October 6, 2026
The best AI video upscalers in 2026: price per second and which one to pick
Topaz Video and Astra, Runway, Magnific, FLUX Video Upscale, Krea, Higgsfield, Clarity, HitPaw, AVCLabs, SeedVR2 and Imaginode compared: maximum output, faithful or creative, and what five seconds of 4K cost. Prices taken from official pages on 6 October 2026.
Frank HoubreFounder of Imaginode
Why video upscaling became essential
Most video generation models output 720p or 1080p: to deliver in 4K, upscaling often costs four times less than generating straight in 4K, provided you pick the right tool.
Two years ago, video upscaling was mostly for restoring old tapes. In 2026, its first customer is generated video. Seedance 2.5 tops out at 720p, Wan 3.0 at 1080p, and only a few models offer a true 2160p tier, billed at five times the 720p price on some. The detailed math, model by model, is in AI video in 4K.
Upscaling a video is harder than upscaling an image. Each frame of the clip has to be upscaled consistently with the previous one, otherwise the invented detail changes from frame to frame and the video flickers. That is what recent research is about: temporal layers, motion-guided propagation, and since 2025 one-step diffusion models fast enough to be sold by the second.
This comparison ranks tools on what matters for generated video: maximum output, faithful or creative mode, accepted duration, and the real price of five seconds of 4K when it can be calculated. Every price comes from the tool's official page, read on 6 October 2026.
Topaz Video and Topaz Astra: the benchmark, local or online
Topaz Video costs $299 a year or $59 a month, runs locally or in the cloud up to 8K, with Starlight Precise 2.5 for generated video; Topaz Astra, the online version, starts at $19 a month on promotion for 4K.
Topaz Video, formerly Video AI, is the most complete tool on the market: denoising, upscaling, focus recovery, frame interpolation, SDR to HDR conversion, stabilization, with around fifteen models, Proteus, Iris, Nyx, Gaia, Starlight. Rendering can happen locally, files never leave your computer, or in the cloud with credits, up to 8K. Starlight models are limited to 9,000 frames per job in the cloud, five minutes at 30 frames per second.
2026 was busy at Topaz: Starlight Precise 2.5 on 31 March, presented as the best for bringing generated video to 4K, a local version on 28 April, and Astra 2, a creative video upscaler, the same day. Topaz Video alone costs $299 a year or $59 a month; Astra Standard, online, $19 a month on promotion instead of $39, for 400 credits and 4K output. A free trial exists, with a watermark.
It is the best choice for an editor who processes a lot of video and wants full control. For a few shots a month, the annual subscription is heavy, which is why Topaz models end up resold by the second elsewhere. Our comparison with the vendor is at Imaginode vs Topaz.
Runway: Topaz at 2 credits a second
Runway's "Upscale to 4K", which its catalog credits to Topaz, costs 2 credits per second on the Standard plan at $15 a month, and becomes unlimited on the Pro and Max plans.
Runway offers 4K upscaling directly in its interface, on its own generations as well as on an imported video. Its model catalog names the provider: Topaz. The price is simple, 2 credits per second, or 20 credits for a ten-second shot.
The Standard plan costs $15 a month, $12 billed yearly, for 625 credits, and includes watermark-free 4K upscaling. At the monthly price, five seconds in 4K come to about $0.24. On the Pro plan, $35 a month, and Max, $95, 4K upscaling is unlimited.
For a Runway user who generates a lot, the Pro plan makes upscaling free in practice, and that is a real argument. For someone who generates elsewhere, subscribing to Runway just to upscale makes little sense. The full comparison is at Imaginode vs Runway.
Magnific: creative, up to 4K
Magnific's video upscaler outputs 720p, 1K, 2K or 4K, with creativity, sharpness and grain sliders, included in paid plans from €16 a month; the per-frame price is not published.
Magnific applies to video the recipe that made it successful on images: an upscaler that can add detail, adjustable in creativity, sharpness and grain, with a Standard and a Turbo mode, and an option that raises the frame rate, raising the price along the way.
Pricing is "frame based", meaning by the number of frames in the clip, but the rate is not published in the documentation. The upscaler is included in every paid plan, from Premium at €16 a month, or €12 billed yearly (prices were shown to us in euros), and draws on the same credit pool as generation.
Creative mode, precious on a slightly soft generated video, should be handled with care on footage with faces that must stay recognizable. Our comparison with the vendor is at Imaginode vs Magnific.
FLUX Video Upscale: the newcomer, by the megapixel-second
Black Forest Labs launched FLUX Video Upscale on 20 August 2026: output up to native 4K, 1.5x, 2x and 3x factors, $0.07 per megapixel-second in Precise and $0.10 in Creative, about $2.90 for five seconds of 4K.
The maker of the Flux models entered video upscaling this summer, with a tool that works on any video, not just those generated by Flux. It promises to fix smudged faces and grid artifacts on water or grass, two typical flaws of generated video.
Two modes: Precise, in four steps, at $0.07 per megapixel per second, and Creative, in eight steps, at $0.10, which the page warns may alter consistency with the source. Let's do the math for five seconds of 4K: 3840 × 2160 pixels, about 8.3 megapixels, times five seconds, about 41.5 megapixel-seconds, so $2.90 in Precise and $4.15 in Creative.
It is an API tool, also available in BFL's playground, with no consumer interface. Its quality on the flaws of generated video is promising, but at that price, it is for shots that justify it.
Krea and Higgsfield: the aggregators
Krea gives access to Topaz video models up to 8K, with interpolation up to 120 frames per second; Higgsfield offers 4K upscaling and exposes a ByteDance upscaler; neither publishes the cost of an upscale.
Krea extended its Enhancer to video with Topaz models, Proteus, Iris, Artemis, Nyx, Gaia, Apollo, up to 8K depending on the model, and adds interpolation to 30, 60, 90 or 120 frames per second and slow motion up to 8x. The Pro plan costs $35 a month, $21 billed yearly, and the documentation warns that video eats through the unit budget quickly, without giving a rate.
Higgsfield advertises 4K upscaling, with a choice of output resolution. Its model catalog exposes a ByteDance video upscaler at 1080p, 2K or 4K, plus a generic upscaler. The Starter plan costs €19 a month billed yearly. The credit cost of an upscale is not published.
Both are convenient if you already generate your videos there. But without a published price, there is no way to know in advance what a shot will cost, which is a real flaw when you are planning a budget. See also Imaginode vs Krea and Imaginode vs Higgsfield.
Clarity Crystal: faithful, and expensive
Clarity's Crystal video upscaler charges $0.10 per megapixel-second: $4 for five seconds of 1080p upscaled 2x, $16 for five seconds of 4K.
Clarity, known for its image upscalers, also offers Crystal for video, a faithful upscaler that works frame by frame up to 4K, with a budget of 360 megapixel-seconds per video.
The published prices are clear, which is a plus, and high: $4 for a five-second 1080p clip upscaled twice, $8 for ten seconds, $16 for five seconds of 4K.
At that rate, it is a tool for specific shots where faithful rendering matters above all, not for upscaling an entire film.
Consumer desktop software
HitPaw VikPea, AVCLabs and UniFab run locally up to 8K or more, from $99.99 a year at HitPaw and $119.95 at AVCLabs; CapCut offers 4K upscaling presented as free.
One family of tools targets consumers who want to restore family videos on their own computer. HitPaw VikPea goes up to 8K, with models for portraits, interpolation or HDR conversion; it cost $99.99 a year on promotion on 6 October 2026. AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI goes up to 8K at 120 frames per second, $119.95 a year or $299.99 for a perpetual license. UniFab advertises up to 16K locally, with a thirty-day trial without watermark.
These programs have the advantage of local processing, and for some, a perpetual license. Their limit: they need a powerful machine, and processing a minute of 4K quickly takes hours on a laptop.
CapCut, finally, offers an online upscaler up to 4K, presented as free, and cites Dreamina's Seedance 2.0 model on its page. The terms of the Pro plan and whether there is a watermark are not stated.
SeedVR2 and FlashVSR: open source, for those with the hardware
SeedVR2, from ByteDance Seed, and FlashVSR are free under the Apache 2.0 license, but SeedVR2 needs four H100 cards to process 1080p, and FlashVSR runs at 17 frames per second on an A100.
SeedVR2, published by ByteDance Seed and NTU, restores video in a single diffusion step. It is a serious research model, accepted at ICLR 2026, with public weights. But the project page is honest about the hardware: one 80 GB H100 for 720p, four for 1080p or 2K.
FlashVSR is built for speed: a 4x upscale at about 17 frames per second at 768 × 1408 on a single A100, up to twelve times faster than previous one-step models.
For a solo creator, neither is realistic without renting graphics cards by the hour. Their interest lies elsewhere: they explain why per-second prices dropped so much in 2026.
Imaginode: two upscalers, priced before you run them
On Imaginode, the ByteDance Upscaler takes five seconds to 4K for 18 credits and Topaz Proteus for 36; both keep the audio track, accept up to sixty seconds and plug into the output of any Video node.
Let's be upfront, this is our tool. The Enhance node, in Video mode, offers two upscalers. The ByteDance Upscaler is set by target, 1080p, 2K or 4K: 5 credits per five seconds to 1080p, 18 to 4K, 208 for a full minute in 4K. Topaz Proteus is set by factor, 2x or 4x, and billed at the output tier: 12 credits per five seconds at 1080p, 36 in 4K.
What we checked on the output files: both keep the audio track of the source, sound generated by Veo or Seedance comes out intact. On our 480 × 270 test clip, ByteDance gave the sharpest image while hardening the grain along the way, Topaz a softer image. The output frame rate is set in the node, 30 frames per second by default. The comparison cropped at 100% is in AI video in 4K.
The benefit is being in the same chain as the generation: plug the Enhance node into the take you keep, the price shows on the actual length of the clip, and the upscaled shot goes on to the Edit node. For a blurry video that does not come from a generation, sharpen a video starts with the right settings.
Which one to pick, case by case
High-volume editor: Topaz Video. Runway subscriber: its Upscale to 4K. A generated shot to take to 4K at the lowest price: a per-second upscaler. Compute available: SeedVR2. Old family videos on your computer: HitPaw or AVCLabs.
You edit a lot, you want to work locally and control everything: Topaz Video, $299 a year, remains the benchmark, with Starlight for generated video. You already generate on Runway with a Pro plan: 4K upscaling is unlimited there, look no further.
You want to take a few generated shots to 4K without yet another subscription: an upscaler billed by the second is the most economical. For five seconds of 4K, the prices we found range from 18 credits on Imaginode and about $0.24 on Runway Standard to $2.90 on FLUX Video Upscale and $16 on Clarity Crystal.
You want to restore family videos on your computer without sending anything online: HitPaw VikPea or AVCLabs, with an annual or perpetual license. And in every case, test on five seconds before upscaling a whole film.
The summary
For video, compare the price of five seconds of 4K, check that sound is kept and that the accepted duration covers your shots, and keep creative mode for shots with no faces to respect.
Entry prices read on 6 October 2026: Topaz Video $299 a year, Topaz Astra $19 a month on promotion, Runway Standard $15 a month at 2 credits a second, Magnific €16 a month, Krea Pro $35 a month, FLUX Video Upscale $0.07 per megapixel-second, Clarity Crystal $0.10 per megapixel-second, HitPaw $99.99 a year, Imaginode 18 credits per five seconds of 4K.
Promotional prices change fast, check them on the vendor's page. And remember the limit they all share: an upscaler sharpens what exists, it does not recover the face of a tiny character in a wide shot.
For still images, the landscape and prices are different: that is the subject of the best AI image upscalers.