Luma Dream Machine Credits: Web, iOS and API Balances Are Not Interchangeable

Three monthly tiers and different storefronts

Luma’s payments guide, updated 25 January 2026, documents Web Lite at $9.99 for 3,200 monthly credits, Plus at $29.99 for 10,000 and Unlimited at $94.99 with 10,000 fast credits plus eligible relaxed generation. The same guide lists higher iOS purchase figures. Store storefront and billing cycle explicitly; quoting the Web price as if it were guaranteed for every in-app buyer hides a real purchase condition.

Commercial rights are plan-scoped

Luma’s guide describes watermarks and non-commercial restrictions for Lite and states that the Plus level unlocks commercial capabilities. Unlimited does not automatically mean unmetered fast throughput: the documented fast-credit pool remains finite, with relaxed generation handled differently. Marketing labels are not a substitute for current Terms and account permissions, particularly for regulated, client or celebrity-likeness work.

Ray video modes consume sharply different credits

The credit guide lists a five-second Ray2 Flash 720p video at 55 credits and Ray2 standard 720p at 160 credits, with materially different figures for Ray3, HDR, resolution and video modification. A hypothetical 1,100-credit allocation buys twenty listed Flash clips of that mode if no other tasks consume credits; it does not buy the same quantity of Ray3 HDR clips. One source image or revised cut can change the expected denominator.

A separate balance with separate expiry

Monthly Dream Machine credits do not roll over; the provider states that Top-Up Credits have a twelve-month validity, are consumed after monthly credits, and only work for paid active accounts. The documentation also expressly separates Dream Machine web/iOS from the Dream Machine API. A creator must not build a pipeline on the assumption that web-plan credits fund requests to a developer key. Track paid top-ups, monthly grants, and API spend as separate ledgers.

The relevant production unit is accepted footage

For budget planning, record attempts, total generated seconds, accepted footage, upscaled seconds, watermarked previews and any refits. At a hypothetical 25% selection rate, forty generated five-second clips yield only fifty accepted seconds on average; this assumed rate is not supplied by Luma. A reliable forecast adds a rejection distribution and review labor to the listed credits rather than claiming a fixed cost per finished video.

How to verify the actual invoice

Begin with a small representative workload rather than the cheapest published headline. Record the exact provider and billing channel, API model identifier, currency, account geography, plan and commitment length. The price or quota evidence in this guide is keyed to monthly_credits, monthly_fast_credits, monthly_subscription, website_credits_per_5s_video. Do not combine proprietary creative credits, token meters or media seconds into a single currency or invent a conversion rate between them. If an enterprise or regional rate is not published, leave its price unknown and obtain a written quote.

Keep separate estimates for failed attempts, optional tools, storage, exports, human quality review and tax. Use source-verified line items from the companion CSV instead of typing permanent numbers into your forecasting formulas. Where an old plan or model was superseded, preserve its original historical record and create an additive later snapshot. This guide does not claim a product test, performance ranking, independent legal assessment or live procurement approval.

Availability, alternatives and editorial limits

Available plans, supported endpoints, trial eligibility, quota reset and contract rights may vary by region and account even when a public website displays a single global currency. Compare an alternative only with the same accepted task, input/output volume, model version and privacy requirements. Vendor-provided marketing claims are not independent evidence of quality. This historical pricing article may be cross-referenced by the model, media or enterprise procurement team, but its purpose is to explain the billing mechanics without duplicating their evaluations or inventing test scores.