Gemini Omni 1.1 vs Veo 3.1 (Quality)

What each one accepts

Rates and clip costs

Charged from a prepaid USD balance, no taxes added. A failed generation is $0.

Both are Google models, yet Gemini Omni 1.1 costs about half as much as Veo 3.1 for a clip of the same length and is more flexible: 4-10 s, a photo as first frame or as a reference, and restyling of footage you shot. Veo 3.1 suits a classic shot built from scratch with a long, detailed prompt, as long as a fixed 8 seconds is fine. In my test they tied on the overall score.

When to pick Gemini Omni 1.1

• You want cheap 4-second drafts before paying for a longer clip or 4K.
• A person from a photo should appear in a new setting.
• You are giving your own recording a new look.
• The shot needs 10 seconds, more than Veo gives.

When to pick Veo 3.1

• Your prompt is long and specific, beyond 2,000 characters.
• A photo should become the first frame of a polished final shot.
• You are cutting a trailer out of 8-second pieces.
• Liquids matter. In my test Veo's coffee pour scored 8/10 against Omni's 7/10, whose steam looked decorative and cartoonish.

Differences you will notice

• Price per clip. Gemini Omni 1.1 costs from $1.02 per video for 6 s, Veo 3.1 (Quality) costs from $2.53 per video for its 8 s clip. At 8 s in 720p or 1080p Omni is about half the price; at 4K Veo is roughly 1.7 times dearer. A 10 s Omni clip at 1080p still costs about 60% of one Veo clip. Dropping Omni to 360p does not make it cheaper.
• Length. Omni gives 4, 6, 8 or 10 s. Veo 3.1 here is always 8 s.
• What you can feed in. Omni takes one photo as a locked first frame, 1 or 3 images as character and style references, or one clip up to 30 s to rework (that mode has its own flat price). Veo takes up to 3 images as frames.
• Prompt length. 2,000 characters for Omni, 4,000 for Veo. Both render 720p, 1080p and 4K, and both offer only 16:9 and 9:16.
• Sound. Neither has an audio switch or audio surcharge here, and the catalog does not describe Omni's soundtrack, so check one clip before you queue a batch.

How to decide

In my video model ranking on the Polish blog both landed at 8/10. Omni (Google's name is Gemini Omni Flash 1.1) spoke a Polish test line without errors and returned clips faster, 35-46 s against 59-68 s for Veo, though I measured that with another provider. If you have input material or a tight budget, use Omni. If you write the scene from nothing and want a long prompt, use Veo. Pricing details are in Veo 3.1 API pricing and Gemini Omni API.

Questions

Does Google still develop Veo?

Veo 3.1 remains available, but in Google's own Gemini app video now comes from Omni. On Kadraris you can pick either model for each job.

Is 360p a cheaper way to draft in Omni?

No. 360p is billed at the 720p rate, so draft at 720p and shorten the clip to 4 s instead.

How do I see the cost before I generate?

Studio shows the price on the Generate button, and the API returns estimated_cost for the exact settings you choose.

Samples from the makers

These clips and images come from the vendors, not from my runs.