WaveSpeed AI vs Elyumfor Grok Imagine 1.5
WaveSpeed AI bills Grok Imagine 1.5 as pay-per-call usage with no published clip price, while Elyum charges 6 credits/second only when you keep a take.
Fifteen seconds is the ceiling. Grok Imagine 1.5 is xAI's video model for stylised social beats, not long photoreal shots. Image-to-video stays close to the still. Native audio (effects, ambience, dialogue) generates in the same pass as the picture, and xAI's Video 1.5 update focused on clearer speech that lands on the action. The June 2026 Video 1.5 release targeted fewer warps and more believable weight over a clip. Reference-to-video, added in July 2026, holds a face, product, or location from stills while the action changes. On Elyum you get text to video, image to video, and reference to video, clips from 1 to 15 seconds, three aspect ratios.
$0.30 is a 5s keep on Elyum (30 credits). WaveSpeed AI does not publish a Grok Imagine 1.5 unit price. WaveSpeed AI is pay-per-use with no subscription tiers; Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Ultra tiers only raise rate limits as top-up spend grows. Elyum uses one credit balance across 50+ models and charges only when you keep a take. WaveSpeed AI's model catalog lists Grok Imagine Video V1.5 and the original Grok Imagine Video. Failed WaveSpeed AI requests, system errors, and timeouts are set to auto-refund within about 3 hours. On Elyum a failed generation is never charged, and a kill refunds in full. See the Grok Imagine 1.5 page for the Elyum SKU.
WaveSpeed AI wins on catalog width and API-first workflow, including a published ComfyUI node pack. Elyum wins when you iterate and discard. Elyum does not have a timeline editor, stock footage, avatars, a mobile app, team seats, or a community feed. For a wider WaveSpeed AI rundown, use the WaveSpeed alternative page.
Grok Imagine 1.5 on WaveSpeed AI
WaveSpeed AI lists Grok Imagine Video V1.5 and the original Grok Imagine Video. No plan unlocks it; no subscription tiers. Billing is pay-as-you-go per generation. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Ultra only raise rate limits as cumulative top-up spend grows. WaveSpeed AI does not publish a Grok Imagine 1.5 per-second or per-run price. The WaveSpeed AI refund policy says failed requests, system errors, and timeouts get an automatic refund within about 3 hours. Client-side timeouts in Sync Mode are not auto-refunded if the job finished server-side; retrieve it by prediction ID. Credits do not expire.
The free start is a one-time $1 trial grant, no card required. Some premium or partner models may be excluded from trial credits. WaveSpeed's pricing page lists no subscription plans. Watermark behavior on paid Grok Imagine 1.5 files is not published. Commercial use is referenced via a separate Commercial Use Policy; the specific terms were not in the excerpt on file. Trustpilot sat at 2.6/5 from 4 reviews as of 7 September 2026, a small sample. A Trustpilot reviewer wrote that about half of a batch of 20 purchased generations came back unusable, and that support did not respond to email.
Grok Imagine 1.5 on Elyum
On Elyum, Grok Imagine 1.5 is 6 credits per second. A 5s keep is 30 credits ($0.30). A 15s keep is 90 credits ($0.90). Clips run 1 to 15 seconds. Routes are text to video, image to video, and reference to video, with three aspect ratios. Elyum does not list a separate resolution SKU for this model. Every render comes back as a free preview. Credits charge only when you KEEP a take. KILL the rest and the charge refunds in full, automatically. A failed generation is never charged.
1 credit equals $0.01. The pricing page lists Free (up to 150 credits once (our algorithm may grant them), no card), Plus $9/mo, Pro $29/mo, and Ultra $69/mo, plus top-ups. Grok Imagine 1.5 sits on that shared balance. The Free grant covers several 5s keeps if you do not waste kills (Free meters kills at one per month; paid plans kill freely). Kept downloads are clean and full quality. No watermark. Commercial use is included. You can run the same studio from Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor via the MCP server or the REST API.
What a Grok Imagine 1.5 take costs
| Scenario | WaveSpeed AI | Elyum |
|---|---|---|
| One 5s take you keep | Not published (pay-per-call; no Grok Imagine 1.5 unit price listed) | 6 credits/s × 5s = 30 credits ($0.30) |
| Ten 5s takes, keep two | Not published; billed per completed generation | 2 × 30 credits = 60 credits ($0.60); eight kills refund (paid) |
| A failed generation | Auto-refund in about 3 hours (failed, error, timeout) | Never charged |
| Monthly plan needed to access the model | None. Pay-as-you-go; no subscription tiers listed | No. Free up to 150 credits once (our algorithm may grant them); Plus $9, Pro $29, Ultra $69 optional |
| Watermark on the paid file | Not published | None on kept downloads (clean, full quality) |
| One 15s take you keep | Not published | 6 credits/s × 15s = 90 credits ($0.90) |
Elyum: 1 credit = $0.01, charged only when you keep a take. WaveSpeed 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
WaveSpeed AI charges per generation (per image or per video-second on models that publish a rate). It does not list a Grok Imagine 1.5 rate. Elyum charges 6 credits/second only on KEEP. 1 credit = $0.01. Listed prices already sit about 20% under Higgsfield, OpenArt, and Runway anchors.
WaveSpeed AI auto-refunds failed requests, system errors, and timeouts within about 3 hours. Sync Mode client-side timeouts are not auto-refunded if the server finished the job (use the prediction ID). Elyum never charges a failed generation. A kill refunds the keep in full. Free plan: one kill a month. Paid plans: kills are free.
On Elyum, Grok Imagine 1.5 runs 1 to 15 seconds as text, image, and reference to video, with three aspect ratios. WaveSpeed AI lists Grok Imagine Video V1.5 and the original Grok Imagine Video. WaveSpeed AI does not publish max clip or resolution for this SKU. Other WaveSpeed models vary (Seedance 2.5: up to 30s, 1080p).
WaveSpeed AI's core product is one API key across hosted models, plus a playground and a ComfyUI node pack (WaveSpeedAI/wavespeed-comfyui). Elyum is a web studio with MCP and REST. Elyum has no timeline editor, stock footage, or talking-head avatars. WaveSpeed AI has no first-party subscription or unlimited image tier.
WaveSpeed AI gives a one-time $1 trial (no card); some premium or partner models may be excluded. Top-ups are manual (reviewers mention roughly $100 / $1k / $10k) plus optional auto-topup. Credits do not expire per WaveSpeed's refund-policy page. Elyum Free is up to 150 credits once (our algorithm may grant them). Plus, Pro, and Ultra are $9, $29, and $69 a month.
Elyum kept takes are watermark-free with commercial use included. WaveSpeed AI watermark-on-paid for Grok Imagine 1.5 is not published. Commercial use is referenced through a Commercial Use Policy linked from the refund-policy doc; specific terms were not in the fetched excerpt.
Pick WaveSpeed AI when
- You want one API key and one invoice across 1,000+ models, not a single-model studio.
- You already work in ComfyUI and can use the published WaveSpeedAI/wavespeed-comfyui node pack.
- You prefer pay-as-you-go with no subscription and credits that do not expire.
- You need rate limits that scale with Bronze/Silver/Gold/Ultra top-up spend, not a seat plan.
Pick Elyum when
- You know the keep price: 6 credits/second ($0.32 for 5s, $0.96 for 15s).
- You preview for free and only pay when you KEEP; kills refund in full on paid plans.
- You want watermark-free commercial downloads and MCP/API from the same credit balance.
- You iterate on 1 to 15s stylised clips and do not need WaveSpeed AI's 1,000+ model catalog.
Grok Imagine 1.5 in three styles, rendered on Elyum
Getting the most out of Grok Imagine 1.5
- State duration in the prompt (2s, 5s, 10s, 15s). This model tops out at 15 seconds. Short beats hold motion better than a packed 15s plot.
- Write camera and weight in verbs: slow dolly in, locked-off two-shot, handheld drift. The 1.5 update targeted fewer warps and more believable momentum, so name the move instead of calling it cinematic.
- Put sound in the same prompt as the picture: one spoken line, a room tone, a specific SFX hit. Native audio generates with the frame. Keep dialogue short so it can land on the action.
- For image-to-video, describe only the motion that should start from the still (hair, cloth, camera). Do not rewrite wardrobe or lighting; this model is known for holding the source still.
- Use reference-to-video when a face, product, or location must survive the shot. Supply the stills and say what stays locked versus what changes.
- Set aspect ratio first (Elyum offers three for this model). Do not prompt for a 30-second scene, a photoreal fashion film, or an edit with cuts. Grok Imagine 1.5 is one stylised shot, 1 to 15 seconds.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Grok Imagine 1.5 video cost on Elyum vs WaveSpeed 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 WaveSpeed AI watermark Grok Imagine 1.5 videos?
Where else can I compare Grok Imagine 1.5 hosts?
- WaveSpeed AI Pricing page (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Seedance 2.5 API — Pricing, Playground (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Browse 1000+ AI Models — WaveSpeed model catalog (accessed 2026-09-07)
- WaveSpeedAI Refund Policy (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Wavespeed AI reviews - Trustpilot (accessed 2026-09-07)
- Gemini Omni Flash Shipped: what actually launched — WaveSpeed Blog (accessed 2026-09-07)
- WaveSpeed Pricing Explained: How Billing Works + Cost Examples (2026) (accessed 2026-09-07)
- WaveSpeedAI ComfyUI node pack — GitHub (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.