Voyager vs Runway
Runway is a web studio built around its own video models, Gen-4.5 and Aleph, plus about 40 third-party models and a chat agent. Voyager is a desktop AI agent that generates with many of the same third-party models, then finishes the work in Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Blender or its own design, video and music editors, as an editable project.
Choose Voyager if
- The finished piece has to stay a project you or a colleague can open and change.
- You want the agent working in your own editors, not plugins that bring clips into them.
- You want generation priced from a published rate, or on keys you already pay for.
Choose Runway if
- You want Runway’s own models: Gen-4.5 for generation, Aleph 2.0 for editing your footage.
- You deliver ProRes, image sequences or HDR from the generation itself.
- You work in a browser or on a phone, with nothing to install.
9+
creative apps its agent works in
3
editors included: Design, Video and DAW
0%
markup on what a model’s provider charges
What each one is
A web video studio, or an agent on your computer.
What is Voyager?
Voyager is a desktop app for macOS, with Windows and Linux in alpha. Its agent, or your own Claude Code or Codex, generates with cloud models when a step needs one, then carries on in the software where the project lives, including Voyager’s own Design, Video and DAW editors, so the result stays a layered, editable project.
What is Runway?
Runway is a web and mobile studio for AI video, images and audio. It makes its own models, Gen-4.5, Aleph 2.0 for editing existing video and Act-Two for performance capture, and hosts about 40 more, from Veo 3.1 to Nano Banana Pro. Its Agent plans and generates in chat and assembles clips on a simple timeline.
Side by side
Voyager vs Runway, compared.
Checked 8 October 2026. Each Runway fact links its source and the date it was read.
| Feature | Voyager | Runway |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A desktop AI agent for creative work: it generates with cloud models and works in your creative apps. | A web studio with its own video models, about 40 hosted models, a chat agent and an API. (Runway, read ; Runway models and pricing, read ) |
| Where it runs | macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon; Windows 11 and Linux in alpha; mobile apps coming soon. Free to download. | In a browser, plus iPhone and Android apps. (Runway mobile app, read ) |
| The agent | Voyager’s own agent, or Claude Code or Codex on the Claude or ChatGPT subscription you already have. | Runway Agent plans and generates in chat, billed in credits. Its MCP server lets Claude and ChatGPT generate on your account. (Creating with Runway Agent, read ; Runway MCP, read ) |
| Creative apps | The agent works in Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Blender, Unity and Ableton Live, among others, with your own licences. | Plugins bring its generations into Premiere Pro, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve. (Runway for Premiere Pro and After Effects, read ; Runway for DaVinci Resolve, read ) |
| Editing | Voyager Design (vector, raster and motion graphics), Voyager Video (a timeline editor) and Voyager DAW, free with the app. | A timeline in Agent to trim, split and order clips, and Edit Studio for Aleph edits. No layered design tool or music workstation. (Trimming and assembling in Agent, read ; Introducing Aleph 2.0 and Edit Studio, read ) |
| What you get back | Projects in your apps’ formats, plus PSD, SVG, Lottie, OTIO, FCPXML, stems and MIDI from Voyager’s editors. | Rendered files: MP4, with ProRes and PNG sequences on Max for Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0. No project or timeline export is documented. (ProRes and PNG sequence exports, read ; Trimming and assembling in Agent, read ) |
| Own models | None. It uses models from Google, ByteDance, Kuaishou, MiniMax, Alibaba, OpenAI, Black Forest Labs and ElevenLabs. | Gen-4.5, Gen-4, Aleph 2.0, Act-Two, Ruby for HDR, and Gen-4 Image. (Runway models and pricing, read ) |
| How it charges | 1 credit is 1¢ of what the model’s provider charges, with no markup, and every rate is published. | Its own credit price per model and setting, all published in one table. (Runway models and pricing, read ; How do credits work, read ) |
| Plans | Free with your own agent and keys; plans from $19 a month. | Standard $15 a month for 625 credits, Pro $35 for 2,250, Max $95 for 9,500; 20% less billed annually. Team from $69 a seat. (Runway pricing, read ) |
| Credits expire | Monthly credits reset each month. Pack credits last 12 months. | Standard and Pro credits expire each billing date; Max rolls over one month. Bought credits never expire. (How do credits work, read ; Runway pricing, read ) |
| Free tier | The app is free with your own agent and model keys. | 125 one-time credits, a selection of models, and a watermark on videos. (Runway pricing, read ; Free plan, read ) |
| Ownership | You own what you make, subject to each model provider’s terms. No watermark. | Runway claims no ownership of outputs and does not restrict their commercial use. (Runway Terms of Use, read ) |
Finished work
The piece stays a project, not a render.
Runway Agent goes further than a prompt box: it plans shots, generates them and lays them on a timeline where you trim, split and reorder. What leaves is a rendered video. There is no documented way to take that timeline into Premiere Pro or Resolve, and there is no layered design tool or music workstation behind it.
Voyager’s agent works where a project stays editable. It carries generated shots onto a timeline in Premiere Pro, Resolve or Voyager Video, writes and mixes the score in Voyager DAW or Ableton Live, and builds titles and motion graphics in After Effects or Voyager Design. What you get back is the project itself: every cut, track, note and keyframe can still be changed, by you, a colleague or the agent.
On Runway
Runway’s ProRes and image-sequence exports carry a clip into a finishing pipeline at high quality, on Max, for Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0. Agent and Workflows export MP4. (ProRes and PNG sequence exports, read )
Your apps
It works the editor, not just a panel inside it.
Runway’s plugins for Premiere Pro, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve put its generation in a panel, and the clip lands in your project. Cutting, grading, titling and the mix are still yours to do.
Voyager’s agent operates the software itself, with your own licences: it cuts in Premiere Pro or Resolve, builds layers in Photoshop, animates in After Effects and lays out scenes in Blender, and it does the edit the clip was for.
Without those apps, Voyager’s own Design, Video and DAW editors come with it, free, and export PSD, SVG, Lottie, OTIO, FCPXML, stems and MIDI so the work can move later.
Photoshop
Illustrator
After Effects
Premiere Pro
DaVinci Resolve
Final Cut Pro
Blender
Unity
Ableton Live- + many more
Voyager Design
Vector, raster and paint layers, layout, decks with PPTX, and motion graphics with keyframes. Exports PNG, SVG, PDF, PSD, Lottie and ProRes 4444 with alpha.
Voyager Video
Timeline, multicam, colour and keys. Hands off to Resolve and Premiere as OTIO, FCPXML or EDL, and delivers H.264, HEVC, ProRes and DNxHR.
Voyager DAW
Arranging, instruments, VST3 plug-ins, mixing and mastering to loudness targets, stems and MIDI export, and scoring to picture: cues from a video’s cuts and ducking under voice-over.
You bring your own licences. Live control of the Adobe apps runs on macOS today. Voyager DAW does most of what you would do in Ableton Live or Logic Pro, from arranging and recording to mixing and mastering, and the rest is on the way. It doesn’t have sampled orchestral instruments yet. Trademarks belong to their owners; Voyager isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by them.
Models
Runway makes models. Voyager uses everyone’s.
Runway’s own models are its reason to exist. Gen-4.5 generates; Aleph 2.0 edits footage you already shot, changing a scene, a subject or the light while keeping the rest; Act-Two maps a performance onto a character. None of them runs anywhere else, Voyager included.
For the third-party models both offer, a model is the same model on either product. What Voyager adds is choice of who pays: a Voyager plan, your own fal, Google or ElevenLabs keys, or a Higgsfield plan, in the order you set. The agent is your choice too: Voyager’s own, or Claude Code or Codex on your existing subscription, at no charge from Voyager.
On both
Only on Runway
Gen-4.5 and Gen-4 for video, Gen-4 Image for stills. (Introducing Gen-4.5, read ; Runway models and pricing, read )
Aleph 2.0 and Edit Studio for editing existing footage, Act-Two for performance capture, and Ruby for SDR to HDR. (Introducing Aleph 2.0 and Edit Studio, read ; Runway models and pricing, read )
On Runway
Runway’s API has no Kling models, and its app lists no Veo 3.1 Fast, so the shared list differs between Runway’s app and its API. (Runway API models, read ; Runway models and pricing, read )
Pricing
Every rate published, at what the provider charges.
How Voyager charges
A credit is 1¢ of what the model’s provider charges, with no markup on any plan; where Voyager gets a lower rate, so do you.
Every model’s rate is published, so a generation’s cost is known before you run it.
With your own model keys and your own Claude or ChatGPT, the app costs nothing.
How Runway charges
Runway publishes a credit price for every model and setting in one table. (Runway models and pricing, read )
A plan credit costs 2.4¢ on Standard, about 1.6¢ on Pro and 1¢ on Max, at monthly prices. Top-up credits are sold on paid plans; their price is not listed. (Runway pricing, read ; How do credits work, read )
Unlimited Mode on Pro and Max runs some models without credits, slower and with fewer jobs at once. The old Unlimited plan closed to new sign-ups in June 2026. (Unlimited Mode, read ; Unlimited plan switching to Max, read )
One example
Nano Banana Pro, 1K, one image
Nano Banana Pro, Google’s top image model, costs less on Voyager than on Runway on every matched plan. On Veo 3.1 the two charge the same credits a second, so there it comes down to the price of a credit, and Runway’s Max credit is cheaper than Voyager’s Ultra credit.
Runway: 20 credits, read 8 October 2026. Voyager: 13 credits at 1¢ each.
| Plan | Runway | Voyager |
|---|---|---|
| Entry, $15 against $19Runway Standard, Voyager Starter | 48.0¢ | 16.5¢ |
| Middle, $35 against $49Runway Pro, Voyager Creator | 31.1¢ | 13.6¢ |
| Largest individual on Runway, $95 against $149Runway Max, Voyager Ultra | 20.0¢ | 13.5¢ |
Monthly billing at renewal prices, before Voyager’s launch bonus. Runway charges the same 20 credits at 2K. (Runway models and pricing, read )
Every Voyager rate is on the pricing page.
Where Runway wins
When Runway is the better pick.
Editing footage you shot
Aleph 2.0 changes a scene, subject or light in existing video up to 30 seconds at 1080p while keeping the rest, across several shots. Voyager has no equivalent model. (Introducing Aleph 2.0 and Edit Studio, read )
Its own models
Gen-4.5, Act-Two and Ruby are Runway’s and run nowhere else. If one of them is the look or the control you need, Runway is the place to use it. (Introducing Gen-4.5, read ; Runway models and pricing, read )
Delivery formats
ProRes and PNG sequences in the app on Max, and HDR, EXR and ACEScg through the API, for work headed into a grading pipeline. (ProRes and PNG sequence exports, read ; Professional outputs (API), read )
Nothing to install
Runway runs in a browser and has phone apps today. Voyager is a desktop app, with mobile apps still to come. (Runway mobile app, read )
FAQ
Questions, answered.
More about Voyager in the FAQ and on the pricing page.
How we checked
Runway’s plans, credit costs and features were read on 8 October 2026 from runway.com, its model and pricing table, its help centre and its API docs, signed out, in the US. Each Runway claim links its source. Voyager’s facts come from its published rates and the desktop app. We did not compare output quality: a shared model is the same model on both products, and Runway’s own models have no counterpart in Voyager. Prices change often, so treat each date as part of the figure.
What is the difference between Voyager and Runway?
Runway is a web studio for AI video built around its own models, Gen-4.5 and Aleph, plus about 40 hosted ones, with a chat agent and a simple timeline. Voyager is a desktop agent that uses many of the same hosted models and then works in the creative apps on your computer and in its own design, video and music editors, so the result stays an editable project. (Runway models and pricing, read ; Creating with Runway Agent, read )
Is Voyager cheaper than Runway?
It depends on the model and the plan. On Nano Banana Pro at 1K, Voyager costs less on every matched plan. On Veo 3.1 both charge 40 credits a second with audio, so the cheaper side is the one with the cheaper credit, and on Runway’s $95 Max plan that is Runway. Runway’s own models are only on Runway. (Runway models and pricing, read ; Runway pricing, read )
Can I use Runway’s Gen-4.5 or Aleph in Voyager?
No. Runway’s own models run on Runway, in its app and its API. Voyager’s agent can work with clips you made in Runway, cutting them into a sequence in your editor, scoring and titling them. (Runway API models, read )
Does Runway have a video editor?
Runway Agent has a timeline for trimming, splitting and ordering generated clips, and Edit Studio applies Aleph edits to footage. Plugins bring Runway into Premiere Pro, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve. Voyager’s agent works in those editors itself, and in its own Voyager Video. (Trimming and assembling in Agent, read ; Introducing Aleph 2.0 and Edit Studio, read ; Runway for Premiere Pro and After Effects, read )
Is Runway free?
Runway’s free plan gives 125 credits once, a selection of models and watermarked videos. Voyager is free to download and use with your own agent and model keys; model providers bill you directly. (Free plan, read )
Does Runway still have an Unlimited plan?
Not for new subscribers. The Unlimited plan closed to sign-ups on 1 June 2026, and remaining Unlimited plans move to Max on 30 November 2026. Pro and Max include a slower Unlimited Mode on some models. (Unlimited plan switching to Max, read ; Unlimited Mode, read )
Can I use Claude Code or Codex with either?
Yes, in different ways. Runway’s MCP server lets Claude and ChatGPT generate on your Runway account. Voyager lets Claude Code or Codex be the agent itself, on your own subscription, at no charge from Voyager. (Runway MCP, read )
Do I have to install Voyager?
Yes. Voyager is a free desktop app for macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon, with Windows 11 and Linux in alpha and mobile apps coming soon. Runway runs in a browser and on phones.
Try Voyager on your next project.
Free to download, with your own agent and keys.