D-ID vs Hedra vs Krea vs Runway
A side-by-side look at D-ID, Hedra, Krea and Runway for filmmakers: what each one can do, what it costs, and where they actually differ.
-
Turn one photo and a script into a talking-head video, or a real-time AI avatar
- Price
- Trial with watermark, then from $5.90/mo (Lite)
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Animating a single historical figure or archival portrait for a documentary insert
-
Character video AI: a portrait plus audio becomes a directed talking or acting performance
- Price
- From $20/mo (Basic, 2,000 credits); Pro $50/mo; Ultra $100/mo; Teams $75/mo; Enterprise custom
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Talking-character explainers and spokesperson videos from a single portrait
-
Multi-model AI canvas, agent and API for images, video and upscaling
- Price
- Basic $9/mo; Pro $35/mo ($21 yearly); Business $200/mo ($160 yearly); see the vendor's pricing page for other plans
- Learning
- Moderate
- Best for
- Pre-visualization: moodboards, look development and concept stills for a shoot
-
Gen-4.5 video, Aleph 2.0 video editing and an agent that builds whole ad campaigns
- Price
- Free (125 one-time credits); Standard $15/mo ($12/mo billed annually)
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Previs and shot tests with Gen-4.5 before committing to a shoot
The short version
Where they differ
- D-ID is the only one without text to video.
- D-ID is the only one without third-party models.
All 4 offer: image to video, public API.
Feature by feature
D-ID vs Hedra vs Krea vs Runway: capabilities
| D-ID | Hedra | Krea | Runway | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Trial with watermark, then from $5.90/mo (Lite) | From $20/mo (Basic, 2,000 credits); Pro $50/mo; Ultra $100/mo; Teams $75/mo; Enterprise custom | Basic $9/mo; Pro $35/mo ($21 yearly); Business $200/mo ($160 yearly); see the vendor's pricing page for other plans | Free (125 one-time credits); Standard $15/mo ($12/mo billed annually) |
| Infinite canvas | No | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Node / flow builder | No | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
| AI agent | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Chat assistant | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Team collaboration | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Text to image | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image editing | Not confirmed | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Text to video | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image to video | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video to video | Partial | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Native audio in video | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Lip-sync | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Voice / TTS | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
| Music & SFX | No | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
| Upscaling | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
| Character consistency | Partial | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Camera control | No | Yes | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Custom training | Partial | Not confirmed | Yes | Partial |
| Third-party models | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Not confirmed | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Mobile app | Partial | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Desktop / local | Partial | No | Not confirmed | No |
| Open source | No | No | Partial | No |
| Free tier | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial use | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page. "Not confirmed" means the vendor doesn't say.
Plans
Pricing compared
D-ID
| Trial | $0monthly |
|---|---|
| Lite | $5.90monthly |
Hedra
| Free | $0monthly |
|---|---|
| Basic | $20monthly |
| Pro | $50monthly |
| Teams | $75monthly |
| Ultra | $100monthly |
| Enterprise | Customcustom |
Krea
| Free | $0monthly |
|---|---|
| Basic | $9monthly or yearly |
| Pro | $35 list / $21 yearlymonthly or yearly |
| Business | $200 list / $160 yearlymonthly or yearly |
| Enterprise | Customcustom |
Runway
| Free | $0none |
|---|---|
| Standard | $15monthly |
| Pro | $35monthly |
| Max | $95monthly |
The verdict
Which one should you pick?
D-ID
Pick it for
- Animating a single historical figure or archival portrait for a documentary insert
- A talking mascot or brand character for short social clips
- Founder or expert explainers when the person will not film
Stands out
- Single-photo specialist: one still image plus a script gives a speaking head with no footage, no actor, and no studio, which HeyGen and Synthesia workflows do not match for a one-off face.
- Real-time streaming API for live avatars (agents you can embed on a site), not only rendered MP4s.
Watch out
- Watermark on Trial and Lite, and a full-screen watermark on Trial
- 5-minute output cap and sync quality that drifts on longer clips
Hedra
Pick it for
- Talking-character explainers and spokesperson videos from a single portrait
- UGC-style ads and product walkthroughs with an illustrated or AI-generated presenter
- Music videos and animated shorts where a character must sing or talk on camera
Stands out
- Built for character performance first: one portrait plus audio gives lip-sync, expression and gesture, and it works on illustrated characters as well as photos.
- Character-3 clips run up to 10 minutes per generation, far longer than most single-shot video models, and are priced per second at 2.5c (540p), 5c (720p) or 6.25c (1080p).
Watch out
- Output tops out at 1080p on Character-3 and Omnia, below 4K-capable rivals
- Credits expire monthly and do not roll over, according to third-party reviews
Krea
Pick it for
- Pre-visualization: moodboards, look development and concept stills for a shoot
- Producers who want Seedance, Nano Banana and ChatGPT Image in one account instead of three subscriptions
- Motion designers generating short hero clips with a reference image and a generated soundtrack
Stands out
- One compute balance covers Krea's own models plus third-party image and video models (Seedance 2.5, Nano Banana Pro, ChatGPT Image 2, Kling, Topaz), so you do not need a separate subscription per model.
- Canvas, node workflows and the Krea Agent sit in the same product, so a brief can be run as a chat or built as a visual graph.
Watch out
- Compute units are opaque: per-model costs are not published, so budgeting video is guesswork
- Native video is capped at 720p for Seedance 2.5; 1080p and 4K need Seedance 2.0
Runway
Pick it for
- Previs and shot tests with Gen-4.5 before committing to a shoot
- Fixing finished footage with Aleph 2.0, such as swapping backgrounds or wardrobe across a clip
- Agency ad and campaign work using Agent, Brand Kits and Projects
Stands out
- Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0 sit in one credit pool with third-party models such as Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.5, Wan 3.0 and Nano Banana Pro, so you can compare models without separate subscriptions.
- Aleph 2.0 edits existing footage rather than generating new clips, which keeps the rest of a shot stable.
Watch out
- Credits burn fast: about 12 credits per second for Gen-4.5 and about 28 for Aleph 2.0
- Single generations run about 10 seconds, so longer scenes need stitching
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page, checked against vendor pricing and changelog pages (oldest check: ). Sources are listed on each tool's page.
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