Independent · bilingual · checked by hand
Kling or Runway?DeepSeek or ChatGPT?
Compare AI video generators and AI assistants from China and the West on what each plan costs, what it actually includes, and how to sign up and pay from where you live. Every price links to the vendor’s own page and shows the date we checked it.
Start with a question
How much does a usable AI video clip really cost?
AI video generators →9 toolsIs a free AI assistant good enough, or is $20 a month worth it?
AI assistants →9 toolsWhich Chinese AI tools can I sign up for outside China?
Chinese AI tools →7 toolsAre ChatGPT, Claude and Runway available where I live?
Western AI tools →Tracked tools
View all →ChatGPT
OpenAI
OpenAI's general assistant with search, files, data analysis, images and voice in one app.
Claude
Anthropic
Anthropic's assistant for long documents, careful writing, analysis and agentic coding with Claude Code.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek
Hangzhou-based lab with open-weight models, a free chat app and a low-cost pay-as-you-go API.
Doubao
ByteDance
ByteDance's AI assistant for mainland China, with free chat and video generation, paid membership tiers for heavier use, and Doubao models sold through the Volcano Engine API.
Dreamina
ByteDance
ByteDance's image and video generation site, part of CapCut. It runs ByteDance's own Seedance video and Seedream image models alongside third-party models such as Sora 2 and Veo 3.1, all paid for from one credit balance.
Gemini
Google's assistant across the web, Android and Gmail, Docs and Sheets. Paid Google AI plans add more Gemini use, Google's top models and cloud storage.
Hailuo AI
MiniMax
MiniMax's video generation app, known for fast text-to-video and image-to-video with strong motion.
Kimi
Moonshot AI
Moonshot AI's assistant, known for long-context reading, agentic tasks and open-weight K-series models.
Kling
Kuaishou
Kuaishou's text-to-video and image-to-video model, sold through an international web app with a credit-based plan.
Luma Dream Machine
Luma AI
Palo Alto-based Luma AI's video and image generation app, built around its own Ray models. It also offers third-party models such as Kling, Seedance and Veo from the same credit balance.
Perplexity
Perplexity
An AI answer engine that searches the web and cites its sources in every answer. Paid plans add top models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, Deep Research and Computer.
Pika
Pika Labs
Pika Labs' creative platform for AI video, images and sound. Alongside its own Pika models it offers third-party models such as Seedance, MiniMax and Nano Banana on one credit balance.
Qwen
Alibaba
Alibaba's model family: a free international chat app, many open-weight models and a commercial API on Alibaba Cloud.
Runway
Runway
New York-based video generation and editing suite. Besides its own Gen models it also offers third-party models such as Kling and Seedance inside one credit balance.
Vidu
Shengshu Technology
Shengshu Technology's video model, offering text-, image- and reference-to-video plus image generation. Sold on vidu.com with credit-based plans billed monthly or yearly.
Z.ai (GLM)
Zhipu AI (Z.ai)
Zhipu AI's international brand: a free GLM chat app, open-weight GLM models, a pay-as-you-go API and a GLM Coding Plan subscription for coding tools.
No tools match. Try a maker name such as Alibaba or OpenAI.
Head-to-head
View all →Latest price and limit changes
View all →| Date | Tool | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2026 | ChatGPT | Verified Prices, plan limits, sign-up and payment options confirmed on the official site. |
| Oct 29, 2026 | Claude | Verified Prices, plan limits, sign-up and payment options confirmed on the official site. |
| Oct 29, 2026 | DeepSeek | Verified Prices, plan limits, sign-up and payment options confirmed on the official site. |
| Oct 29, 2026 | Doubao | Partly checked Sign-up options, membership payment methods, free credits and API prices confirmed on official pages. Doubao shows membership prices only at checkout in the app, and we are confirming them. |
| Oct 29, 2026 | Dreamina | Partly checked Basic's monthly price and credits, yearly prices for every plan, and sign-up and payment options are confirmed on the official site. US monthly prices for Standard, Advanced and Ultra are still being confirmed. |
| Oct 29, 2026 | Gemini | Verified Prices, plan limits, sign-up and payment options confirmed on the official site. |
How we verify
How we verify →- 一
Every price has a date
Plans change monthly. Each figure shows when we last checked it, and unchecked figures are marked as such.
- 二
Sources, not summaries
We link the official pricing or help page behind each claim, so you can check it yourself.
- 三
Tested in both languages
We run the same prompts in English and Chinese, and record sign-up and payment from both sides.