Google launches cost-effective version of Veo 3 AI video generatorVeo 3.1 Lite, which the company announced Tuesday, highlights Google’s new commitment to generative AI in all its forms.
Google says the latest additions complete the Veo family of products, giving developers flexibility to suit their needs. The company says the new model will cost 50% less than the Veo 3.1 Fast while maintaining the same speed. Like all Veo 3 models, Veo 3.1 Lite supports audio within video.
Representatives for Google did not respond to requests for comment.
Veo 3.1 Lite offers a variety of features, including text-to-video and image-to-video conversion, 16:9 and 9:16 aspect ratios, and video resolutions up to 1080p. The Veo 3.1 Lite doesn’t support 4K resolution like other models, which could disappoint creators who create professional-level videos. The blog post also points out that developers can customize the video length to 4 seconds, 6 seconds, or 8 seconds, and the cost will adjust accordingly.
Veo 3.1 Lite rollout begins on Tuesday and will be accessible to developers through the Gemini API and Google AI Studio paid tiers. Flow, Google’s film production studio.
The timing of this release speaks for itself. Last week, OpenAI, one of Google’s biggest competitors in the AI space, announced it would be shutting down its video generation app Sora. Sora was a unique product in that it was both a social media app and an AI video creation tool.
Google’s Veo 3.1 Lite highlights that the tech giant is not moving away from generated media, but instead looking for ways to make AI image and video creation cheaper. OpenAI’s official statement said it was retiring Sora to re-prioritize its core goals, but AI video Computation-intensive processesThis increases the operating costs for AI companies.
In addition to the Veo 3.1 Lite, Google will also update the price of the Veo 3.1 Fast model. According to developer documentation, new pricing will be available “soon.”
Veo 3.1 pricing
Veo 3.1 Lite and Fast pricing
| model | solution | Price (per second) | Old rate (per second) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veo 3.1 Lite | 720p | $0.05 | Not applicable |
| Veo 3.1 Lite | 1080p | $0.08 | Not applicable |
| Veo 3.1 high speed | 720p | $0.10 | $0.15 |
| Veo 3.1 high speed | 1080p | $0.12 | $0.15 |
| Veo 3.1 high speed | 4k | $0.30 | $0.35 |
Lowering the cost of running AI is a concern not only for individual developers but also for the industry as a whole.
