Veo 3.1 Lite

What is Veo 3.1 Lite?

Veo 3.1 Lite is the budget tier of Google's Veo 3.1 family, made for apps that generate many clips. It turns a prompt or a starting image into a 4, 6 or 8 second video with sound, at 720p or 1080p, landscape or portrait, and it can fill in the motion between a set first and last frame. It drops what the larger models add: on the Gemini API there is no 4K, no reference images and no extension.

Google says it runs as fast as Veo 3.1 Fast, at half Fast's 720p price. It is still a preview model with no shutdown date announced, but Google now points developers to Gemini Omni Flash as its default video model.

How is Veo 3.1 Lite different from Veo 3.1 Fast?

Veo 3.1 Lite costs half as much at 720p and, by Google's account, runs at the same speed, but it gives up 4K, reference images and extension.

Price

$0.05 a second at 720p and $0.08 at 1080p, against $0.10 and $0.12 on Fast.

Resolution

Up to 1080p; Fast also renders 4K at $0.30 a second.

Controls

A start image and first and last frames; Fast adds up to three reference images.

Extension

Not on the Gemini API; Fast can extend a clip 7 seconds at a time, up to 148 seconds.

Who is Veo 3.1 Lite best for?

Veo 3.1 Lite is best for developers building apps that make many short clips, where the price of each video matters more than 4K output or extending a shot.

• High-volume video apps

  At 720p it costs half as much per second as Veo 3.1 Fast, and Google says it generates at the same speed.

• Portrait social clips

  It outputs 9:16 portrait as well as 16:9 landscape, at 720p or 1080p, with sound generated alongside the picture.

• Cheap prompt testing

  A 4-second 720p clip costs $0.20, so you can try many prompts before rendering the final version on a larger Veo model.

• Animating still images

  Image-to-video turns a product shot or an illustration into a short moving clip, and a second image can set where the shot ends.

What's included with Veo 3.1 Lite?

Sound with every clip, text or image to video, first and last frames, 16:9 or 9:16 at up to 1080p, and 4, 6 or 8 second lengths.

Sound with every clip

Dialogue, effects and ambience are generated with the picture and are always on.

Text or image to video

Start from a prompt alone, or animate a still image as the opening frame.

First and last frames

Add a closing image too and Lite generates the motion between the two.

Portrait or landscape

16:9 or 9:16 at 720p or 1080p, 24 frames a second.

Clip length you choose

4, 6 or 8 seconds, with the cost scaling by the second; 1080p clips are 8 seconds.

SynthID watermark

Every clip carries Google's invisible SynthID watermark, which Google's verification tool can detect.

How does Veo 3.1 Lite work?

1. Send a prompt

   Call veo-3.1-lite-generate-preview with a prompt of up to 1,024 tokens, plus an optional first or last frame image.

2. Wait for the job

   Each request runs as a long job that you poll until it finishes; Google puts Veo jobs at 11 seconds to 6 minutes at busy times.

3. Download within 2 days

   Google deletes videos from its servers after 2 days, so save a copy as soon as it is ready.

How much does Veo 3.1 Lite cost?

Veo 3.1 Lite costs $0.05 per second of video with sound at 720p and $0.08 per second at 1080p on the Gemini API's paid tier, so an 8-second clip costs $0.40 or $0.64.

Veo 3.1 Lite runs only on the paid tier of the Gemini API and in Google AI Studio; there is no free API tier. You are charged only when a video generates, and paid-tier prompts and videos are not used to improve Google's products. For comparison, Veo 3.1 Fast costs $0.10 a second at 720p and Veo 3.1 Standard $0.40. In Google Flow, a Lite clip uses 10 of the 50 free credits everyone gets each day. Prices are in US dollars. Full pricing on ai.google.dev. We checked these prices on 28 Sep 2026.

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Veo 3.1 Lite pros and cons

Veo 3.1 Lite is the cheapest way to get Veo video with sound, but users rate its quality well below Fast, and it lacks 4K, reference images and extension.

What are the best Veo 3.1 Lite alternatives?

Veo 3.1 for 4K and extension, Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash for editing and Google's current default, and LTX-2.5 for self-hosting with open weights.

Veo 3.1Free

Choose it when you need 4K, reference images or clip extension; its Fast version adds them for $0.10 a second at 720p, twice Lite's price.

Gemini Omni 1.1 FlashFree

Choose it when you want to fix a clip with follow-up prompts or need 10-second clips; it is Google's default video model and costs about $0.10 a second at 720p.

LTX-2.5Free

Choose it when you make video at volume and can run your own GPUs: its open weights are free for companies under $10 million in yearly revenue, and its API starts at $0.09 a second at 720p.

Questions about Veo 3.1 Lite