What it is
Hailuo AI is the video generation app from MiniMax, a Shanghai AI company that also makes language and speech models; the international app is operated by Nanonoble Pte. Ltd. in Singapore. It turns text and images into clips and became popular in 2024 and 2025 for realistic motion at a low price.
MiniMax H3, released on 31 July 2026, generates clips of 4 to 15 seconds at up to 2K with generated stereo sound. Unusually for a top video model, its weights are public on Hugging Face under the MiniMax H3 Community Licence, which requires written permission once a commercial product passes $20 million in yearly revenue. Paid app plans also include outside models such as Veo 3.1 and Nano Banana Pro, remove the watermark and add commercial rights.
App plans are credit-based and credits reset monthly without rolling over. Developers can use H3 through the MiniMax API at $0.08 a second at 768P or $0.13 a second at 2K.
Our review
Hailuo's reputation rests on realistic human motion at prices below Western rivals, and H3 extends it with 2K output, clips up to 15 seconds and sound generated with the picture. The bigger news for engineers is that MiniMax published the H3 weights on Hugging Face in early August 2026. Few video models of this quality can be run on your own hardware at all.
That route is not light. The model card describes a 33-billion-parameter transformer fed by a Qwen3-VL-32B encoder, and its examples run on four GPUs. The licence is free for most uses, but a commercial product earning over $20 million a year needs MiniMax's written authorisation and must display "MiniMax H3" in its interface. For most teams the API is simpler: a 10-second 768P clip costs $0.80 and a 15-second 2K clip $1.95.
The consumer app is harder to price than it should be. List prices run from $14.99 for 1,000 credits to $199.99 for 20,000, but the three lower tiers are almost always shown with a limited-time discount, and the plan page gives credit costs only for older Hailuo 02 clips. Standard also queues jobs one at a time; Pro and above run two in parallel.
Buyers with a data policy should note what the privacy policy omits. It covers face photos, which it says are deleted once the video is made, but is silent on whether prompts, uploads or outputs train MiniMax's models, and sets no retention period beyond "as long as necessary". Kling 4.0 still offers longer clips and more keyframes; Hailuo's edge is price and the option to take the model in-house.
Where it earns its place
A two-person social team at a DTC skincare brand
Turn product stills into 10-second clips with sound for Reels and TikTok
Pro lists at $54.99 a month for 4,500 credits, which the plan page says covers about 90 10-second 768P Hailuo 02 clips, with commercial rights and no watermark. Check your brand's policy on Chinese-owned providers first.
A backend engineer at a video-ads startup
Generate thousands of short variants through an API
The MiniMax API bills H3 per second: 5,000 six-second 768P clips cost about $2,400 a month. Reference images beyond five add $0.04 each; audio input is free.
An ML engineer at a studio with its own GPU cluster
Run a high-end video model without sending footage to a vendor
Download the H3 weights from Hugging Face; the published examples use four GPUs for the 33B transformer plus a 32B encoder. Free under the community licence unless your product passes $20 million in yearly revenue.
Before you commit
- Setup
- Sign up on hailuoai.video, where new accounts get bonus credits; the API needs a MiniMax platform account, and self-hosting starts from the Hugging Face repo.
- Integrations
- Web and mobile apps; MiniMax API for H3 and older Hailuo models; open weights on Hugging Face for self-hosting.
- Data and privacy
- The privacy policy does not say whether inputs or outputs train models, sets no fixed retention period, and says face photos are deleted after generation; no certifications are published.
- Cost at scale
- An agency on Master pays $94.99 a month list for 10,000 credits; API use at 1,000 ten-second 2K clips a month costs $1,300.
- Limits
- Credits reset monthly and do not roll over; Standard runs one job at a time and Pro and above two; API clips are 4 to 15 seconds.
What's good
- H3 makes 2K clips up to 15 seconds with generated stereo sound
- H3 weights are public, so it can be self-hosted
- API from $0.08 per second at 768P
- Paid plans include outside models like Veo 3.1
- Strong, realistic human motion
What's not
- Privacy policy silent on training use of uploads and outputs
- App list prices hidden behind rotating discounts
- Standard plan processes one job at a time
- Self-hosting needs multi-GPU hardware; licence limits above $20M revenue
- Fewer shot controls than Kling 4.0
Best for
Small marketing teams wanting realistic clips with sound on a budget, and developers who want a strong video model they can call cheaply or host themselves.
Alternatives
Hailuo AI: common questions
- Is Hailuo AI worth it?
- Strong motion and sound at a fair price, and H3's open weights give it a self-hosting route Kling and Veo lack, but the app's privacy policy says nothing about whether your uploads train its models. We rate it 4.1 out of 5.
- How much does Hailuo AI cost?
- List prices: Standard $14.99/month (1,000 credits), Pro $54.99 (4,500), Master $94.99 (10,000), Ultra $124.99 (12,000), Max $199.99 (20,000); Standard, Pro and Master often discounted. API: H3 $0.08/s at 768P, $0.13/s at 2K. Open weights under a community licence.
- What are the downsides of Hailuo AI?
- Privacy policy silent on training use of uploads and outputs; app list prices hidden behind rotating discounts; standard plan processes one job at a time; self-hosting needs multi-GPU hardware; licence limits above $20M revenue; fewer shot controls than Kling 4.0.
- Who is Hailuo AI best for?
- Small marketing teams wanting realistic clips with sound on a budget, and developers who want a strong video model they can call cheaply or host themselves.
- How much does Hailuo AI cost for a team or in production?
- An agency on Master pays $94.99 a month list for 10,000 credits; API use at 1,000 ten-second 2K clips a month costs $1,300.
- Is Hailuo AI safe for company data?
- The privacy policy does not say whether inputs or outputs train models, sets no fixed retention period, and says face photos are deleted after generation; no certifications are published.
- What are the best Hailuo AI alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Kling AI, Google Flow, Pika and Higgsfield.
Answers checked Oct 23, 2026.
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