Veo 3.1 in Flow credits vs the Gemini API: cost of an 8-second clip

An 8-second Veo 3.1 clip in Google Flow costs 10 credits on Lite, 20 on Fast and 100 on Quality for most plans, with Ultra paying half on Lite and Fast. In the Gemini API the same 8 seconds at 720p is $0.40 on Lite, $0.80 on Fast and $3.20 on the standard model. Sume's catalog does not list a Veo model, so this is a Google-only comparison with a pointer to what Sume offers instead.

Credits are from Google's Flow credits page, dollars from the Gemini API pricing page and the limits from the Veo 3.1 page, all read 2026-10-02.

What does Google charge per second in the API?

The pricing page lists Veo 3.1 standard at $0.40 a second for 720p and 1080p and $0.60 for 4K. Veo 3.1 Fast is $0.10 at 720p, $0.12 at 1080p and $0.30 at 4K. Veo 3.1 Lite is $0.05 at 720p and $0.08 at 1080p. Durations are 4, 6 or 8 seconds, and the Veo page notes that 8 seconds is required for extension, reference images, 1080p and 4K.

What does a month of credits buy?

Flow's monthly bonus is 200 credits on Plus, 1,000 on Pro, 10,000 on Ultra at $100 and 25,000 on Ultra at $200. On Pro, 1,000 credits is 100 Lite clips, 50 Fast clips or 10 Quality clips of 8 seconds each. On the $100 Ultra tier the same pool is 2,000 Lite, 1,000 Fast or 100 Quality clips. The Quality price does not drop for Ultra, so Quality is where the plan gives the least relief.

Daily free credits (50) and monthly subscription credits expire on a schedule described in the credits page, so unused balance is not a store of value.

What changes on October 22?

Google's deprecations page lists veo-3.1-generate-preview and veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview as shutting down on October 22, 2026, with gemini-omni-1.1-flash named as the replacement. That affects API users. It says nothing about how Flow will name or price its own Veo options after that date, so the Flow credits above should be read as today's numbers. Our post on the October 22 shutdown covers the migration.

What does Sume offer instead?

Sume's video catalog lists other models behind one Video Router, including gemini-omni-flash-1.1 at 3 to 10 seconds. The router bills provider list times 1.25 per output second; read the current rates and limits from GET /v1/video-router/models instead of assuming one envelope. Omni Flash is the model Google itself names as the Veo successor in the API, which makes it the nearest like-for-like route.

curl https://api.sume.com/v1/video-router/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY"

What do the Lite and Fast limits mean for the choice?

Google's Veo page says Lite supports 720p and 1080p only, with no reference images and no extension, while standard and Fast also offer 4K, up to three reference images and extension of 7 seconds up to 20 times at 720p. Audio is always on for all three, and generated videos are stored on Google's servers for 2 days, so download what you keep.

That makes Lite the cheap option for plain text-to-video or image-to-video and Fast the cheap option when you need references. The 8-second rule applies whenever you use 1080p, 4K, references or extension, so those clips cost the 8-second figures in the table whatever length you wanted.

What is the honest summary?

Per 8-second clip, Flow's Lite and Fast credits are cheap if your plan includes plenty of them, and Quality at 100 credits is the expensive step. The API prices are plain dollars you can budget before the run. If your target is a pipeline that must keep working after October 22, plan around Omni Flash, not a Veo preview id.