Google Veo 3 for ads

Veo 3 or Veo 3.1: which one do you get?

Veo 3.1, in Flow and on the Gemini API. The only Veo models on Flow’s models page are Veo 3.1 Lite, Fast and Quality. The API’s pricing page prices only Veo 3.1 (Flow models, Gemini API pricing). Google’s Veo guide for the API marks Veo 3 and Veo 3 Fast “Deprecated” (Veo docs).

What does Veo make for ads?

Veo 3.1 makes clips of 4, 6 or 8 seconds with sound, speech included, in 9:16 or 16:9 (Veo page, model page). Google Cloud’s model page lists 720p and 1080p output, and 4K for Veo 3.1 Standard.

Google DeepMind’s Veo page points to six ways in. They are Flow (its video tool), the Gemini app, Google Vids, Google AI Studio, the Gemini API and Cloud’s enterprise API (Veo page).

In Flow, Quality costs 100 credits an 8-second clip for all users. That is five times Fast’s 20 on Pro, whose 1,000 monthly credits make 10 Quality clips (Flow credits).

What a Veo 3.1 Fast clip costs, route by route

At 1080p, Google AI Pro costs less than the Gemini API from 21 Fast clips a month. Ultra (5x) costs less than Pro plus the API only from 134 clips.

Each Flow row divides the plan’s price by its monthly credits: $199.99 a month, $99.99 a month and $19.99 a month, listed on 24 September 2026 (plans). Flow’s 1080p upscaling costs Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers 0 credits. So each Flow row compares with the API’s 1080p row (Flow credits, Gemini API pricing).

Pro’s $19.99 a month covers 50 Fast clips and matches the API’s 1080p rate at 20.8 clips: $19.99 divided by $0.96 (plans).

Past Pro’s 50 clips, each extra clip on the API costs $0.96, and Ultra’s extra $80.00 buys 83 of them. So Ultra (5x) at $99.99 a month costs less than Pro plus the API from 134 clips a month (plans).

The table and these lines leave out Flow’s 50 daily credits, 1,500 in a 30-day month if used every day. Flow’s help does not say which models they buy; if Pro’s all go on Fast clips, the 134 moves to 209 (Flow credits).

At 20 clips a month, Ultra (5x) at $99.99 a month costs $5.00 a clip, since unused credits lapse (plans, Flow credits). At 720p the API costs less, and the lines move to 25 and 151 clips (Google Veo pricing, price tracker).

At 720p, Sora 2’s API charged Veo 3.1 Fast’s Gemini API rate until it shut down on 24 September 2026 (Sora 2 shut down).

Flow charges per generation. One request “may generate 2 videos”, so a single request can use twice the credits in the table (Flow credits).

Whether Google AI Plus reaches Veo 3.1 in Flow is unclear (plans). Flow’s credit table prices Fast for “Non-Ultra subscribers” without naming Plus. Check in Flow before you pay $4.99 a month for Veo clips.

What Google’s terms allow in paid ads

Google’s Terms of Service (effective 30 July 2026) say: “Some of our services allow you to generate original content. Google won’t claim ownership over that content.” Flow’s help answers the commercial-use question with the same sentence.

None of the Google terms we read grants or bars ad use as such. So our rights matrix marks paid ads unclear on the Free plan, every paid Google AI plan and the Gemini API. It marks Flow’s credits in Google Workspace unclear too, since we did not read Workspace’s terms.

The matrix marks paid ads allowed on Google Cloud, on our reading. There, Google’s IP indemnity backs unmodified output, and Cloud’s terms set no commercial limit.

The Gemini API terms (effective 23 March 2026) add: “You acknowledge that Google may generate the same or similar content for others and that we reserve all rights to do so.” On our reading, no clip you make there is exclusive to your brand.

Google Cloud’s indemnified services list (modified 20 July 2026) covers its enterprise API “used with generally available versions of these foundation models”, Veo among them. On Cloud, Veo 3.1 and 3.1 Fast are at launch stage GA (model page). The Gemini API serves Veo 3.1 under “preview” model IDs (Gemini API pricing).

The list does not name Flow, the Gemini app or the Gemini API. It does name Google Vids and Gemini in Workspace. We are not sure whether either covers Veo clips made in Vids, or in Flow or the Gemini app on a Workspace account.

The cover applies to claims that “an unmodified Generated Output” from a listed service infringes a third party’s rights (Service Specific Terms 20(i), modified 24 September 2026).

The fourth of its five exclusions applies where “the allegation is based on a trademark-related right as a result of Customer’s use of such Generated Output in trade or commerce”. On our reading, an ad is use in commerce, and trimming or captioning a clip may count as modifying it.

“All outputs generated in Google Flow using Veo, Omni, or Nano Banana include invisible SynthID watermarks” (Flow help). The visible mark is a “Visible watermarking” toggle, applied automatically to users in India, South Korea or Vietnam. Whether SynthID alone triggers Meta’s or TikTok’s AI label on a paid ad is not verified.

Media made in the Gemini app also carries Content Credentials (C2PA) metadata (Gemini Apps Help). Meta names that as a signal for labelling ads made with other AI tools (Meta AI disclosure guide). None of the Flow or Gemini API pages we read says whether their downloads carry it.

Google’s Prohibited Use Policy (17 December 2024) bars “Misrepresenting the provenance of generated content by claiming it was created solely by a human, in order to deceive.” On our reading, that reaches a UGC-style ad that presents a Veo clip as a real customer’s footage to deceive.

Is Veo 3.1 cheaper on Runway, Luma or other resellers?

Every reseller rate we could work out costs more per second than the Gemini API’s Veo 3.1 Fast at 1080p. Only Runway matches or undercuts the API’s Veo 3.1 Standard, on its API and on Max if every credit is used (Gemini API pricing).

Runway charges 40 credits a second for Veo 3.1 with audio. Its plan rows use Standard at $15 a month, Max at $95 a month and Max at $76 a month billed yearly, listed on 24 September 2026 (Runway pricing, our Runway pricing page). Its API, at one cent a credit, charges the same 40 for “veo3.1” and 15 for “veo3.1_fast”. So the web rate looks like the Standard tier (Runway API pricing).

On rights, Runway “does not restrict your commercial use of your Outputs”, subject to compliance with its terms (4.4, 15 September 2026). Those terms have no clause on hosted models such as Veo, so whether Google’s terms also apply there is unclear. Their preamble adds that Supplemental Terms, listed there or shown at sign-up, control where they conflict (Runway terms).

Luma charges 280 credits a second for Veo 3.1 with audio. It names no Veo tier. Its rows use Plus at $30 a month, or $25 a month billed yearly billed yearly, listed on 24 September 2026 (Luma pricing). Monthly, that is 2.1 times the Gemini API’s Standard rate. Yearly, 1.75 times.

Luma’s terms (14 May 2026) say use of “Third-Party AI Tools is subject to the third party’s terms and conditions and not this Agreement” (Luma terms). On our reading, Google’s terms also govern Luma’s Veo clips, and Luma’s own paid-ads rows need an active paid subscription (rights matrix).

Arcads lists “Veo 3.1 → 800 credit” in its help centre (updated 29 April 2026). It publishes no price list, so its cost per Veo clip cannot be worked out (Arcads profile).

invideo’s site footer and Higgsfield’s site menu list Veo 3.1, and PromptWise (promptwise.com) shows it in a model carousel. Neither invideo’s nor PromptWise’s pricing, read on 24 September 2026, gives a Veo cost per clip, and Higgsfield’s plan cards did not load (Higgsfield profile).

Pros and cons on paper

How Kling, Runway and Luma differ from Veo

Kling makes Kling 3.0 clips of 3 to 15 seconds, past Veo 3.1’s 8. Runway and Luma sell Veo 3.1 beside their own models, at the per-second rates above. More in the Kling profile, the Runway profile and AI video generators.

• AI video generators

  Kling AI

  Kuaishou’s video models (Kling 3.0, 3.0 Omni, Turbo) with native audio, multi-shot clips up to 15 s and native 4K.

  Price unverified

  Best for Paying members making 3 to 15-second product clips with native audio who spend each month’s credits before they expire.

• AI video generators

  Runway

  Gen-4.5 and Aleph video models plus hosted Kling, Seedance and Nano Banana, with an editor, agent and API.

  From $15 a month · checked 24 Sep 2026

  Best for Teams that want Runway’s own models and Aleph video-to-video editing next to Kling and Seedance, with no commercial restriction on outputs.

• AI video generators

  Luma (Dream Machine)

  Ray3.2 video and Uni-1 image models with agents, plus hosted Seedance, Kling, Veo and MiniMax models.

  From $30 a month · checked 24 Sep 2026

  Best for Paid users who want Ray3.2’s shot control and HDR or EXR output alongside third-party models on one credit balance.