until last. Kling, Seedance, Wan and standalone images spend Subscription and Permanent credits. V-Character 5.0 Pro and feature previews have the sign-up-credit rules described above.

When you run low: credit packs and Auto Recharge

If you have an active subscription and need more credits, you can buy a one-time credit pack from the Billing page or an out-of-credits prompt. Purchased credits never expire. You can also enable Auto Recharge to automatically purchase your chosen number of credits whenever your paid balance — your Subscription and Permanent credits, not Bonus credits — falls below the threshold you set, or upgrade to a higher-tier plan for a larger included credit allowance.