Reference-driven scenes
Animating owned character, object, product, or environment references while pursuing continuity across multiple shots.
Independent tool overview
Vidu at a glance
Vidu is a multimodal AI generation platform for text, image, reference, start/end-frame, audio, image, digital-character, editing, and API video workflows.
Visit the official Vidu site ↗.avif&w=3840&q=75)
- Product type
- AI image, video, audio, character, agent, and API platform
- Current video family
- Vidu Q3, with Q2, Q1, and older modes still exposed in the API
- Generation modes
- Text, image, reference, start/end frame, multi-frame, extension, templates, and editing
- Q3 duration
- 1–16 seconds depending on model and mode
- Resolution
- Up to 1080p generation; separate upscaling reaches higher output sizes
- Free allowance
- 40 monthly credits documented on the current consumer generator page
- Commercial use
- Paid-plan output may be used commercially under current terms; Free output is not commercially licensed
- API price basis
- $0.005 per credit with model, mode, duration, resolution, audio, and peak-time differences
- Review date
- September 1, 2026
Overview
What Vidu is
Vidu is a web and API platform from ShengShu AI for generating short video from text, images, multiple subject references, and chosen first and last frames. The current Q3 family supports clips from one to 16 seconds at up to 1080p, with variants that trade visual quality, consistency, speed, synchronized audio, and credit cost.
The broader product includes reference-to-image, AI sound effects, video extension, multi-frame sequences, lip sync, motion sync, upscaling, templates, digital characters, real-time S1 characters, an agent-driven marketing workflow, and reusable generation skills. Reference workflows are the clearest differentiator for creators trying to preserve multiple characters, objects, or a visual language across shots.
Consistency remains probabilistic, not guaranteed. Hands, faces, product geometry, text, logos, physical interactions, continuity, and audio can fail between generations. Any real person, voice, copyrighted character, trademark, brand asset, customer image, or confidential material needs rights and consent review; commercial use is tied to a paid plan and remains subject to input rights and current license terms.
Use cases
Who Vidu is best for
The strongest fit depends on the job you need the product to complete, not the size of its feature list.
Short cinematic concepts
Testing motion, camera, staging, lighting, pacing, audio, and transitions before a larger production commitment.
Anime and illustrated motion
Generating expressive 2D or stylized sequences where Vidu's current product continues to emphasize animation.
Product and campaign prototypes
Creating governed mockups and social assets from cleared product imagery before human brand and claim review.
Developer integration
Adding metered text, image, reference, audio, lip-sync, character, upscale, or video-generation jobs through a documented API.
Capabilities
Core Vidu features
Vidu Q3 video
Generates up to 16-second 540p, 720p, or 1080p clips with Pro, Turbo, Mix, and other mode-specific tradeoffs.
Reference to video
Uses one or more images or video references to preserve selected people, characters, objects, and scene attributes.
Image and text to video
Animates a still image or creates a scene directly from a written description.
Start/end and multi-frame control
Guides a transition between chosen frames and chains several input frames into a longer sequence.
Synchronized audio
Selected Q3 modes generate audio with the video, while separate sound-effect and timing-to-audio tools support post work.
Image generation
Creates text- or reference-led images at up to 4K for storyboards, visual development, and video inputs.
Motion, lip sync, and characters
Adds motion transfer, lip alignment, digital-human output, voice cloning, and real-time S1 character interaction.
Editing and finishing tools
Includes extension, replacement, upscaling, prompt suggestions, templates, scene workflows, and one-click film formats.
Vidu Agent and Skills
Automates campaign planning and production, with reusable skills for compatible agent systems and developer workflows.
Vidu API
Exposes token-authenticated generation, task polling, callbacks, account usage, pricing, content moderation, and enterprise deployment options.
Process
How the Vidu workflow works
Step 1
Define the shot and rights envelope
Write the subject, action, environment, camera, duration, aspect ratio, resolution, audio, intended use, rights, and required disclosure.
Step 2
Prepare cleared references
Use only images, videos, voices, characters, products, logos, and likenesses you own or are explicitly authorized to submit for AI generation.
Step 3
Choose the mode deliberately
Use text for exploration, image for motion, reference for subject consistency, start/end for transitions, and multi-frame for planned sequences.
Step 4
Estimate cost before running
Select Q3 variant, duration, resolution, audio, peak or off-peak mode, number of references, and retry budget before spending credits.
Step 5
Generate controlled variants
Change one variable at a time, save prompts and seeds where available, and compare motion and continuity rather than choosing from memory.
Step 6
Inspect frame by frame
Check faces, hands, anatomy, identity, product form, logos, text, shadows, reflections, collisions, physics, continuity, audio, and unsafe details.
Step 7
Edit outside the generation loop
Use a timeline editor for exact cuts, captions, color, sound, graphics, disclosure, and final delivery instead of regenerating every correction.
Step 8
Run accountable review
Have subject-matter, brand, rights, privacy, accessibility, safety, and local-market owners approve the precise rendered asset.
Step 9
Preserve provenance
Record prompts, references, model and version, dates, rights, consent, edits, disclosures, approvers, and the final file.
Step 10
Harden API production
Use scoped keys, server-side budgets, idempotency, callbacks, timeouts, moderation, asset expiry handling, human approval, and independent storage.
Cost
Vidu pricing and free plan
Vidu has trial credits, consumer subscriptions, purchased credits, and a separate pay-as-you-go API. Subscription credits expire after 30 days; purchased and bonus credits are valid for two years. Current first-party comparison pages list Standard at $8, Premium at $28, and Ultimate around $79 per month on annual billing, but the live pricing cards load after sign-in and one official page lists Ultimate at $78. Confirm checkout. Vidu does not offer refunds.
Free
$0
Tests consumer generation with trial and recurring free credits.
- 40 free credits per month documented on the current generator page
- Additional sign-up, daily-login, event, or bonus credits may apply
- Free output can include a watermark
- Free output is for personal, non-commercial use under current licensing guidance
Standard
$8/month billed yearly on current first-party comparisons
Entry paid plan for watermark removal, commercial use, higher resolution, and a recurring credit pool.
- 800 monthly credits in current first-party comparison content
- Subscription credits expire after 30 days
- Exact model access and off-peak limits require live checkout verification
Premium
$28/month billed yearly on current first-party comparisons
Higher-volume creator plan with faster generation and larger allowances.
- 4,000 monthly credits in current first-party comparison content
- Paid-plan commercial rights remain subject to Vidu's license and input rights
- Verify current queue priority, model access, concurrency, and limits
Ultimate
About $79/month billed yearly; verify live checkout
Highest self-serve consumer tier with a larger credit pool and off-peak generation benefits.
- 8,000 monthly credits in current first-party comparison content
- Official pages currently differ between $78 and $79
- Off-peak use is slower and subject to daily or model-specific constraints
API pay as you go
$0.005 per credit
Metered developer access with current Q3 video prices varying by model, mode, resolution, duration, audio, and time.
- Q3 Turbo text or image video ranges from $0.035 to $0.065 per second at standard rates
- Q3 Pro text or image video ranges from $0.045 to $0.12 per second at standard rates
- Q3 reference video ranges from $0.02 to $0.145 per second at standard rates
- Eligible off-peak prices can be roughly half, while some modes do not support off-peak
Enterprise API
Custom
Negotiated volume, quota, model tuning, private deployment, concurrency, and support.
- Contact Vidu Platform sales
- Confirm privacy roles, regions, subprocessors, retention, moderation, uptime, support, licensing, and model-change terms
- Self-serve API top-ups support individual payments from $10 to $10,000
Pricing checked . Check current pricing at the source ↗
Assessment
Vidu strengths and limitations
Where it stands out
- Reference-to-video supports multi-subject consistency across people, objects, and environments.
- Q3 provides unusually granular duration and resolution choices for short generation.
- Text, image, reference, start/end, multi-frame, extension, audio, and editing modes cover a broad visual-development workflow.
- Strong emphasis on anime and 2D animation alongside general cinematic generation.
- Separate Pro, Turbo, and Mix variants let teams trade quality, speed, consistency, audio, and cost.
- API pricing is published per credit and per mode with off-peak rates.
- Free monthly credits let creators test actual output behavior.
- Paid plans support commercial use under current license terms.
- The API documentation explicitly requires human review and prohibits hiding deep-synthesis indicators.
What to consider
- Consumer plan cards load dynamically, and first-party comparison pages currently disagree slightly on the Ultimate price.
- Subscription credits expire after 30 days rather than rolling over; purchased and bonus credits expire after two years.
- Vidu says subscription purchases are non-refundable and auto-renew unless canceled.
- Credit cost varies substantially by model, mode, resolution, duration, audio, reference count, off-peak eligibility, and retries.
- Off-peak generation can take longer and may have daily or model-specific limits.
- Free output is not licensed for commercial use under Vidu's current guidance.
- Reference consistency can drift across face, clothing, body, product geometry, scale, color, text, logos, background, and motion.
- Generated hands, anatomy, contact, liquids, reflections, shadows, collisions, physics, and object permanence can fail.
- Synchronized audio, speech, environmental sound, and lip movement may be inaccurate or mismatched.
- Longer stories still require multiple generations, editorial continuity, sound design, captions, and a separate finishing workflow.
- A reference image does not grant rights to a person, voice, trademark, character, artwork, product, location, or copyrighted style.
- Commercial permission from the platform does not guarantee copyrightability, exclusivity, non-infringement, publicity clearance, or destination-platform acceptance.
- Real-person, voice-clone, face, digital-character, kissing, hugging, and motion-sync features create consent, impersonation, harassment, and deepfake risk.
- Vidu's API terms require users not to remove or falsify indicators that distinguish deep-synthesis output.
- Inputs and outputs may be monitored, recorded, copied, or removed for operational, safety, or rights-enforcement purposes under the API terms.
- User content can contain personal data; commercial customers remain responsible for disclosures, consent, minimization, end-user requests, and lawful processing.
- High-impact credit, education, employment, housing, insurance, legal, or medical decisions must not be based on generated depictions or outputs.
- Models, output behavior, pricing, credits, feature availability, moderation, and terms can change after a workflow is built.
- The API is asynchronous and production use needs task polling or callbacks, secure keys, budgets, failure handling, and independent asset storage.
- Generating or sharing copyrighted characters, celebrity likenesses, deceptive news, fake endorsements, or brand-confusing content can create legal and platform-policy exposure.
Compare
Vidu alternatives
The right alternative depends on the specific output, workflow, controls and budget your project requires.
Content Creator
Runway Creative
Runway offers a broader professional creative suite around video generation, editing, transformation, and production workflows.
Explore Runway Creative →Content Creator
Kling AI
Kling AI is a close alternative for realistic text, image, reference, motion, and multimodal video generation.
Explore Kling AI →Content Creator
Hailuo AI
Hailuo AI competes on accessible short-form text and image video with a growing model and effect ecosystem.
Explore Hailuo AI →Questions
Vidu FAQs
What is Vidu?
Vidu is an AI platform for generating and editing video, images, audio, and digital characters from text, images, references, frames, motion, and developer API calls.
Is Vidu still active?
Yes. Vidu's Q3 consumer product, pricing, API, documentation, privacy policy, and newer agent and streaming products were active when reviewed on September 1, 2026.
Is Vidu free?
Yes. The current consumer generator page documents 40 free credits per month, with possible sign-up, daily-login, and event bonuses.
Can I use free Vidu output commercially?
No. Current Vidu licensing guidance says free output is for personal, non-commercial use; commercial rights require a paid plan and compliance with all underlying rights.
How long can Vidu Q3 videos be?
The Q3 API supports one to 16 seconds for text, image, and start/end modes, while reference mode generally supports three to 16 seconds. Product controls can vary by account.
What is reference-to-video?
It uses one or more cleared images or videos to guide the identity and appearance of subjects or the scene across a generated clip.
Does reference-to-video guarantee consistency?
No. It improves guidance, but faces, clothing, objects, products, scale, text, color, motion, and background can still drift.
Does Vidu generate sound?
Selected Q3 modes support synchronized audio, and Vidu also exposes sound-effect, timing-to-audio, text-to-speech, and voice-cloning tools.
Do Vidu credits expire?
Yes. Subscription credits are valid for 30 days; purchased and bonus credits are valid for two years according to the current pricing FAQ.
Does Vidu offer refunds?
No. Vidu's current pricing FAQ says refunds are unavailable and advises contacting support to cancel before the next automatic charge.
How much does the Vidu API cost?
Credits cost $0.005 each. Q3 video cost is calculated per second and varies by model, mode, resolution, audio, and off-peak use.
Can I use a celebrity or copyrighted character as a reference?
Technical capability is not permission. Obtain applicable copyright, trademark, publicity, privacy, and contractual rights, and follow platform policies and local law.
Can I remove an AI-generated label?
Vidu's API terms prohibit removing, falsifying, or covering indicators that distinguish output generated through deep-synthesis technology.
Is Vidu suitable for final production?
It is strong for shots, concepts, animation, and source material. Final work still needs editing, continuity, sound, captions, rights, accessibility, disclosure, and complete-frame review.
Bottom line
Our Vidu verdict
Vidu is a strong choice when reference-led consistency, animation, multi-frame control, short Q3 clips, and transparent API unit pricing matter. Test the exact live consumer plan before paying, budget for failed generations and expiring credits, and keep a rigorous rights, consent, disclosure, provenance, and human-review process around every real identity and commercial asset.
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