EDITORIAL POLICY · HOW WE WORK
Editorial policy & methodology
The full method behind every number on ClipBudget — so you can check our work, not just trust it.
How prices are collected
Rates come from official sources only: vendor pricing pages, API and developer documentation, and official product pages. The source used for each model is named in its row on the price sheet and tracker. Reseller and aggregator prices are noted separately, never blended into a model's base rate.
How credits are converted to USD
Credit systems are converted with a simple, stated formula: credits per second × price per credit = dollars per second. Where a vendor's credit price varies by plan, we use the rate a typical paid user actually pays and label it. Worked examples live in the credit conversion tables.
How subscriptions are treated
Subscription plans are converted to an effective per-second rate: monthly fee ÷ the seconds the included allowance buys in standard mode. These are labeled as effective rates because real credit burn changes with mode and resolution. The break-even logic is explained in subscription vs API.
How retake multipliers work
Our headline metric, cost per usable second, multiplies the verified list rate by a retake multiplier — because most generations aren't keepers. We offer four profiles (×1.2 to ×3.0) and default to ×1.5. This is an estimate you control, not a measured figure: it reflects a real cost driver, but your actual ratio depends on your shots. We're deliberately explicit about this so the estimate never masquerades as a verified price. How to measure your own: retake ratio guide.
How often prices are checked
Every rate is re-verified monthly and stamped with the check date. Movements are recorded on the price tracker against a fixed launch baseline. Any figure older than 60 days should be treated as stale — and reported to us.
How corrections are handled
Found an error? Email Birdsongwebstudio@hotmail.com and we aim to verify and fix confirmed price changes within days. Corrections to a model's rate propagate everywhere it appears, because the whole site is generated from one price file — so a fix is never partial.
Affiliate disclosure
Some outbound links to AI video tools are affiliate links, meaning ClipBudget may earn a commission when you sign up — at no extra cost to you. This never affects our pricing, our rankings or our verdicts. Models are ordered by price and fit; a commission has never moved a model up a list or softened a verdict, and never will. Where independence and revenue could conflict, independence wins — it's the entire value of the site.