The seven hidden costs of AI video

Seven costs that never appear on pricing pages, in the order they'll surprise you:

1. Retakes — the big one. Keeping one of every 1.5–3 generations means real cost = listed price × your ratio. Everything else on this list is decoration by comparison. Measure it.
2. Resolution ladders. Sora 2 Pro: $0.30 → $0.50/s between tiers; Seedance doubles 480p → 720p. The advertised price is usually the lowest rung. The full map.
3. Audio in every take. Native-audio models bill sound on failures too — a premium you pay most when things go worst. Native vs voiceover math.
4. Minimum spends & tiers. OpenAI wants a $10 top-up before Sora unlocks; rate limits scale with lifetime spend.
5. Credit breakage. Expiring monthly credits you didn't use are a 15–30% silent surcharge on typical plans.
6. Aggregator margin. One-API convenience over many models, priced in. When it's worth it.
7. Your hours. Prompting, reviewing, selecting, stitching. At any honest hourly value this dwarfs generation spend for small projects — and it's the cost that argues for better models over cheaper ones.

The pattern: hidden costs multiply, not add. A ×2 retake ratio on a doubled resolution tier with audio is 4–6× the number you budgeted from the pricing page. Plan with the calculator's retry buffer on.