Verified Oct 15, 2026

Pika

Active

Text-to-Video Generators1Write a reviewUnited StatesEffect71/ 100

Video, image and audio generation studio fronting a dozen third-party models and its own, priced in credits with no watermark on any tier.

text to video image to videovideo effectssocial videoFreemium · from $10/mo

Listed on EffectHub · Aug 16, 2026

InputsTOutputsWeb · iOS · API

Screenshot of the Pika website — pika.art as we captured it — our own screenshot, not the vendor’s press image.

Pricing

Pricing model: Freemium
Paid options from: $10/mo
Billing: Monthly

Free plan has no monthly credits but can buy packs. Starter $10/month (or $8 on yearly) for 900 credits, Creator $35 ($28 yearly) for 3,150 credits and a commercial licence, Fancy from $95 ($76 yearly) for 8,550 credits with priority queue, Enterprise custom. Credit packs run $25 for 1,500 to $1,000 for 66,000, expire after 365 days and work only on the web app, not the API, MCP or iOS app; plan credits do not roll over and payments are non-refundable.

Use tool ↗

Overview

About Pika

Pika has grown from a short-clip generator into a creative suite: a Video Studio that stitches multi-shot pieces up to 30 seconds, tools to extend, colour-grade, swap any element or transfer motion, an Image Studio with character and product-shot modes, and Music, Speech and SFX studios plus a soundtrack tool that scores a clip with music, ambience and foley. Behind the interface it routes to its own Pika 2.5 and Pikaframes models and to third-party ones such as Seedance 2.5, MiniMax H3, Wan 3.0, GPT Image 2.5, Nano Banana and ElevenLabs voices. Output is metered in credits on monthly plans or one-off packs, none of the tiers watermarks, and a commercial licence starts at the Creator tier. Developers get the same models through the Pika API Club. The operator is Mellis, Inc. of Palo Alto, California.

Platforms: Web · iOS · API
API: Yes
Last verified: Oct 15, 2026

Verified sources

Pricing page: Free $0 with packs only; Starter $10/month ($8 yearly) 900 credits; Creator $35 ($28 yearly) 3,150 credits with commercial licence; Fancy from $95 ($76 yearly) 8,550 credits; Enterprise custom; packs $25 for 1,500 up to $1,000 for 66,000, expire after 365 days, web-only; no watermark on any plan; payments non-refundable (15 October 2026)pika.art ↗
Homepage lists Video, Image and Audio studios, Seedance 2.5, MiniMax H3, Wan 3.0, Google Omni Flash, Pika 2.5 and Pikaframes video models, GPT Image 2.5, Nano Banana and Seedream image models, ElevenLabs speech, and the Pika API Club on dev.pika.art (15 October 2026)pika.art ↗
Terms of service: operated by Mellis, Inc., 849 High St, Palo Alto, California 94301, governed by California law; subscriptions and credits non-refundable; last modified 08/04/2026 (15 October 2026)pika.art ↗
Pika's iOS app 'Pika - AI Video' is listed on the App Store (15 October 2026)apps.apple.com ↗

Fact check

Is Pika legit?

We don’t label tools safe or unsafe. Below are the records we checked ourselves, each with the date we read it.

Domain registered: Jun 29, 2023 (3 years ago)Registry record (RDAP), registrar NameCheap, Inc., looked up Sep 6, 2026
TLS certificate: Issued by Let's Encrypt, valid until Nov 15, 2026Seen in our own connection to the site on Oct 15, 2026
Last checked: Oct 15, 2026The site answered
Operated by: Mellis, Inc., United StatesOur research, card verified Oct 15, 2026

How we collect these records

Editorial verdict

Pros & cons of Pika

high confidence

Pika is now less a video model than a storefront for them: Seedance, MiniMax, Wan and Google models for video, GPT Image and Nano Banana for stills, ElevenLabs for speech, all behind one credit balance and one editor, with Pika's own effects and swaps as the house specialty. That is convenient for social creators who want to try whichever model is best this month without five subscriptions, and the no-watermark free tier is a fair way to test. The catch is the credit maths, which differs per model and resolution, and the fact that top-up packs cannot be spent on the API or the iOS app.

Pros

No watermark on any plan, including Free
A dozen current third-party video, image and speech models alongside Pika's own
Credit packs available on every plan, so Free users can pay as they go
Commercial licence from the $35 Creator tier and an API club for developers

Cons

Credit cost per generation varies by model and resolution, so plan credits are hard to translate into clips
Top-up credits are limited to the web app and expire after 365 days; plan credits do not roll over
All payments are non-refundable under the terms
Pricing page shows conflicting yearly figures for Creator and Fancy between the cards and the comparison table

Best for

Social-video creators who want effects, swaps and short multi-shot clips without learning a timeline editor
Anyone who wants to compare several video and image models under one balance
Teams that need a commercial licence on generated clips from a mid-priced tier

Not for

Long-form or frame-accurate editing; the studio tops out at 30-second pieces
Developers who expect web credits to carry over to the API, which they do not

Watch out: Buy top-up packs only for web use: the pricing page says they do not work on the API, MCP or the iOS app, and the terms make credits non-refundable except where the law requires.

#7inText-to-Video Generators· of 70 tools, ranked by rating and popularity

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