Descript vs InVideo AI vs Luma Dream Machine vs MiniMax Hailuo
A side-by-side look at Descript, InVideo AI, Luma Dream Machine and MiniMax Hailuo for filmmakers: what each one can do, what it costs, and where they actually differ.
-
Edit video and podcasts by editing the transcript, with an AI co-editor built in
- Price
- Free (1 hr/mo, 720p, watermarked) · Hobbyist $16/mo annual ($24 monthly) · Creator $24/mo annual ($35 monthly) · Business $50/mo annual ($65 monthly, per person)
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Podcast and interview editing from the transcript
-
AI assistant editor on a real multitrack timeline, with a free manual editor
- Price
- Free plan; paid plans per seat from €20/mo (€10/mo billed annually)
- Learning
- Moderate
- Best for
- Short social, ad and explainer videos built from generated clips, stock and talking-head footage
-
Agent-run video and image studio with Ray3.2 camera control and multi-model access
- Price
- From $30/month (Plus), or $25/month billed yearly ($300/yr)
- Learning
- Moderate
- Best for
- Storyboard-driven shorts and ads where keyframe timing matters (Ray3.2 and Scenes)
-
Chinese AI lab behind the H3 video model: cheap per-second 2K clips with native audio, open weights
- Price
- API: H3 from $0.08/s (768P) or $0.13/s (2K); see the vendor's pricing page for consumer plans.
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Retry-heavy B-roll: generate several 768P variants, then regenerate the best one at 2K
The short version
Where they differ
- MiniMax Hailuo is the only one without third-party models.
- InVideo AI is the only one without public API.
All 4 offer: AI agent, text to video, voice / TTS.
Feature by feature
Descript vs InVideo AI vs Luma Dream Machine vs MiniMax Hailuo: capabilities
| Descript | InVideo AI | Luma Dream Machine | MiniMax Hailuo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (1 hr/mo, 720p, watermarked) · Hobbyist $16/mo annual ($24 monthly) · Creator $24/mo annual ($35 monthly) · Business $50/mo annual ($65 monthly, per person) | Free plan; paid plans per seat from €20/mo (€10/mo billed annually) | From $30/month (Plus), or $25/month billed yearly ($300/yr) | API: H3 from $0.08/s (768P) or $0.13/s (2K); see the vendor's pricing page for consumer plans. |
| Infinite canvas | No | No | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Node / flow builder | No | No | Partial | No |
| AI agent | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Chat assistant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Team collaboration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Text to image | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image editing | Partial | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Text to video | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image to video | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video to video | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
| Native audio in video | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Lip-sync | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Voice / TTS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Music & SFX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Upscaling | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Character consistency | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Camera control | Not confirmed | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Custom training | Partial | Not confirmed | Partial | Not confirmed |
| Third-party models | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Public API | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Mobile app | Not confirmed | Yes | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Desktop / local | Not confirmed | No | No | Yes |
| Open source | No | No | No | Partial |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed | Partial |
| Commercial use | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes | Not confirmed |
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page. "Not confirmed" means the vendor doesn't say.
Plans
Pricing compared
Descript
| Free | $0monthly |
|---|---|
| Hobbyist | $16 annual / $24 monthlyper person |
| Creator | $24 annual / $35 monthlyper person |
| Business | $50 annual / $65 monthlyper person |
| Enterprise | Customcustom |
InVideo AI
| Free | €0weekly quota |
|---|---|
| Starter | €20monthly (€10/mo billed annually) |
| Plus | €60monthly (€30/mo billed annually) |
| Max | €150monthly (€75/mo billed annually) |
Luma Dream Machine
| Plus | $30monthly, or $25/mo billed yearly ($300/yr) |
|---|---|
| Pro | $90monthly, or $75/mo billed yearly ($900/yr) |
| Ultra | $300monthly, or $250/mo billed yearly ($3,000/yr) |
| Team | Contact salescustom |
| Enterprise | Contact salescustom |
MiniMax Hailuo
| H3 768P (API) | $0.08per second of output |
|---|---|
| H3 2K (API) | $0.13per second of output |
| H3-Max 480P (API) | $0.05per second of output |
| H3-Regeneration (API) | $0.05per second of regenerated output |
| Hailuo-2.3 768P 6s (API, legacy) | $0.28per video |
The verdict
Which one should you pick?
Descript
Pick it for
- Podcast and interview editing from the transcript
- Talking-head YouTube videos: filler word removal, retakes, captions
- Webinar and course repurposing into clips with captions and translation
Stands out
- Text-first editing: cut, reorder and remove filler words by editing the transcript, which is faster than frame-by-frame cutting for talking-head and interview footage.
- Recording and editing in one place: Rooms records each participant locally (up to 4K on paid plans) and the files open directly in the editor, with SquadCast now part of the product.
Watch out
- Underlord is still labelled beta and its per-prompt credit cost varies between runs of the same prompt
- Free plan is limited to 1 hour per month, 720p, with a watermark, and one seat
InVideo AI
Pick it for
- Short social, ad and explainer videos built from generated clips, stock and talking-head footage
- Cutting talking-head, podcast and multicam recordings: silences, filler, angle switching and chapters
- Editors who want an AI first pass and then finish in Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve
Stands out
- The AI works on a real multitrack timeline, and every edit it makes can be adjusted by hand afterwards.
- Exports an editable project to Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve with cuts and layers intact, so the AI cut can move into a finishing workflow.
Watch out
- Credits are per seat and do not roll over to the next month
- Seedance 2.0 at 4K and Seedance 2.5 are only on Plus and Max; Starter gets Seedance 2.0 Fast and Mini
Luma Dream Machine
Pick it for
- Storyboard-driven shorts and ads where keyframe timing matters (Ray3.2 and Scenes)
- Agencies producing one hero spot resized to many placements (Variants)
- Creature and character motion with consistent references (Master Reference Assets)
Stands out
- Agent-run workflow: Luma Agents plan, select models, generate and iterate from a brief, with a separate Brainstorm mode that doesn't spend credits on renders.
- Shot-level control on Ray3.2: up to 16 keyframes per clip, frame-by-frame direction, and Luma Scenes storyboards you can retime before rendering.
Watch out
- Entry price is $30/month, above the $15 Runway Standard list price
- Agent credit usage makes it hard to predict clips per plan before buying
MiniMax Hailuo
Pick it for
- Retry-heavy B-roll: generate several 768P variants, then regenerate the best one at 2K
- Image-to-video shots that need a locked first frame from a still or storyboard panel
- Keeping one character, product or voice consistent across shots with reference inputs
Stands out
- Published per-second API pricing you can budget against: $0.08/s at 768P, $0.13/s at 2K, $0.05/s for 480P H3-Max.
- H3-Regeneration takes a 768P render to 2K at $0.05/s, so you can generate cheap variants and only upscale the picks.
Watch out
- Hard 15 second cap per clip, and durations are whole seconds only
- Local open weights top out at 768P; 2K needs the hosted API
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.
Build a different comparison →