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Paywall Dodgers

AI video

Make AI video on your own machine, or with a free app that still calls a paid service. Higgsfield and Runway are the paid hosts on this list.

Badge key
  • Fully free / open source. A standard open-source license.
  • Free tier. The product has a free plan.
  • Free app, paid API. The app is free to install. Making something still costs money.
  • Unofficial: use at your own risk. Someone else built this. It can break. Back up your files.
  • Early. Not a finished replacement.
  • Not yet tested by us. Listed from the project page. Not a hands-on test.
  • Tested by us. We ran it on our own machine. The card has the result.

AI video generation

Open video models, an app that runs them, two unofficial apps that call a paid service, and a research model that needs a very large graphics card.

What it costs

  • Higgsfield

    • Starter $19/month
    • Plus $59/month, or $47/month billed annually
    • Ultra $129/month, or $99/month billed annually
    • Teams From $65 per seat/month

    List prices checked , Pacific time. Official pricing page.

  • Runway

    • Free $0/month
    • Standard $15/month, or $12/month billed annually
    • Pro $35/month, or $28/month billed annually
    • Max $95/month, or $76/month billed annually

    List prices checked , Pacific time. Official pricing page.

Free alternatives that best fit

Best free model: Wan 2.2App to run it: ComfyUI

Wan 2.2

  • Fully free / open source
  • Not yet tested by us

Wan 2.2 is an open video model for text-to-video and image-to-video, the best free model if you want the weights instead of a Higgsfield or Runway clip. You need an app such as ComfyUI to run it. Camera-motion presets from those sites are not included.

Replaces
Higgsfield and Runway
Price
Free
License
Apache 2.0
Hardware
TI2V-5B needs 24 GB officially. ComfyUI's Wan docs say a lightweight build runs in about 8 GB. The A14B models need 80 GB.
Maintained
Updated September 21, 2026.

Repository

ComfyUI

  • Fully free / open source
  • Not yet tested by us

ComfyUI is the free canvas people use to run Wan and other open video models. It fits anyone who wants one app for those weights. The models need a strong graphics card, and you set the workflow up yourself.

Replaces
Higgsfield and Runway
Price
Free
License
GPL 3.0
Hardware
A strong graphics card for the models
Maintained
Updated October 16, 2026.

Repository

LTX-2

  • Not yet tested by us

LTX-2 is Lightricks' current local video model. The older LTX-Video repository is Apache 2.0 for its code. The LTX-2 weights are under the community licenses, not Apache. A company whose annual revenue is $10 million or more needs a paid license.

Replaces
Higgsfield and Runway
Price
Free
License
LTX community licenseThe older LTX-Video code repository is Apache 2.0. LTX-2's license files cover the weights. Use is free unless the company's annual revenue is $10 million or more.
Hardware
Officially 32 GB of VRAM or more. Community reports say the 0.9.x Q8 build runs on 8 GB.
Maintained
Updated October 13, 2026.

Limits

  • The 8 GB figure is community-reported for a 0.9.x Q8 build, not the official 32 GB requirement.

RepositoryNotes

Open-Generative-AI

  • Free app, paid API
  • Unofficial: use at your own risk
  • Not yet tested by us

Open-Generative-AI is a free interface for image and video, built by someone other than Higgsfield or Runway. Local mode can make images with no MuAPI key. Local video needs your own graphics card through Wan2GP. Cloud models still need MuAPI. The project markets itself as having no content filters.

Replaces
Higgsfield and Runway
Price
Free app, paid API
License
MITThe project page says the app is powered by MuAPI.
Hardware
Local images need no MuAPI key. Local video needs your own GPU through Wan2GP. Cloud models still need MuAPI.
Maintained
Updated October 15, 2026.

Limits

  • The project says it has no content filters. That is the project's own claim.

Repository

HeliosGen

  • Free app, paid API
  • Unofficial: use at your own risk
  • Not yet tested by us

HeliosGen is a desktop canvas for image and video, built by a third party, for people looking for a Higgsfield-style studio. You install it on your computer, and the first run asks for a kie.ai key. Windows and Linux builds were still looking for a contributor.

Replaces
Higgsfield and Runway
Price
Free app, paid API
License
No license fileThere is no license file. The README ends by saying MIT License, which is not the same thing.
Hardware
A desktop computer, plus a kie.ai key
Maintained
Updated September 17, 2026.

Limits

  • The README mentions MIT, and the repository has no license file. Without that file, treat it as all rights reserved.

Repository

PKU Helios

  • Fully free / open source
  • Not yet tested by us

PKU Helios is a research video model from Peking University and partner labs, for people comparing the name with HeliosGen. The full-speed timing in the README is about 19.5 frames a second on one H100. A lower-memory path uses group offloading.

Replaces
Higgsfield and Runway
Price
Free
License
Apache 2.0Also listed in Diffusers.
Hardware
About 6 GB of VRAM with group offloading (official README; speed not stated).
Maintained
Updated August 24, 2026.

RepositoryNotes