Top 6 Image-to-Video AI Generators in 2025: A Side-by-Side Comparison

The gap between AI-generated images and videos is closing fast. AI-generated videos are improving rapidly and becoming just as impressive as AI-generated images. Now, AI can not only create videos from text prompts, but also take a single photo and turn it into a video that moves and tells a story.

We’re no longer just looking at research demos. Tools and platforms built for end users already exist. They have user-friendly interfaces and even APIs that you can use to integrate their features into your project easily.

I tested some of the top image-to-video AI generators available in 2025 using the exact same image and prompt across the board. In this article, I’ll walk you through each of them and show how they performed. We’ll look at their output quality, generation speed, realism, API availability, and of course, pricing to help you decide which one’s worth trying out.

Here’s the prompt I used:

_ The camera moves from the front to the back of the cat, as she stands up and looks towards the direction of the island where she's arriving. _

…and here's the input image:

Let’s take a look at how each of them performed.

1. Runway

Runway has been a big name in the AI video generation space for a while. With their Gen-4 model (released on 31 March 2025), they’ve made some solid upgrades, especially in character consistency, camera movement, and overall motion. This allows users to generate the same scene from different angles, cinematography styles, or even characters’ expressions to experiment and produce the result that they want.

Here’s what you can do for basic image-to-video generation:

• Generate videos from an image alone or image + text prompt
• Choose from multiple aspect ratios
• Choose video duration

Optional features after video generation:

• Expand the video to a new aspect ratio using a prompt or guidance image
• Upscale video to 4K
• Apply new styles
• Add audio and lip sync (multi-speakers but human faces only)
• Adjust video - trim, reverse, speed, shake

Resolution: 720p, 1080p (4K available with extra credits)

Aspect ratio: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 21:9

Duration: 5s, 10s

Supported platform : Web, iOS  (no Android yet as of July 2025)

API: Yes

Pricing : Free tier (125 credits), paid plans from $15/month

Result with no text prompt:

Result with a text prompt:

Speed: ~1.43 minutes, for the 720p, 5s video above

🤔 Our take:

It’s pretty cool that they managed to animate the cat’s breathing in the auto-generated video, which makes it look super real. For the video generation with a text prompt, the camera movement is not applied, but they nailed the cat’s toe bean!

2. Hailuo AI/Minimax

If you’ve been on social media lately, you’ve probably seen those viral videos of cats diving in the Olympics. Those were created using Hailuo AI’s Hailuo 02 model. The AI video generator developed by Minimax, a global AI foundation model company, produces some of the most realistic AI-generated videos out there, with impressive camera control that makes it perfect for creating cinematic scenes (and of course, the viral cat videos!).

Here’s what you can do for basic image-to-video generation:

• Generate videos from image + text prompt
• Insert camera movement at different points of the video with a visual selector
• Use the preset cinematic shots for camera control
• Automatically refine text prompts  for enhanced generation quality
• Use preset prompts for generating videos in different styles
• Subject reference - add a reference character to be used in any scene

Resolution: 720p, 1080p

Aspect ratio: No visible settings, seems to follow the input image

Duration: 6s, 12s

Supported platform : Web, iOS, Android

API: Yes

Pricing : Free tier with queue (500 credits), paid plans from  $14.9/month

Result with a text prompt:

Result with a text prompt using the camera control function (push in, pedestal up):

Speed : ~4.12min, for the 720p, 6s video above

🤔 Our take:

For this one, the video feels more like a highly realistic animation than actual real-life footage. The camera motion feature is a big plus. It is super helpful if you’re not familiar with different types of shots. By adding that cinematic touch, it brings the scene to life and makes the storytelling way more engaging!

🐱 Meow Memo: If you’re using the free version, you’ll be placed in the non-member queue. So, depending on how many people are ahead of you, it might take a while, since they’ll prioritise paid users first.

3. Google Veo 3

Veo 3 is Google DeepMind’s third-gen video generation model. It is accessible through Gemini and Flow, Google Lab's AI video generation platform. Unlike many other AI video generation tools, Veo 3 generates audio with the video and syncs it automatically with the visuals.

Here’s what you can do for basic image-to-video generation:

• Generate videos from text prompt + image or video input
• Use an image reference to generate style, character, scene, and the first and last scenes
• Use a video as a reference for the facial expression when generating a new video from an image
• Auto-generate audio (sound, ambient, and voice)
• Camera and motion path controls

Optional features after video generation:

• Trim and edit in Flow
• Add generated clips to scene timelines
• Outpainting/expand
• Add or remove objects

Resolution: 720p

Aspect ratio: 16:9

Duration: 8s

Supported platform : Web

API: Yes

Pricing : Paid plans from $19.99/month (one-month free trial)

Result (auto-audio):

Result (with a text prompt for the audio):

Text prompt for audio: The sound of the sea and seagull in the background, and the cat is meowing excitedly, looking at the island.

Speed: ~2.5min, using the Veo 3 Quality model

🤔 Our take:

The camera motion is smooth, but the character looks more like a realistic 3D model than a truly lifelike one. It also adds extra actions you didn’t ask for. That said, this one has one of the best-looking cats, and the size matches the input image perfectly. For the audio, the sea sound is nice, but the cat’s audio is off. Still, it has nice attention to detail as the cat’s mouth is animated and synced to the audio.

4. Midjourney

Midjourney is one of the earliest widely adopted, user-friendly AI image generators, and now, it can generate videos as well. It doesn’t give you a lot of controls, but it has all the essentials you need to turn an image into a video.

Here’s what you can do for basic image-to-video generation:

• Generate videos from text prompt + image input (4 output videos)
• Animate Midjourney-generated images
• Low/high motion modes
• Fast/relax generation models

Optional features after video generation:

• Extend the duration of the video automatically or manually using text prompts (extra 4s/extension)

Resolution: 480p

Aspect ratio: No visible settings, seems to follow the input image

Duration: from 5s

Supported platform : Web

API: No

Pricing : Paid plans from $8/month

Results:

Automatically-extended result (9s):

Speed: ~1.19min, for 4 high-motion 5s videos

🤔 Our take:

The motion and details are seriously impressive, especially the cat’s subtle movements. It looks and feels really natural! The result also looks slightly different compared to other AI video tools, with more focus on the cat’s expression. However, it didn’t follow the prompt exactly. So, if you like the visual quality and plan to use it for video generation, you’ll probably need to write a super precise prompt or keep refining it to get the result you want. Nonetheless, I’m really impressed with the overall quality!

🐱 Meow Memo: If you’re just trying it out and have used less than 20 GPU minutes (or generated fewer than 20 images), you can request a refund for your subscription.

5. Kling

Kling is an all-in-one AI creative platform that lets you generate images, videos, and audio. You can use each tool on its own, or use all of them to help you turn your idea into life. The UI design makes them work together seamlessly, no matter where you start.

Here’s what you can do for basic image-to-video generation:

• Generate videos from images automatically
• Generate videos from text prompt (manual or Deepseek-generated) + image input
• Upload 1-4 images to be used as elements
• Start/end frame support
• Use the motion brush to specify the desired motion for the specific area or character
• Auto sound
• Camera movement control
• Human motion transfer from input video (beta)

Optional features after video generation:

• Lip sync (face must be visible)
• Trim audio
• Select an area in the video across time points to edit (add/remove object)

Resolution: Standard/Professional

Aspect ratio: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1

Duration: 5s, 10s

Supported platform : Web, iOS, Android

API: Yes

Pricing : Free credits monthly, paid plans from $8.80/month

Result:

Result with a DeepSeek-generated text prompt:

DeepSeek-generated text prompt: The cat stretches lazily on the wooden boat deck, paws extending forward as ocean waves gently rock the vessel. Distant green mountains glide past under drifting clouds, ropes swaying rhythmically against the sunlit sky, camera stationary capturing the serene maritime journey.

Speed: ~1.35m for a standard 5s video

🤔 Our take:

The quality is solid, and the AI-generated audio fits the scene quite well. The video leans more towards a highly realistic 3D animation rather than real-life footage. However, when using a DeepSeek-generated prompt, the result didn’t match the prompt at all. Overall, it’s an easy-to-use image-to-video AI generator that gives you decent results.

🐱 Meow Memo: Free users have to wait in a queue to generate videos. Sometimes, it can be up to a few hours.

6. Dream Machine (Luma AI)

Dream Machine is an AI image and video generator by Luma AI. The image generation is powered by Photon, while video generation runs on their large-scale model, Ray 2. According to Luma, it can produce fast and coherent motion, ultra-realistic details, and logical event sequences.

Here’s what you can do for basic image-to-video generation:

• Generate videos from image input + simple text prompt (no complicated engineering)
• Start/end frame support
• Add image, style, or character references
• Generate looping videos
• Use prompt keyword suggestions to help with brainstorming

Optional features after video generation:

• Extend the video by adding another image and prompt
• Edit the video further with new prompts or reference images
• Add audio using a text prompt
• Change the aspect ratio
• Upscale the resolution to 1080p/4k

Resolution: 720p, 1080p

Aspect ratio: 1:1, 16:9, 9:16, 4:3, 3:4,  21:9

Duration: 5s

Supported platform : Web, iOS

API: Yes

Pricing : Paid plans from $9.99/month

Result:

Speed: ~39.06s for a 720p video

🤔 Our take:

The animation quality and physics are good, but it doesn’t follow what the prompt asked for. It’s nice that you can refine the video with more prompts, though that might cost extra credits. And even then, it still didn’t give me the result I wanted. On the bright side, the generation speed is really fast.

🐱 Meow Memo: The queue time can still be quite long, even if you’re a paid user.

Quick Comparison

Tool	Max Resolution	Duration	Aspect Ratio Options	API	Platform	Pricing (USD)	Quick Thoughts
Runway Gen-4	4K (with credits)	5s, 10s	16:9, 9:16, 1:1, etc.	Yes	Web, iOS	Free tier, paid from $15/mo	Looks realistic and great attention to detail, but camera motion can be improved.
Hailuo AI	1080p	6s, 12s	Follows image	Yes	Web, iOS, Android	Free (500 credits), paid from $14.90/mo	Realistic animation. The cinematic camera tools make storytelling easy.
Google Veo 3	720p	8s	16:9	Yes	Web	Paid from $19.99/mo	Good camera motion and physics. Audio can be improved.
Midjourney	480p	from 5s	Follows image	No	Web	Paid from $8/mo	Realistic visuals and motion, but doesn’t follow prompt exactly.
Kling	Pro (4K?)	5s, 10s	16:9, 9:16, 1:1	Yes	Web, iOS, Android	Free credits, paid from $8.80/mo	Good audio fit and quality, but doesn’t follow prompt exactly.
Dream Machine (Luma AI)	4k (on modification)	5s	1:1, 16:9, 9:16, etc.	Yes	Web, iOS	Paid from $9.99/mo	Fast generation. Can refine with prompts but still missed the prompt goal.

Final Thoughts

After testing all six image-to-video AI generators using the same image and text prompt, we could see how they perform side by side, and a few clear favourites stood out. If I had to pick my top 3 (solely based on the results in this article), they’d be:

1. Midjourney - Even though it didn’t fully follow the prompt, I’m impressed by how expressive and natural the cat looked. The motion felt very natural, and the camera work did a good job of showing the subject of the scene.

2. Hailuo AI - I like how user-friendly the camera motion presets are, especially if you’re not familiar with all the video shooting or editing jargon. It feels like the tool was built for storytelling.

3. Veo 3 - The camera motion was smooth, and the character had a lot of nice visual details. Even though the cat’s voice wasn’t quite right, how the mouth animation was synced to the audio shows the amount of attention to detail. That said, it might not follow your prompt exactly and could end up adding or removing certain actions.

But honestly, this space is moving ridiculously fast. By the time the next model update drops, the rankings could look totally different. If you’re working on anything involving image-to-video generation, check back on these tools now and then. They’re improving fast, and what looks just okay today might blow your mind tomorrow.

If you’re exploring more AI video tools or creative workflows, you might also like:

👉🏻 7 AI Video Generators that Will Revolutionize Content Creation in 2025

👉🏻 How to Automate Video Generation with Clipcat and Google APIs (Node.js Tutorial)

👉🏻 How to Design a Video with a Looping Effect in Clipcat