Runway is keeping the $95 monthly price and removing the part that made its Unlimited plan unlimited.
Runway says eligible Unlimited subscribers can keep Explore Mode through November 30, 2026. After that, monthly subscribers move automatically to a Max plan with 9,500 credits and no relaxed unlimited generation. The same price now buys a countable production budget. That is easier to model, but less forgiving when experiments fail.
The automatic switch happens after November 30
Runway’s transition FAQ, updated August 27, says eligible legacy Unlimited access continues through November 30. A monthly subscription then switches to Max at $95 per month unless the customer cancels.
Annual customers whose term continues beyond November have a different choice. Runway says they can cancel for a refund covering the unused part of the term or accept a credit bonus. Anyone on an annual plan should read the account-specific notice rather than assume the monthly rule applies unchanged.
Unlimited and Max buy different kinds of slack
The old Unlimited plan includes 2,250 monthly credits plus unlimited generation in relaxed Explore Mode. Max provides 9,500 credits, removes Explore Mode, allows on-demand generation, and permits one month of rollover. The extra 7,250 scheduled credits are useful. They are still finite.
| Plan behavior | Unlimited | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $95 | $95 |
| Included credits | 2,250 | 9,500 |
| Relaxed Explore Mode | Included | Not included |
| Rollover | Plan-specific legacy behavior | One month |
Gen-4.5 turns 9,500 credits into about 13 minutes
Runway’s credit guide lists Gen-4.5 video at 12 credits per second. At that rate, 9,500 credits buy 791.67 seconds, or about 13 minutes 12 seconds of generated video.
- 158 complete five-second generations, with 10 credits left.
- 79 complete ten-second generations, with 20 credits left.
- About $0.60 per five-second generation if the full $95 plan is used only for Gen-4.5.
- About $1.20 per ten-second generation under the same assumption.
Those are clean accounting numbers, not finished-video costs. Failed motion, unusable hands, continuity repairs, upscaling, retakes, and alternate shots consume credits too. A creator who accepts one in four generations has a very different effective rate from someone who accepts one in two.
The useful metric is accepted seconds
I would track accepted seconds, not generated seconds. For every scene, record credits spent and seconds that survive into the delivered edit. Divide total monthly credits by accepted seconds. That number exposes whether a workflow is improving or merely producing more drafts.
Our AI image and video buying guide argues for paying by job fit. This change makes that discipline unavoidable. It also gives a clean comparison point against a metered API such as the Wan 3.0 video cost model.
Audit your last 30 days before the switch
- List every final clip and its duration.
- Estimate credits spent on the accepted clip and discarded attempts.
- Price the same workload against 9,500 credits.
- Mark work that depended on Explore Mode rather than paid-speed credits.
- Decide whether to keep Max, downgrade, or route exploration to another tool before November 30.
A one-month rollover helps uneven production, but it does not restore unlimited exploration. Teams should also decide who owns the shared credit budget. A single experimental session can consume capacity needed for a client deadline.
My verdict
Max may be better for a disciplined production team that already knows its shots. It is worse for a creator whose value came from running many low-pressure experiments in Explore Mode. The price staying at $95 does not make those plans equivalent.
Read Runway’s transition instructions, the Max plan details, and the current credit schedule before changing a subscription.
Plan terms and credit rates were verified on September 1, 2026. Generation counts and per-clip costs are Musthave.ai calculations and exclude failed outputs, add-on credits, and other tools.
