The Era of AI Video Generation: You Can Now Create 10 Videos a Month for Free

Even if you have never touched video editing software, you can create videos just by asking in text. Even when I heard that, I honestly thought, "That must be for the paid plans."

Upon checking, I found that Google's video generation AI, "Veo," has been open to all personal Google accounts for free since April 2026, and you can now create up to 10 clips per month, each up to 8 seconds long, without registering a credit card Video generation AI seems to have moved past the "try it out" stage and is now at the threshold of practical use.

🎬 Comparing Major Tools

While they are all video generation AI, there is a range from tools you can easily try for free to paid tools intended for commercial use. I have organized them by purpose.

【Comparison of Video Generation AI】

• Sora (OpenAI): Up to 1080p and 60 seconds, top-class quality. Available with a ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) or Pro ($200/month) subscription

• Google Veo: Open to personal Google accounts for free, up to 10 clips per month, max 8 seconds, 720p, no credit card registration required

• Pika: Free tier includes watermarks and is not for commercial use; paid Standard plan starts at $8/month with annual billing

• Runway/HeyGen: For commercial advertising and multilingual deployment. High quality and customizability, but the price range increases accordingly

Even comparing just the free tiers, "Veo, which you can try immediately without a credit card," and "Pika, which requires payment to remove watermarks," have different characteristics. It is better to view them with the premise that you should use them according to your purpose rather than thinking one is the single correct answer.

✍️ How to Write Video Generation Prompts

The tips for video generation AI prompts are slightly different from those for image generation AI. It is considered important to put into words "what," "how it moves," and even "how the camera moves."

【Example of a Video Generation Prompt】

【Example of a Writing Style to Avoid】

With abstract instructions like the latter, the AI may struggle with interpretation, often resulting in footage different from your intent. Including the four elements of subject, movement, camera work, and atmosphere specifically increases the probability of getting closer to the intended footage.

🛠️ Steps to Actually Try It

Using Google Veo as an example, I will organize the flow for creating one video within the free tier.

【Steps to Create a Video with Veo】

1. Log in with your personal Google account (no credit card registration required)

2. Enter a prompt in the Veo generation screen that includes the subject, movement, camera work, and atmosphere

3. There is a waiting time of several tens of seconds to a few minutes for generation

4. Check the output video, and if it is not what you intended, change the wording of the prompt and regenerate it

5. Once you have a video you like, download and save it

It is rare to get the exact footage you want on the first try, so it is a shortcut to approach it with the assumption that you will regenerate it while adjusting the prompt 2 or 3 times Efficiency in editing improves if you look at the previous output and change only specific parts of the wording, such as "the subject is correct but the movement is wrong" or "the atmosphere is good but the camera work is monotonous."

🎯 How to choose based on your purpose

I have organized a guide for choosing which one to use based on your purpose.

【Recommended guide by purpose】

• Just want to try short videos for SNS posts: The free tier of Google Veo or Pika is sufficient

• Premise of no watermarks and commercial use: Pika's paid plan or Runway

• Need high-quality, movie-like footage: Sora (Pro subscription)

• Multilingual avatar videos and advertising purposes: HeyGen

Before paying for a paid plan, it is most efficient to test "whether you will really continue to use AI video generation" within the free tier It seems that there are more cases than you might think where people are satisfied with just the free tier.

💡 What you can do with just the free tier

People often think "you can't do much because it's a free tier," but even with the constraint of 10 videos per month at 8 seconds each, there are surprisingly many uses.

【Examples of use you can try even in the free tier】

• Introductory cuts for short videos for SNS posts

• Short videos to accompany materials or blog posts to convey an atmosphere

• Checking images at the planning stage (sharing rough images before producing the main content)

• Opening hook video for a presentation

While a length of 8 seconds may seem like a constraint, it is actually just the right length for use on social media or at the beginning of a presentation.If you try using it for the purpose of "quickly preparing a short clip" rather than "full-scale video production," it is easy to realize the true potential of the free tier.

⚠️ Points to keep in mind

While convenient, there are also points you should be aware of.

❌ Using generated videos for commercial purposes without permission
⭕ Checking the terms of service to confirm whether commercial use is allowed and if credit is required before using

Many free plans include watermarks on generated videos or prohibit commercial use. While this is unlikely to be an issue for social media posts, you should always check the terms of service for each plan if you intend to use them for advertisements or products for sale.

Additionally, generated content that mimics real people or imitates copyrighted characters or music carries the risk of unintentionally leading to rights issues.It is safer to treat "whether you can create it" and "whether you are allowed to create it" as separate matters.

✅ In conclusion

Video generation AI has reached a level where you can create 10 videos a month for free without even needing a credit card. This means we have already entered a stage where you can create videos just by asking in words, even without specialized video editing knowledge.

First, try touching one of them within the free tier and experiment with prompts that specifically designate the subject, movement, and camera work. I believe that alone is enough to experience the true power of video generation AI. Even if you have absolutely no video editing experience, the sensation of assembling a video through words is something that is hard to grasp without actually trying it. The free tier constraints of 8 seconds and 10 videos per month are, if anything, a manageable scale for taking that first step.