USE CASE · B-ROLL
The best AI for B-roll & stock footage
Rates shown at each model's base tier, verified July 2026 from official vendor pricing pages and documentation. Vendors change prices without notice — see methodology.
B-roll is where AI video beats stock libraries outright. A stock subscription runs $30–60/month for someone else's generic clips; $30 of Seedance generates 25+ minutes of footage that matches your exact script — right city, right season, right mood. And because B-roll plays under narration at partial attention, the budget tier's occasional softness costs nothing.
Retake ratios run low here (~×1.2–1.5): ambient shots fail rarely, and a "failed" B-roll clip is often usable elsewhere. Two rules: generate 20% more than the edit needs (selection beats regeneration), and keep prompts atmospheric rather than specific — the less precision you demand, the cheaper every usable second gets.
Whichever pick fits, pressure-test the budget in the calculator with your real clip counts — and remember every rate above multiplies by your retake ratio.