Google's 15-second AI video is $1.05 a clip. Here's the catch.

On November 5, Google announced Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash, its video model. It was one of the top stories on Hacker News the next day with over 300 points. Most of the comments were about billing and access, not about video quality. That tells you where the real question is for a solo builder: what does a clip actually cost me?

I read Google's launch post and the discussion to work that out. This is what is confirmed, what is not, and how I would price a clip before building anything on it.

What Google confirmed

From the launch post:

• Clips go up to 15 seconds, up from 10 in Omni 1.1. You set the length in one second steps from 3 to 15.
• The price is $0.07 per second for 720p video. Google calls that a 30% cut from Omni 1.1.
• You can make drafts at 360p or 720p and upscale them to 1080p or 4K.
• Inputs can include character, product or style images, motion clips of up to three seconds, and audio cues.
• Multi-turn editing lets you revise a clip without regenerating it.
• It is generally available on the Gemini API and on Google Cloud (Vertex AI and Gemini Enterprise). Flow and Google Vids get it too. The Gemini app is rolling it out to AI Ultra subscribers.
• Output carries an imperceptible SynthID watermark.

Google also lists what it is still working on: fast sports action, rapid script changes and complex physics. The post gives no benchmark scores. Its comparisons with Omni 1.1 are examples, not numbers.

The math

At $0.07 a second, a full 15 second clip at 720p is 15 x $0.07 = $1.05. That is my arithmetic from Google's price, not a figure Google states.

That is the cost of one take. The cost you pay is takes times $1.05:

| Takes | Cost at 720p | |---|---| | 1 | $1.05 | | 5 | $5.25 | | 10 | $10.50 | | 20 | $21.00 |

How many takes a good clip needs depends on your prompt and your subject. I have not tested this model, so I will not guess a number. What I can say is that the per-second price is not the budget. Your retry count is.

What is not confirmed

Google states the 720p price. I could not find a stated per-second price for 360p, 1080p or 4K in the launch post. One outlet says those prices are unconfirmed, and the post only mentions "similar savings". If your plan is draft at 360p and ship at 4K, you do not yet have both numbers. Read the pricing page before you budget.

The catch: it depends where you buy

The same model is sold in different ways.

• Gemini API: $0.07 a second at 720p. This is the number everyone quotes.
• Flow: billed in credits. One Hacker News commenter says a six second clip now costs about 18 credits, up from 10 on Omni 1.1, despite the "cheaper" headline. Another says the API is about 30% cheaper than Flow's credit price. These are single commenters, not Google, so treat them as reports to check in your own account.
• Gemini app: 15 second clips are rolling out to AI Ultra subscribers first.
• Google Vids: 15 second clips at no extra cost with a Google account or Workspace subscription, per Google.

If you compare a price from one of these with a price from another, you are comparing different things. Several commenters also said Google's billing and plan setup are confusing, and some suggested using OpenRouter or Vercel to reach Google's models. I have not tried either, so I am only passing on what was said.

3 checks before you price a clip

1. Pick the surface. API bills per second. Flow bills credits. Write down which one you will use and use only that price.
2. Multiply by takes. Seconds x $0.07 x the takes you expect. Count retries, not only the final cut.
3. Draft low, upscale last. Test at 360p, upscale only the keeper, and read the 1080p and 4K rates first.

What to do this week

Open Google's pricing page for the Gemini API and write down the rate for each resolution you plan to use. Then make one short clip and look at the usage in your own account, so your budget comes from your bill, not from a launch post. If you plan to use Flow, check its credit price for the same clip length too, since that is where one commenter saw a change.

Sources: Google's Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash launch post (November 5, 2026) and the Hacker News discussion.

Which surface would you use to make video, the API, Flow or something else?