Hailuo AI Credits Explained: Free Access, Subscriptions and Top-Ups

Hailuo AI credits are the app's unit for paying for generation attempts—not a promise of usable finished video. Use Hailuo's free route to evaluate the results, a subscription for repeat monthly production, and a top-up for occasional extra demand once its purchase terms are clear. Budget every planned generation attempt, including creative reruns. Programmatic generation through MiniMax needs a separate API budget.

What the free and subscription balances cover

Free lists 0 recurring monthly credits and a one-time trial; the entry subscription lists 1,000 monthly credits. Hailuo subscription screen.

Hailuo's subscription terms describe a one-time welcome grant but do not specify its credit amount. Use the balance actually granted to your account for evaluation, and check its expiry before planning work. Hailuo subscription terms.

The figures above come from the Chinese-language international web view. The plan table was readable, but Buy credits requested sign-in. Authenticated balances, regional eligibility and mobile checkout were not verified.

Hailuo's 2.3 model guide describes daily trial credits as a possible launch promotion. It does not establish a permanent daily grant. Build a recurring production budget from your account's actual allowance, not a past launch offer. Hailuo 2.3 model guide.

Expiry and top-ups need different checks

The payment terms give membership credits one month of validity without rollover and welcome credits three days. The account's reset timestamp was not visible. Check the balance before scheduling work. Hailuo subscription terms.

Purchased-credit expiry remains unclear: the terms specify December 31 of the second calendar year after purchase; the in-app FAQ also says one year. Confirm the expiry for your purchase. Subscription terms, credit-purchase FAQ.

The gated checkout prevented verification of current top-up prices, purchase minimums and offers. No numeric purchase rate is supplied here.

For irregular work, a top-up is worth comparing with an upgrade only after you know how long the credits remain usable. For steady work, choose an allowance you can realistically spend within its validity period. An annual payment commitment is a separate decision from how many credits you can use this month.

Read the quote for the exact generation

The logged-out Hailuo composer displayed these estimates for MiniMax H3, Omni Reference, 21:9, one output, with no reference files attached. These are pre-generation estimates, not measured charges or guaranteed quotes after adding inputs. Hailuo video composer.

Use the final displayed quote after choosing the model, mode, references, duration, resolution and output count. Do not extend these observations to video-reference editing, another model or a separate finishing operation.

The model name matters. H3 offers several reference and generation workflows; Hailuo 2.3-Fast is a distinct image-to-video option. H3 model guide, Hailuo 2.3 model guide.

For 2.3 six-second 1080p output, the guide and pricing FAQ disagree. That rate needs account-level confirmation. Hailuo 2.3 guide, pricing FAQ.

Fill in a monthly workload worksheet

Make a separate worksheet row for each model, mode, resolution and duration. Start with clips you need to keep, then account for the attempts needed to get them.

ToolColumn arithmetic: with one output per attempt, monthly usable clips = P × K; planned attempts = P × K × (1 + R); estimated generation credits = P × K × (1 + R) × C. Add separately quoted operations. If you generate batches, adjust the calculation to match the output count covered by the displayed quote.

ToolColumn arithmetic — illustrative 2K workload: four projects per month needing three usable five-second clips each means 12 clips. Assuming two reruns plus the first attempt means 36 attempts. If the final H3 quote remains 60 credits, the estimate is 2,160 credits for 60 seconds of selected footage, before extra operations. The rerun assumption is a planning choice, not a measured Hailuo success rate.

ToolColumn arithmetic — resolution comparison: keeping that workload and rerun assumption, a final quote of 35 credits for the five-second 768p setting would require 1,260 credits. This comparison assumes the lower-resolution results meet the brief; any later upscale needs its own quote.

ToolColumn arithmetic — allowance check: against a usable pool of 1,000 credits, the 2,160-credit example leaves 1,160 credits unfunded. Compare the verified cost of filling that gap with the incremental cost of a larger subscription. Do not count expired, model-ineligible or merely advertised credits as available funds.

Treat queue capacity and unlimited labels separately

The table and older FAQ describe task limits differently. Confirm queued and simultaneously running jobs separately. The unlimited-use FAQ conditions post-exhaustion Relax Mode on plan and model, with slower processing; it does not establish H3 eligibility. Hailuo subscription page.

Do not assume a zero-credit account can keep generating. Verify the allowed fallback for your exact plan and model, or plan to wait for an eligible allocation or purchase more usable credits. No authenticated exhaustion flow was observed.

A larger credit balance does not by itself establish a delivery deadline. Test a representative brief before making a longer commitment, and track acceptable outputs and turnaround alongside credits consumed.

Choose the purchase route after estimating the workload

Stay with the free route while you establish whether Hailuo can produce the shots you need. Choose a subscription when your monthly workload is repeatable and its allowance fits your spending window. Compare a top-up for a temporary shortfall after confirming checkout eligibility, price and expiry. If output quality or throughput makes the worksheet unattractive, trial another video app with the same brief and compare total spending per usable clip.

MiniMax's platform pricing overview separately lists API pay-as-you-go and prepaid Video Packages. Those are platform purchase routes. Do not treat a Hailuo app subscription, welcome offer or unlimited label as proof of API entitlement, and do not transfer platform credit, expiry or ownership rules into this consumer budget. Cost an automated workflow using its own platform account and billing terms. MiniMax platform pricing overview.

Before paying, check the billed total, renewal commitment, account reset, cancellation route and the conditions for your billing location and purchase platform. For the plan comparison, continue to Hailuo AI pricing.