Gemini vs Google AI Studio vs Replicate
A side-by-side look at Gemini, Google AI Studio and Replicate for filmmakers: what each one can do, what it costs, and where they actually differ.
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Google's multimodal assistant, now with Omni video generation and Flow for filmmakers
- Price
- Free; Google AI Plus from €4.99/mo; AI Pro €21.99/mo; AI Ultra from €99.99/mo (EUR)
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Previs and fast B-roll drafts from a script line
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Browser workspace to prototype with Gemini, Veo, Nano Banana and Lyria, then build and export an app
- Price
- Free tier for some models; paid is pay-as-you-go per token or per output (Veo 3.1 Standard from $0.40/s)
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Testing shot prompts and image edits on Nano Banana before committing to a paid render budget
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API to run hosted image, video and audio models, billed per second of GPU time or per output
- Price
- Pay per second of hardware: $0.000225/s (T4) to $0.001525/s (H100). No monthly plan on the pricing page; enterprise is custom.
- Learning
- Moderate
- Best for
- Batch-generating stills or frames overnight, such as concept art or look-dev variations
Where they differ
- Only Gemini offers infinite canvas.
- Replicate is the only one without chat assistant.
- Only Replicate offers third-party models.
All 3 offer: text to image, text to video, image to video, native audio in video, public API.
Gemini vs Google AI Studio vs Replicate: capabilities
| Gemini | Google AI Studio | Replicate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free; Google AI Plus from €4.99/mo; AI Pro €21.99/mo; AI Ultra from €99.99/mo (EUR) | Free tier for some models; paid is pay-as-you-go per token or per output (Veo 3.1 Standard from $0.40/s) | Pay per second of hardware: $0.000225/s (T4) to $0.001525/s (H100). No monthly plan on the pricing page; enterprise is custom. |
| Infinite canvas | Yes | No | No |
| AI agent | Partial | Partial | No |
| Chat assistant | Yes | Yes | No |
| Team collaboration | Partial | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Text to image | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image editing | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Text to video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image to video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video to video | Yes | Partial | Not confirmed |
| Native audio in video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Voice / TTS | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
| Music & SFX | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
| Upscaling | Yes | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Character consistency | Partial | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Camera control | Partial | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Custom training | No | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Third-party models | No | No | Yes |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Partial | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Partial | Not confirmed |
| Desktop / local | No | Partial | Partial |
| Open source | No | No | Partial |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page. "Not confirmed" means the vendor doesn't say.
Pricing compared
Gemini
| Free | €0monthly |
|---|---|
| Google AI Plus | €4.99monthly |
| Google AI Pro | €21.99monthly |
| Google AI Ultra | from €99.99monthly |
Google AI Studio
| Free | $0none |
|---|---|
| Paid (pay-as-you-go) | Per token or per output unitusage |
| Enterprise | Customcontract |
Replicate
| Public models, hardware time | $0.000025/s (CPU) to $0.001525/s (H100)per second of runtime |
|---|---|
| Public models, per output | varies by model, e.g. flux-1.1-pro $0.04 per image; wan-2.1 i2v 480p $0.09/s; 720p $0.25/sper output image, token or second of video |
| Private / dedicated deployments | not listed on the pricing pagesetup + idle + active time (fast-booting fine-tunes: active time only) |
| Enterprise / committed spend | customcontract |
Which one should you pick?
Gemini
Pick it for
- Previs and fast B-roll drafts from a script line
- Extending a good 10-second shot into a longer continuous take
- Research and treatment writing with Deep Research before a shoot
Stands out
- Video with synced audio from the same chat box that does research and image editing, no separate tool to switch into
- Omni can use a short existing clip (up to 3 s) as a reference to keep a character or look consistent, and extend a scene from its last 10 seconds
Watch out
- Clips are short; scene extension is needed for anything over 10 seconds
- Video is metered by Flow credits, so heavy iteration runs out fast on Plus
Google AI Studio
Pick it for
- Testing shot prompts and image edits on Nano Banana before committing to a paid render budget
- Generating short Veo 3.1 clips with synced dialogue or ambience for pre-viz
- Building a small internal tool for a shoot, such as a shot-list tracker or a contact-sheet viewer
Stands out
- Same models as the Gemini API with a free tier for testing: Veo 3.1, Omni Flash, Nano Banana and Lyria are all callable from one browser workspace before any billing is set up.
- Native audio on video: Veo 3.1 Standard generates video with synced audio at $0.40/s for 720p or 1080p, which most rivals in this catalog bill separately.
Watch out
- Gemini-family models only; no access to Kling, Runway or Seedance from here
- Several 3.x rates are promotional until Dec 31, 2026, then roughly double
Replicate
Pick it for
- Batch-generating stills or frames overnight, such as concept art or look-dev variations
- Adding image, video or speech generation to an internal tool or a web app
- Transcribing rushes or interviews in bulk and posting results to a webhook
Stands out
- Thousands of open and hosted models behind one REST API and SDKs (Python, Node), with no GPU setup or CUDA drivers
- Billing is per second of hardware time from $0.000025/s (CPU) to $0.001525/s (H100), or per output image or per second of video for models priced that way
Watch out
- Developer tool: no timeline, canvas or prompt UI for editors
- Per-second video models add up fast on long clips and many takes
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.