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Cover image for Stop paying $20/month for AI videos. Generate Sora 2 quality clips for just $0.15 each with Kie.ai API
fracabu
fracabu

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Stop paying $20/month for AI videos. Generate Sora 2 quality clips for just $0.15 each with Kie.ai API

Hey everyone! 👋

I want to share how I went from spending $20/month on AI video tools to generating the same quality videos for $0.15 each.

If you've ever wanted to create AI-generated videos but felt priced out by OpenAI Sora or Runway, this is for you.

💸 The Problem: AI Video is Expensive

Creating promotional videos has always been costly:

Option Cost
Freelancer/Agency $500+ per video
OpenAI Sora $20/month (limited)
Runway Gen-3 $0.50+ per clip
Pika Labs $0.40+ per clip

I needed videos for my projects, but couldn't justify these costs for experimentation.

🎯 The Solution: Kie.ai API

Then I discovered Kie.ai — they provide API access to Sora 2 at a fraction of the cost:

Cost Comparison

Service 15-second video
OpenAI Sora ~$2-5
Runway Gen-3 $0.50+
Kie.ai Sora 2 $0.15

That's 100x cheaper. Same model, same quality.

🛠️ What I Built

Instead of just using the API manually, I built a complete pipeline:

📝 Describe your business
        ↓
🤖 Claude AI generates storyboard (4 scenes)
        ↓
🎬 Kie.ai Sora 2 renders each scene
        ↓
🔗 FFmpeg merges everything
        ↓
🎥 60-second promo video
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Total cost for a 4-scene promo: ~$0.63

Compare that to $500+ with traditional methods.

GitHub logo fracabu / kie-ai-app

Automates the entire process of generating promotional videos, from AI-powered storyboard creation to video generation with Kie.ai Sora 2 and final merging.

AI Video Generator

Generate AI videos for just $0.15 per clip using Kie.ai Sora 2 API.

Streamlit UI Python License

How It Works

Workflow Overview

Usage Flow

1. Enter your prompt

Step 1 - Prompt

2. Task created

Step 2 - Task Created

3. Check status on Kie.ai

Step 3 - Kie.ai Logs

4. Video ready!

Step 4 - Video Ready

Features

  • Web UI - Simple Streamlit dashboard for video generation
  • Text-to-Video - Generate videos from text prompts
  • Image-to-Video - Animate images into video clips
  • Storyboard Pipeline - Auto-generate multi-scene videos with Claude AI
  • Low Cost - $0.15 per 10-15s video (vs $20+ for OpenAI Sora)

Quick Start

1. Install

pip install -r requirements.txt
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2. Configure

cp .env.example .env
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Edit .env:

KIE_API_KEY=your-kie-key
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-xxx  # Optional, for storyboard generation

Get API keys:

3. Run Web UI

streamlit run app.py
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Open http://localhost:8501 and start generating videos!

Check your video status at: https://kie.ai/it/logs

CLI Alternative

python video_generator.py  # Full storyboard + video pipeline
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Scripts

Script
…
View on GitHub

✨ Why Kie.ai Works

🔑 Key Benefits

Feature Details
Same Quality Uses actual Sora 2 model
Pay Per Use No monthly subscription
Simple API Just 3 endpoints
Fast 2-5 minutes per video
No Watermark Professional output

⚙️ How the API Works

The API uses a simple async pattern:

  1. Create Task → Get taskId
  2. Poll Status → Wait for success
  3. Download → Get video URL

That's it. Three calls, one video.

🚀 Quick Start 

git clone https://github.com/fracabu/kie-ai-app
cd kie-ai-app
pip install -r requirements.txt
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Add your API keys to .env:

KIE_API_KEY=your-key
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your-key  # for Claude storyboards
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Run it:

python video_generator.py
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📦 What's in the Repo

Script What it does
app.py Streamlit web dashboard
video_generator.py Full pipeline with Claude storyboards
genera_da_storyboard.py Generate from existing storyboard JSON
merge_videos.py FFmpeg merge utility

🎨 Available Models

Model Use Case Cost
sora-2-text-to-video Text to video $0.15
sora-2-image-to-video Animate images $0.15
sora-2-pro-* Higher quality $0.75+

📊 My Results

I've generated 50+ videos for various projects.

Metric Value
Total spent ~$15
Videos generated 50+
Traditional cost $2,500+
Savings $2,485

💡 Pro Tips

  1. Write Cinematic Prompts

    • Include camera angles, lighting, movement
    • Specify "4K", "cinematic", "slow motion"

  2. Watch for Gotchas

    • n_frames must be string: "15" not 15
    • URLs expire in ~24h — download immediately

  3. Use Claude for Storyboards

    • AI generates consistent scene prompts
    • Adds only ~$0.03 to total cost

🔗 Links

🎬 TL;DR

  • OpenAI Sora: $20/month
  • Kie.ai Sora 2: $0.15/video
  • Full 60s promo: ~$0.63

Stop overpaying. Check out the repo and start generating.

Have you tried AI video generation? What tools are you using?

Drop a comment — I'd love to hear your experience!

If you found this useful, consider giving the repo a ⭐ and following for more AI tool builds!

Top comments (1)

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fracabu profile image
fracabu •

The Streamlit UI was intentional — built this as a fast API test, not a polished product. You could easily swap it for React + Tailwind if needed.
Anyone building something similar?