# Pika Alternatives 2027: 16 Paid, Free & Open-Source

Source: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/pika/
Prices checked: 2026-11-12 (Zekai Price Ledger)

The best Pika alternatives in 2027 are Runway (best overall, $15/mo), LTX Studio (best free plan: 800 credits, one time) and ComfyUI (best open source, GPL-3.0). Pika itself starts at $10/mo. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 12 Nov 2026; 13 more are compared below, including 3 with a free plan and 7 open source.

| Tool | Type | Starting price | Free plan limit | Licence | Best for | Price checked | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pika (the tool being replaced) | — | $10/mo | Credit packs only; no monthly credits, no commercial licence | — | — | 2026-11-12 | [pricing](https://pika.art/pricing) |
| Runway | Free plan + paid | $15/mo | 125 one-time credits, 5GB storage | — | Video generation plus editing in one studio | 2026-11-12 | [site](https://runwayml.com) [pricing](https://runway.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/runway/) |
| Minimax Hailuo | Free plan + paid | $14.99/mo | No monthly credits; one-time free trial credits, Hailuo models only | — | MiniMax H3 video up to 2K | 2026-11-12 | [site](https://hailuoai.video) [pricing](https://hailuoai.video/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/minimax-hailuo/) |
| Kling.ai | Free plan + paid | $10/mo | Free-tier cap not shown on membership page; paid plans list daily free credits | — | Cinematic video with 4K and motion control | 2026-11-12 | [site](https://kling.ai) [pricing](https://app.klingai.com/global/membership/membership-plan) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/kling-ai/) |
| Vidu | Free plan + paid | $10/mo | Free plan: Q4 at 540P, 2 credits/sec, 10 references/month; credit allowance not shown | — | Low-cost clips with multi-reference consistency | 2026-11-12 | [site](https://www.vidu.com) [pricing](https://www.vidu.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/vidu/) |
| Luma AI | Paid | $30/mo | No free plan | — | HDR and EXR output for pro pipelines | 2026-11-12 | [site](https://lumalabs.ai) [pricing](https://lumalabs.ai/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/luma-ai/) |
| LTX Studio | Free plan + paid | $15/mo | 800 one-time credits, personal-use licence | — | Storyboards and node flows on a free start | 2026-11-12 | [site](https://ltx.studio) [pricing](https://ltx.io/studio/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/ltx-studio/) |
| Seedance | Paid | Not checked | No free plan | — | Long single-take video inside CapCut Dreamina |  | [site](https://dreamina.capcut.com) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/seedance/) |
| PixVerse R2 | Paid | Not checked | No free plan | — | Own V6 and R2 models plus resold models |  | [site](https://pixverse.ai) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/pixverse-r2/) |
| ComfyUI | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | GPL-3.0 | Local node-based runner for open video models |  | [site](https://www.comfy.org/) [code](https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/comfyui/) |
| Wan 2.2 | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 | Open weights for 720P text and image to video |  | [site](https://github.com/Wan-Video/Wan2.2) [code](https://github.com/Wan-Video/Wan2.2) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/wan-2-2/) |
| LTX-Video | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 (code) | Light open model that runs on small GPUs |  | [site](https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Video) [code](https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Video) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/ltx-video/) |
| HunyuanVideo | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Tencent (not OSI-approved) | Open weights from Tencent, big GPU needed |  | [site](https://github.com/Tencent-Hunyuan/HunyuanVideo) [code](https://github.com/Tencent-Hunyuan/HunyuanVideo) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/hunyuanvideo/) |
| CogVideoX | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 | Older open model with small-GPU options |  | [site](https://github.com/zai-org/CogVideo) [code](https://github.com/zai-org/CogVideo) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/cogvideox/) |
| Open-Sora | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 | 11B open model for text and image video |  | [site](https://github.com/hpcaitech/Open-Sora) [code](https://github.com/hpcaitech/Open-Sora) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/open-sora/) |
| FramePack | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 | Long clips from one image on 6GB |  | [site](https://github.com/lllyasviel/FramePack) [code](https://github.com/lllyasviel/FramePack) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/framepack/) |
| LongCat-Video | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT | MIT-licensed model for long video clips |  | [site](https://github.com/meituan-longcat/LongCat-Video) [code](https://github.com/meituan-longcat/LongCat-Video) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/longcat-video/) |

## How each alternative compares with Pika

- **Runway** (Free plan + paid, $15/mo, checked 2026-11-12): Runway Standard is $15/mo for 625 credits across Gen-4.5, Kling 4.0 and Nano Banana Pro, with 5 parallel generations; Pika Starter is $10 for 600 credits. Switch if you want an editing studio and Gen-4.5 with five parallel generations, not only a model catalogue. Stay with Pika if you want the cheapest entry plan with commercial licence and credit packs at 60 credits per $1.
- **Minimax Hailuo** (Free plan + paid, $14.99/mo, checked 2026-11-12): Hailuo Standard lists $14.99/mo for 1,000 credits and runs MiniMax H3 at up to 2K and 15 seconds; Pika Starter is $10 for 600 credits across many models. Switch if you want MiniMax H3 at 2K with native stereo audio as the main model. Stay with Pika if you want a lower $10 entry price and several model families in one plan.
- **Kling.ai** (Free plan + paid, $10/mo, checked 2026-11-12): Kling Standard is $10/mo for 660 credits with 1080p and commercial use, and Kling 4.0 advertises native 30-second generation; Pika Starter offers 600 credits for $10. Switch if you need longer native clips and a dedicated Motion Control tool. Stay with Pika if you want Kling 4.0 and Seedance 2.5 behind one Starter plan at the same $10.
- **Vidu** (Free plan + paid, $10/mo, checked 2026-11-12): Vidu Standard is $10/mo (or $8.25 billed yearly) for 800 credits and 3-16s clips with commercial use; Pika Starter gives 600 credits for the same $10. Switch if you want more monthly credits (800 vs 600) at the same $10 and character references. Stay with Pika if you want Pika's all-models access and Seedance 2.5 under one plan.
- **Luma AI** (Paid, $30/mo, checked 2026-11-12): Luma Plus is $30/mo for 10,000 credits and prices Ray3.2 HDR at 2x and HDR+EXR at 3x SDR; Pika's plans list no HDR or EXR output. Switch if your clips go into a grade and need HDR or EXR frames. Stay with Pika if you want a $10 plan with 600 credits and no HDR cost multipliers.
- **LTX Studio** (Free plan + paid, $15/mo, checked 2026-11-12): LTX Studio Free gives 800 one-time credits with its own LTX-2.5 model, storyboards and node-based Flows; Pika's free plan has no monthly credits. Switch if you want a free start with a storyboard tool and LTX-2.5 before paying. Stay with Pika if you want commercial use from $10 and access to Seedance 2.5 and Kling 4.0.
- **Seedance** (Paid, Not checked): Dreamina's homepage advertises 30-second Seedance 2.5 clips in one generation; Pika offers Seedance 2.5 too, billed in its own credits. Switch if you want Seedance from its maker's site and CapCut tools around it. Stay with Pika if you want Seedance next to Kling and Wan models on one price list.
- **PixVerse R2** (Paid, Not checked): PixVerse lists its own V6 and R2 models beside Seedance 2.5, MiniMax H3 and Flux 3, with a CLI, plugin and API platform. Switch if you want a CLI or plugin workflow instead of a web-only studio. Stay with Pika if you want Pika's published credit table and commercial licence from Starter.
- **ComfyUI** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): ComfyUI's README lists Wan 2.1/2.2, LTX-Video and HunyuanVideo 1.5 support, run locally on your GPU with no credit meter, unlike Pika's credit table. Switch if you want to run Wan or LTX locally with no credits and build node graphs. Stay with Pika if you want one web app with all models and no local GPU setup.
- **Wan 2.2** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Wan 2.2's README states Apache 2.0 weights and 480P/720P output, with a 5B model for one 24GB GPU; Pika is hosted with credits. Switch if you need weights you can run on your own hardware under Apache-2.0. Stay with Pika if you want a hosted app with an iOS client and no GPU to maintain.
- **LTX-Video** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): LTX-Video's README says it works best below 720x1280 and 257 frames, with a lower-VRAM 2B model, and names LTX-2 as its successor repo. Switch if you want a small open model for drafts on a consumer GPU. Stay with Pika if you want Pika's Seedance and Kling models without local setup.
- **HunyuanVideo** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): HunyuanVideo's Tencent licence excludes the EU, UK and South Korea, and its README lists 60GB peak GPU memory for 720x1280 clips; Pika is hosted and spends credits from one model table. Switch if you have a 60GB-class GPU, sit outside the EU, UK and South Korea, and want open weights. Stay with Pika if you want Pika's many models on one credit plan without managing 60GB-class GPU requirements yourself.
- **CogVideoX** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): CogVideoX has Apache-2.0 code and 2B weights, and its README lists about 4GB of VRAM for the 2B model with optimisations on; Pika is hosted and spends credits from one model table. Switch if you want an older open model with a 2B option that fits small GPUs. Stay with Pika if you want Pika's many models on one credit plan without managing weight downloads and Python scripts yourself.
- **Open-Sora** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Open-Sora 2.0 is an Apache-2.0 11B text and image to video model at 256px and 768px, reporting 52 to 60GB peak memory; Pika is hosted and spends credits from one model table. Switch if you have H100-class hardware and want a fully Apache-2.0 11B text and image to video model. Stay with Pika if you want Pika's many models on one credit plan without managing 52GB or more of GPU memory yourself.
- **FramePack** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): FramePack builds video from an image and prompt in sections, and its README says a 6GB GPU handles a one-minute clip; Pika is hosted and spends credits from one model table. Switch if you have an RTX card with 6GB or more and want long clips from a single image. Stay with Pika if you want Pika's many models on one credit plan without managing a 30GB model download yourself.
- **LongCat-Video** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): LongCat-Video has MIT-licensed weights for text-to-video, image-to-video and video continuation, aimed at long clips; Pika is hosted and spends credits from one model table. Switch if you want MIT-licensed weights for long clips and video continuation and can build FlashAttention yourself. Stay with Pika if you want Pika's many models on one credit plan without managing FlashAttention builds and weight downloads yourself.

## Open-source options in detail

- **ComfyUI** (https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI): Licence: GPL-3.0; Commercial use: Yes; GPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you distribute a modified version.; Runs on: Desktop app or manual install; NVIDIA, AMD, Intel or Apple Silicon GPUs.; Setup: moderate: Desktop app installs easily; workflows and model weights need setup.; Last commit: 2026-11-13; Last release: 2026-11-10; GitHub stars: 146,700 (2026-11-13)
- **Wan 2.2** (https://github.com/Wan-Video/Wan2.2): Licence: Apache-2.0; Commercial use: Yes (Apache-2.0); the authors claim no rights over your generated content.; Runs on: 5B model needs one 24GB GPU; the A14B models need at least 80GB VRAM.; Setup: hard: Python install, PyTorch 2.4 or later and large weight downloads.; Last commit: 2026-09-21; GitHub stars: 18,600 (2026-11-13)
- **LTX-Video** (https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Video): Licence: Apache-2.0 (code); Commercial use: Yes for the code; check the separate model licence for weights.; Runs on: CUDA GPU, Python 3.10, PyTorch 2.1.2 or later; 2B models need less VRAM.; Setup: hard: Python and CUDA setup plus model downloads from Hugging Face.; Last commit: 2026-11-02; GitHub stars: 11,400 (2026-11-13)
- **HunyuanVideo** (https://github.com/Tencent-Hunyuan/HunyuanVideo): Licence: Tencent (not OSI-approved); Commercial use: Conditional: excludes EU, UK and South Korea; licence needed above 100M monthly users.; Runs on: Linux with a CUDA NVIDIA GPU; 60GB minimum for 720x1280, 80GB recommended.; Setup: hard: Linux, CUDA and 60GB-class GPU memory, plus large weight downloads.; Last commit: 2026-10-08; GitHub stars: 12,800 (2026-11-13)
- **CogVideoX** (https://github.com/zai-org/CogVideo): Licence: Apache-2.0; Commercial use: Yes for the code and 2B weights; check the separate CogVideoX licence for 5B.; Runs on: GPU with 4GB VRAM minimum for the 2B model with optimisations; 5B needs more.; Setup: hard: Python scripts with diffusers or SAT, and weights from Hugging Face.; Last commit: 2025-11-04; Last release: 2024-11-08; GitHub stars: 13,200 (2026-11-13)
- **Open-Sora** (https://github.com/hpcaitech/Open-Sora): Licence: Apache-2.0; Commercial use: Yes (Apache-2.0); the README adds no separate weights licence.; Runs on: README reports 52-60GB peak GPU memory on H100 or H800 class GPUs.; Setup: hard: Conda environment, xformers and flash-attn builds, 11B weight download.; Last commit: 2026-04-09; Last release: 2025-02-21; GitHub stars: 29,900 (2026-11-13)
- **FramePack** (https://github.com/lllyasviel/FramePack): Licence: Apache-2.0; Commercial use: Yes (Apache-2.0).; Runs on: NVIDIA RTX 30, 40 or 50 series GPU, 6GB minimum; Windows or Linux.; Setup: moderate: Windows one-click package, but over 30GB of models download.; Last commit: 2025-10-16; Last release: 2025-04-18; GitHub stars: 17,400 (2026-11-13)
- **LongCat-Video** (https://github.com/meituan-longcat/LongCat-Video): Licence: MIT; Commercial use: Yes (MIT); the README says the model weights are MIT too.; Runs on: CUDA GPU with PyTorch (CUDA 12.4 builds) and FlashAttention-2; no VRAM figure stated.; Setup: hard: Python environment, FlashAttention-2 and large weight downloads.; Last commit: 2026-05-27; GitHub stars: 9,400 (2026-11-13)

## Questions

### What is the best alternative to Pika in 2027?
Runway is the best overall Pika alternative on this page ($15/mo). For no cost, LTX Studio has a free plan (800 one-time credits, personal-use licence). To self-host, ComfyUI is open source (GPL-3.0).

### Is there a free version of Pika?
Yes. Pika has a free plan: Credit packs only; no monthly credits, no commercial licence. Paid plans start at $10/mo, checked on 12 Nov 2026.

### Is there a 100% free alternative to Pika?
Yes. ComfyUI, Wan 2.2, LTX-Video, HunyuanVideo, CogVideoX, Open-Sora, FramePack, LongCat-Video are open source and free to self-host. Runway, Minimax Hailuo, Kling.ai, Vidu, LTX Studio have a free plan with limits, shown in the table.

### How much do Pika alternatives cost for a team of 5?
If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 12 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Kling.ai $50/mo, Vidu $50/mo, Minimax Hailuo $74.95/mo, against Pika $50/mo for Pika. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size.

### Which is better, Runway or Pika?
Runway Standard is $15/mo for 625 credits across Gen-4.5, Kling 4.0 and Nano Banana Pro, with 5 parallel generations; Pika Starter is $10 for 600 credits. Choose Runway if you want an editing studio and Gen-4.5 with five parallel generations, not only a model catalogue. Stay with Pika if you want the cheapest entry plan with commercial licence and credit packs at 60 credits per $1.

### Why are people leaving Pika?
The documented reasons are: Pika's pricing page (last updated 28 Oct 2026) retired the Basic, Standard, Pro and Unlimited plan names for Free, Starter, Creator and Fancy; existing subscribers should check their Subscription page for their terms (28 Oct 2026); Pika's 'Welcome to the New Pika' post (17 Sep 2026) says plans now differ only by credits and concurrency and that existing subscribers keep their plan and price (17 Sep 2026). Each is sourced in the section above.

## Related on Zekai

- [Runway alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/runway/)
- [Kling.ai alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/kling-ai/)
- [Luma AI alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/luma-ai/)
- [Hailuo AI alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/hailuo-ai/)
- [Higgsfield AI alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/higgsfield-ai/)
- [InVideo AI alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/invideo-ai/)
- [AI for Video Editing & Production](https://zekaiwork.com/professions/ai-video-editing-production-tools/)

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Live table, team cost finder and price alerts: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/pika/