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Luma AIvsOpenAI

Luma AI vs OpenAI: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence

Full comparison of Luma AI and OpenAI — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Rates sourced from public APIs — verify before use.

Luma AI

Dream Machine — high-quality video generation from text and image prompts

Luma AI develops Dream Machine, a video generation model accessible via API. Dream Machine v1.6 generates high-quality video clips from text or image prompts. The 4K variant produces higher-resolution output. Pricing is per second of generated video rather than per token.

Video generationCreative contentMarketing assetsPrototyping video concepts
Proprietary models

OpenAI

GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.6 Sol/Terra/Luna — plus image, voice, and realtime APIs

OpenAI's September 2026 API lineup spans GPT-6 Astra (flagship frontier), GPT-5.6 Sol (promotional), GPT-5.6 Terra (balanced), and GPT-5.6 Luna (everyday). Beyond text, the platform includes GPT-Image-2.5 (Sunburst and Flare), GPT-Live-1 voice, GPT-Realtime-2.1 for low-latency voice agents, and transcription/translation models. Batch API saves 50% on all models. Check the live table for current per-token rates.

CodingChatVisionReasoningAgentsVoiceImage generation
Proprietary models

Key metric comparison

Luma AI
OpenAI
Cheapest input ($/1M)

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Cheapest output ($/1M)

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Peak throughput

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Best latency (TTFT)

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Intelligence score

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Context window

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Live token pricing

Strengths and weaknesses

Luma AI

Dream Machine v1.6 produces high-quality, temporally consistent video clips
Supports both text-to-video and image-to-video generation
4K variant available for higher-resolution output
Simple per-second pricing model
Video generation only — no text, image, or audio models
Per-second pricing can be expensive for long clips
Generation latency is higher than text inference
Maximum clip length limited compared to some competitors

OpenAI

Wide API surface: text, image, voice, realtime, transcription, translation, web search, code execution
GPT-6 Astra at the frontier; GPT-5.6 Sol at promotional pricing
Prompt caching on all major models (10% of input price)
Batch API: 50% off all models for async workloads
Wide ecosystem — virtually every AI framework supports OpenAI natively
No open-weight models — full vendor lock-in
GPT-6 Astra output pricing is among the highest for frontier tier — check live table
Rate limits can be restrictive on lower tiers

Key differentiators

Luma AI

Dream Machine v1.6 delivers high-quality text-to-video and image-to-video generation via a simple per-second API — with a 4K variant for production-quality output.

OpenAI

A broad AI API platform — GPT-6 Astra to GPT-5.6 Luna covering multiple capability tiers, plus native image, voice, realtime, and transcription APIs under one key.

Frequently asked questions

Luma AI FAQs

How is Luma AI priced?

Luma AI charges per second of generated video. Dream Machine v1.6 is $0.190/second and the 4K variant is $0.750/second. See lumalabs.ai/dream-machine/api/pricing for current rates.

What is Dream Machine?

Dream Machine is Luma AI's video generation model. v1.6 generates high-quality video clips from text or image prompts, with strong temporal consistency and motion quality.

Does Luma AI support image-to-video?

Yes. Dream Machine supports both text-to-video and image-to-video generation, allowing you to animate a still image or generate video from a text description.

OpenAI FAQs

What are the latest OpenAI models as of 2026?

OpenAI's current lineup includes GPT-6 Astra (flagship frontier), GPT-5.6 Sol (promotional), GPT-5.6 Terra (balanced), and GPT-5.6 Luna (everyday). The o-series reasoning models remain available for complex multi-step tasks. Check the live table or platform.openai.com/docs/pricing for current rates.

How much does the OpenAI API cost?

OpenAI uses tiered per-token pricing across its model lineup. The Batch API cuts all prices by 50% for async workloads, and prompt caching reduces input costs by 50% on eligible requests. Check platform.openai.com/docs/pricing for current rates.

Does OpenAI support prompt caching?

Yes. Prompt caching is available on GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.6 Sol, and other major models. Cached input tokens are billed at 50% of the standard input price, making long-context and repeated-system-prompt workloads significantly cheaper.

Provider resources

Luma AI

Provider page
Website
PricingDocs

OpenAI

Provider page
Website
PricingDocs

Luma AI — Dream Machine — high-quality video generation from text and image prompts

Luma AI develops Dream Machine, a video generation model accessible via API. Dream Machine v1.6 generates high-quality video clips from text or image prompts. The 4K variant produces higher-resolution output. Pricing is per second of generated video rather than per token.

Dream Machine v1.6 delivers high-quality text-to-video and image-to-video generation via a simple per-second API — with a 4K variant for production-quality output.

OpenAI — GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.6 Sol/Terra/Luna — plus image, voice, and realtime APIs

OpenAI's September 2026 API lineup spans GPT-6 Astra (flagship frontier), GPT-5.6 Sol (promotional), GPT-5.6 Terra (balanced), and GPT-5.6 Luna (everyday). Beyond text, the platform includes GPT-Image-2.5 (Sunburst and Flare), GPT-Live-1 voice, GPT-Realtime-2.1 for low-latency voice agents, and transcription/translation models. Batch API saves 50% on all models. Check the live table for current per-token rates.

A broad AI API platform — GPT-6 Astra to GPT-5.6 Luna covering multiple capability tiers, plus native image, voice, realtime, and transcription APIs under one key.

Key strengths compared

Luma AI

  • Dream Machine v1.6 produces high-quality, temporally consistent video clips
  • Supports both text-to-video and image-to-video generation
  • 4K variant available for higher-resolution output
  • Video generation only — no text, image, or audio models
  • Per-second pricing can be expensive for long clips

OpenAI

  • Wide API surface: text, image, voice, realtime, transcription, translation, web search, code execution
  • GPT-6 Astra at the frontier; GPT-5.6 Sol at promotional pricing
  • Prompt caching on all major models (10% of input price)
  • No open-weight models — full vendor lock-in
  • GPT-6 Astra output pricing is among the highest for frontier tier — check live table

Key weaknesses compared

Luma AI

  • Video generation only — no text, image, or audio models
  • Per-second pricing can be expensive for long clips
  • Generation latency is higher than text inference
  • Maximum clip length limited compared to some competitors

OpenAI

  • No open-weight models — full vendor lock-in
  • GPT-6 Astra output pricing is among the highest for frontier tier — check live table
  • Rate limits can be restrictive on lower tiers

Provider category context

Luma AI is a frontier lab, founded in 2021. OpenAI is a frontier lab, founded in 2015. Both are frontier lab providers — the comparison is primarily about pricing, model selection, and feature differentiation within the same tier.

How to choose between them

Both Luma AI and OpenAI are frontier labs with proprietary models. Choose based on benchmark performance for your specific task: Luma AI leads on dream machine v1.6 produces high-quality, temporally consistent video clips, while OpenAI leads on wide api surface: text, image, voice, realtime, transcription, translation, web search, code execution. For cost-sensitive workloads, compare the cheapest model tier from each provider in the pricing table above — the gap between efficient-tier models is often larger than between flagship models.