fal.ai vs Elyumfor Grok Imagine 1.5
fal.ai bills every Grok Imagine 1.5 second you generate, while Elyum bills only the takes you KEEP.
Grok Imagine 1.5 is xAI's short-form video model. On the Grok Imagine 1.5 page Elyum tags it stylized and quick, up to 15 seconds, with text to video, image to video, and reference to video. It is built for a single beat of motion, not a multi-scene film. Clip length runs from 1 to 15 seconds across three aspect ratios, so the same prompt can land as a feed post, a story, or a widescreen cut. Attach a still when you want the first frame locked.
The model is the same. The bill is not. fal.ai is an API platform with no subscription plans. You pay per second at $0.08 to $0.25 by resolution. Elyum is one studio, one credit balance (1 credit = $0.01), with plans from Free (up to 150 credits once (our algorithm may grant them)) to Plus $9/mo, Pro $29/mo, and Ultra $69/mo. On Elyum every render is a free preview. KEEP charges credits. KILL refunds them in full. fal.ai does not publish a bad-take refund policy.
fal.ai is the better fit if you already generate from code and want queue-and-webhook callbacks. Elyum has no timeline editor, no stock footage, no avatars, no mobile app, no team seats, and no community feed. That gap matters if your workflow is an NLE.
Grok Imagine 1.5 on fal.ai
Grok Imagine 1.5 on fal.ai is the xai/grok-imagine-video v1.5 endpoint, with text, image, and reference to video. There is no plan that unlocks it. fal.ai lists no subscription plans. You top up a pay-as-you-go balance. fal.ai's Grok Imagine Video 1.5 page lists $0.08 to $0.25 per second by resolution. A 720p clip is listed at $0.14 per second, so a 10-second clip is about $1.41.
fal.ai's pricing page does not show a free ongoing tier. Third-party trackers report a one-time signup credit around $20; that figure was not confirmed on fal.ai's own pricing page in the 2026-09-07 research pass. What a failed or ugly Grok Imagine 1.5 render costs on fal.ai is not published. Watermark policy on paid outputs is also not published. Commercial use follows the underlying provider license, not a single fal.ai rule.
Grok Imagine 1.5 on Elyum
On Elyum, Grok Imagine 1.5 is billed at 6 credits per second. A 5-second keep is {{price grok-imagine-1-5 per second 5}}. A 15-second keep is {{price grok-imagine-1-5 per second 15}}. Clips run 1 to 15 seconds with text, image, and reference to video, and three aspect ratios. You watch a free preview first. KEEP is the only charge. KILL refunds in full. A failed generation is never charged. Free-plan kills are limited to one a month. Paid plans kill freely.
Kept takes download clean, no watermark, commercial use included. You can also call the same studio from Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor via the MCP server or the REST API. Pro and Ultra include fair-use unlimited image generation on selected image models. That perk does not change this video model's per-second keep price.
What a Grok Imagine 1.5 take costs
| Scenario | fal.ai | Elyum |
|---|---|---|
| One 5s take you keep | 720p listed at $0.14/s. Range $0.08 to $0.25/s | {{price grok-imagine-1-5 per second 5}} |
| Ten 5s takes, keep two | All ten billed at $0.08 to $0.25/s (no keep/kill split) | {{price grok-imagine-1-5 per second 5 x2}} |
| A failed generation | Not published | Never charged |
| Monthly plan to access the model | None. Pay-as-you-go. Signup credit reported ~$20 (not on fal.ai pricing) | None. Free plan includes up to 150 credits once (our algorithm may grant them) |
| Watermark on the file | Not published | None on kept downloads |
| One 15s take you keep | $0.08 to $0.25/s by resolution (15s not separately listed) | {{price grok-imagine-1-5 per second 15}} |
Elyum: 1 credit = $0.01, charged only when you keep a take. fal.ai figures from its own pricing pages and independent reviews, verified 2026-09-07; sources at the end. Full rate card on the Grok Imagine 1.5 page.
Where the two differ
fal.ai charges per generated second at $0.08 to $0.25 by resolution. Elyum charges 6 credits per second, and only after you KEEP the preview.
Elyum refunds a KILL in full and never charges a failed generation. Free plan allows one kill a month; paid plans kill freely. fal.ai does not publish a failed-generation or bad-take refund policy.
On Elyum, Grok Imagine 1.5 runs 1 to 15 seconds in three aspect ratios. fal.ai exposes the same v1.5 modes (text, image, reference to video). A single platform-wide clip cap is not documented on fal.ai.
fal.ai is API-first (REST, Python and JS clients, queue and webhooks). Elyum is a web studio plus MCP and REST. fal.ai has no consumer generation app. Elyum has no timeline editor.
Kept Elyum takes include commercial use and no watermark. On fal.ai, commercial use follows the underlying provider license and is not a uniform fal.ai policy.
fal.ai has no listed plans and no recurring free tier. Elyum Free is up to 150 credits once (our algorithm may grant them), no card. See the fal.ai alternative if you want the studio side of that split.
Pick fal.ai when
- You want Grok Imagine 1.5 as xai/grok-imagine-video v1.5 on one API with queue and webhook callbacks.
- You already pay fal.ai per second and do not want a studio subscription.
- You need fal-optimized variants of other models, such as MiniMax H3 Max, on the same key.
- You deploy custom GPUs (H100, A100, B300) beside the hosted catalog.
Pick Elyum when
- Every take is a free preview. You pay {{price grok-imagine-1-5 per second 5}} only when you KEEP a 5-second clip.
- Kill refunds in full. Failed generations are never charged.
- One credit balance across 50+ models, with list prices about 20 percent under comparable studios.
- Web studio plus MCP and REST, clean commercial downloads, no watermark.
Grok Imagine 1.5 in three styles, rendered on Elyum
Getting the most out of Grok Imagine 1.5
- Name one camera move and one subject action. Locked-off close-up, hair blowing left beats a shot list. The clip is 1 to 15 seconds and will smear if you stack beats.
- Put the start frame in image-to-video or reference-to-video when you already have the still. Prompt the motion only. Do not re-describe the whole wardrobe.
- Pick the aspect ratio before you prompt. Use a story frame for vertical, a feed frame for square, and widescreen for 16:9. The same text does not reframe itself well after the fact.
- Write style as a medium and a palette (cel-shaded night market, neon magenta, wet asphalt), not a pile of director names. Elyum tags Grok Imagine 1.5 as stylized. Lean into that.
- Keep duration at the length of the action. A two-second glance should not be a 15-second clip. Extra seconds invite morphing and loop artifacts.
- Avoid multi-location cuts, readable signage, and two people exchanging lines. This is a short stylized clip model, not an editor.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Grok Imagine 1.5 video cost on Elyum vs fal.ai?
Is Grok Imagine 1.5 the same model on both?
What happens to a bad Grok Imagine 1.5 take?
Do I need a subscription to use Grok Imagine 1.5 on Elyum?
Does fal.ai watermark Grok Imagine 1.5 outputs?
Can I call Grok Imagine 1.5 from an API on both?
- fal.ai Pricing (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Seedance 2.5 (Text to Video) API on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Wan 3.0 Prime (Text to Video) API on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Kling Video v3 [Pro] API on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Veo 3.1 API on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Nano Banana Pro API on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Nano Banana 2 on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- FLUX.2 [pro] on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- How To Use Seedream 5.0 Pro (accessed 2026-09-07)
- MiniMax H3 (Text to Video) on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- fal Launches H3 Max (Aug 27, 2026) (accessed 2026-09-07)
- GPT Image 2 API on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Grok Imagine Video 1.5 API on fal (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Fal.ai Review (2026): Pricing, Models & When to Use It (accessed 2026-09-07)
- fal.ai Blog (accessed 2026-09-07)
Related comparisons
Create everything. Keep the best.
Grok Imagine 1.5 is a AI video generator you can preview free on Elyum. Keep the takes you love, kill the rest for a full refund.