api.video vs Pictory Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
Video Encoding
- FREE for unlimited minutes
Video Hosting
- $0.00285 per minute of video stored
Video Delivery
- $0.0017 per minute of video delivered
Pay as you go
- 100 Upload API calls/min
- 200 Write API calls/min
- 500 Read API calls/min
- Audit Logs (up to 5 days)
- 99.999%
- Public Terms
- Credit Card, Apple Pay, SEPA (on request), Monthly Billing
- Customizable player
- Any video player (3rd party)
- HLS & MP4 output
- Upload by URL
- Custom domain
- Encoding from 240p to 4K
- Adaptive Delivery
- Concurrent Live Stream
- Simulcasting / Restreaming
- Live stream DVR functionality
- Record a live stream
- Encoding from 240p to 4K
- Adaptive Delivery
- 24/7 Live streaming
- Low-latency
- RTMPS and SRT protocols
- Video transcription
- Video translation
- Video summarization
- Generate Thumbnail
- Trimming / Clipping
- Watermark
- Captions
- Chapters
- Upload your own Thumbnail
- 1 month Analytics Retention
- 3 months Analytics Retention
- 12 months Analytics Retention
- Usage Analytics per Project
- Webhooks
- Metadata & video tagging
- Video analytics
- Data visualization
- Basic API Authentication
- Advanced API Authentication
- Private Video
- Private Live Stream
- Delegated Upload Tokens
- Domain referer playback restrictions
- AES Encryption 128bits
- Video Restore
- Ecosystem Catalog (see dedicated section)
- Direct Upload
- Progressive Upload
- Video Import Tool
- Delivery on the CDN (worldwide)
- Delivery on origin
- Backup & Recovery
- Accessing mezzanine files
- Normalization
- Analytics plugins for 3rd party players
- Built-in HTML5 player
- Native Android & iOS mobile player
- Screen & webcam recording SDKs
- CMS & no-code/low-code integrations
- API clients & SDKs
Enterprise plan
- 200 Upload API calls/min
- 1000 Write API calls/min
- 2500 Read API calls/min
- Audit Logs (up to 60 days) & Domain Referrer
- Isolated storage
- Security Reviews
- 99.999% + SLA credits
- Signed MSA, SLA, DPA
- Wire Transfer, Annual Billing, Payment schedules
- Customizable player
- Any video player (3rd party)
- HLS & MP4 output
- Upload by URL
- Custom domain
- Encoding from 240p to 4K
- Adaptive Delivery
- Concurrent Live Stream
- Simulcasting / Restreaming
- Live stream DVR functionality
- Record a live stream
- Encoding from 240p to 4K
- Adaptive Delivery
- 24/7 Live streaming
- Low-latency
- RTMPS and SRT protocols
- Video transcription
- Video translation
- Video summarization
- Generate Thumbnail
- Trimming / Clipping
- Watermark
- Captions
- Chapters
- Upload your own Thumbnail
- 1 month Analytics Retention
- 3 months Analytics Retention
- 12 months Analytics Retention
- Usage Analytics per Project
- Webhooks
- Metadata & video tagging
- Video analytics
- Data visualization
- Basic API Authentication
- Advanced API Authentication
- Private Video
- Private Live Stream
- Delegated Upload Tokens
- Domain referer playback restrictions
- AES Encryption 128bits
- Video Restore
- Ecosystem Catalog (see dedicated section)
- Direct Upload
- Progressive Upload
- Video Import Tool
- Delivery on the CDN (worldwide)
- Delivery on origin
- Backup & Recovery
- Accessing mezzanine files
- Normalization
- Analytics plugins for 3rd party players
- Built-in HTML5 player
- Native Android & iOS mobile player
- Screen & webcam recording SDKs
- CMS & no-code/low-code integrations
- API clients & SDKs
Starter
- 200 video minutes
- 5 GB storage
- 1 Brand Kit
- 60 minutes of ElevenLab's AI voices in 29 languages
- 5 million videos from Getty Images and Storyblocks
- Includes 100 AI credits/mth
- No watermark
- Basic AI Tools
- Auto-sync of uploaded voice overs
Professional
- 600 video minutes
- 20 GB storage
- 5 brand kits
- Unlimited standard voices in 7 languages
- 120 minutes of ElevenLab's AI voices in 29 languages
- 18 million videos from Getty Images and Storyblocks
- Includes 500 AI credits/mth
- Custom Avatars
- Voice Cloning
- Advanced AI Tools
- Video summarizations of long videos
Team
- 1800 video minutes
- 100 GB storage
- 10 brand kits
- Unlimited standard voices in 7 languages
- 240 minutes of ElevenLab's AI voices in 29 languages
- 18 million videos from Getty Images and Storyblocks
- Includes 2400 AI credits/mth
- Team workspace to share assets & collaborate on projects
- Professional onboarding and team training
Enterprise
- Custom video minutes
- Custom storage
- Unlimited Brand Kits
- Unlimited standard voices in 7 languages
- Custom ElevenLab's AI voices in 29 languages
- 18 million videos from Getty Images and Storyblocks
- Custom AI Credits to Generate Images, Videos, Avatars
- AI-Generated chapters
- Quizzes & knowledge checks
- Clickable CTAs & links
- SCORM export (LMS Ready)
- Single Sign On (SSO) - simplified user management
- Dedicated success manager
- Expert video consulting
- Uploaded asset indexing
- Custom-built templates
- Done-for-you video creation
- Early access to beta features
api.video vs Pictory FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- Can I use either one for free?
- api.video has a free plan. Pictory doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. api.video uses usage-based pricing, while Pictory goes with flat-rate. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. api.video: They're positioning as the developer-friendly, transparent-pricing alternative to Mux and Cloudflare Stream — similar usage-based model but with free encoding as a differentiator. That $0 encoding line is a direct shot at competitors who charge for transcoding, targeting cost-conscious dev teams building video into their apps. Pictory: Pictory sits in the mid-market of AI video tools — not as cheap as entry-level tools like Lumen5, not as expensive as full-suite platforms like Synthesia. The 'Exclusive Pictory 2.0 offer' badge on Professional suggests they're actively trying to push users toward that tier, likely competing hard against tools in the $40–$80/mo range.
Keep tabs on both.
We'll monitor pricing changes for api.video and Pictory and let you know when something moves.