Overview
Runway is one of the pioneers and long-term leaders in the AI video generation track. Since 2018, it has been conducting AI + video research, pushing AI video from research demos all the way to consumer-grade and Hollywood industrial-grade production pipelines.
**The current mainstays are Gen-4 / Gen-4 Turbo** (released in March 2025, iterated to Gen-4.5 in 2026). Compared to Gen-3 Alpha, they offer generational improvements in visual physical consistency, long-shot stability, and cross-shot character and scene consistency, making them the version truly used by Hollywood studios in projects. The accompanying **Act-Two performance capture** (driving a complete digital character performance with a selfie video, including facial expressions, gestures, and body movements) and **Runway API** have completely upgraded it from a "creative tool" to a "video production platform," with partnerships already established with Lionsgate and others.
In 2026, Runway also launched **Runway Aleph** (a next-generation video-to-video editing model) and **Workflows** (multi-model node-based orchestration), gradually shifting its positioning from a "single-point generator" to an "AI film and television creation operating system."
Key Features
- Gen-4 / Gen-4 Turbo Video Model: The main video model for 2025-2026, achieving industry-leading physical consistency, long-shot stability, and character consistency. The Turbo version is fast, while the Standard version offers high quality.
- Act-Two Performance Capture: Upload a selfie performance video to drive any digital character, including facial expressions, gestures, and body movements. It is the most complete performance transfer solution in AI video.
- Runway API: An API for enterprises and studios, allowing Gen-4 / Aleph / Act-Two to be embedded into their own video production pipelines.
- Aleph Video-to-Video: A next-generation video editing model that enables local repainting, style transfer, object replacement, and shot rewriting on existing videos.
- Workflows Multi-Model Orchestration: Node-based orchestration of different Runway models and third-party models to build reusable production pipelines.
- Complete AI Video Editing Suite: One-stop professional editing tools including Green Screen intelligent keying, Inpainting, super-resolution, frame interpolation, and motion brushes.
- Hollywood-Grade Commercial Deployment: Collaborations with top studios like Lionsgate, integrated into real film, series, and advertising production workflows.
Use Cases
- Quick generation and revision of ads / TVCs / brand marketing videos
- Pre-visualization (Previz) and shot pre-production for film and TV
- Rapid output for short video and social media content creators
- Using Act-Two for character performance driving and virtual hosts
- Using Aleph for stylization and object replacement on existing videos
- Using the API to integrate AI video into custom creation tools or e-commerce material pipelines
Pros
- Gen-4 series is top-tier in the industry for physical consistency and long-shot stability
- The only AI video brand truly entering Hollywood industrial pipelines
- Act-Two performance capture is the most complete character driving solution in current AI video
- Complete toolchain: generation + editing + performance + API + Workflows all in one
- Well-developed API and enterprise services, suitable for integration into actual production workflows
Pricing
Free (125 one-time credits, experience Gen-4 Turbo); Standard $15/month (625 credits/month, Gen-4 Turbo + partial Gen-4); Pro $35/month (2250 credits/month, full Gen-4 + Act-Two + higher resolution); Unlimited $95/month (unlimited Standard generation mode + priority GPU); Enterprise on demand (API quota, SSO, custom models). Annual billing offers approximately 20% discount. Act-Two and Aleph are available in Pro and above tiers.
Summary
Runway is a veteran leader in the AI video track. From 2025 to 2026, with the Gen-4 series + Act-Two + Aleph + API, it has upgraded itself from a "show-off demo" to a "video platform truly entering the film industry pipeline." If you work on ads / film pre-production / high-quality content creation, Runway remains one of the top choices. For daily social media short videos, it can be used alongside Kling 3.0 / Sora 2 / Google Veo 3: Runway excels in control and consistency, Kling and Veo excel in Chinese language / physical feel, and Sora 2 excels in audio-video synchronization and Cameos.
Version History
- Runway Seedance 2.5 上线，支持50角色参考 (2026-08-11): Full lineup, full tracklist, generated one at a time. Seedance 2.5 is now available on Runway, supporting 50 unique character references and clips up to 30 seconds long, synced with music. Click the link below to get started.
- Runway 上线 Seedance 2.5，支持 50 个角色参考 (2026-08-07): Seedance 2.5 is now available on Runway. Each generation can reference up to 50 character references to build a complete world full of characters; you can create clips up to 30 seconds long with full sound effects and dialogue, then edit and extend them freely according to your story needs. Click the link below to get started now.
- Runway Agent 推出自然语言工作流功能 (2026-07-24): Introducing workflows in Runway Agent. Now you can build, run, or edit node-based workflows using natural language. Workflows unlock high-quality outputs at scale. Try it now by clicking the link below to invoke the /Workflow skill.
- Agent Natural Language Workflow (2026-07-24): Runway Agent introduces workflows, allowing natural language to build/run/edit node-based workflows, massively unlocking high-quality output.
- Runway Gen-4.5 / Aleph / Workflows (2026): Gen-4 iterates to 4.5, Aleph video-to-video model + Workflows node-based orchestration launched, upgrading from generator to creation OS.
- Runway Gen-4 / Act-Two / API (2025): Fourth-generation video model released, with major upgrades in physical and character consistency; Act-Two performance capture and Runway API launched simultaneously, officially entering Hollywood industrial pipelines.
- Runway Gen-3 / Gen-3 Alpha (2024): Image quality leaps to Hollywood level, 10-second generation becomes industry benchmark.
- Runway Gen-2 (2023): The first truly usable commercial text-to-video product, ushering in the AI video era.
- Runway Gen-1 (2023-02): Video-to-video style transfer, laying the foundation for the AI video track.