Short answer
Tiny Desk AI is not free. A solo 480p video is 7 credits (about $6.99); 720p is 10 / 13 / 16 credits for 1 / 2–3 / 4–5 people, and 1080p is 15 / 20 / 25. Credits are bought once, never expire, and a failed render is refunded automatically.
Make my band videoIs Tiny Desk AI free?
No free trial. Here is exactly what a video costs, what happens when a render fails, and why a file you dislike is not a refund.
Updated 2026-10-29
Rendering five separate video shots and stitching them costs real GPU time, so there is no free tier and no ad-supported mode. The model is simple: buy credits, spend them per finished video.
What one video costs
| Quality | Resolution | Credits (solo / 2–3 / 4–5) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | 480p | 7 / 9 / 11 | Checking that the faces landed |
| Standard | 720p | 10 / 13 / 16 | Posting to TikTok, Reels, Shorts |
| Full HD | 1080p | 15 / 20 / 25 | AI upscale of a 720p render |
Price moves in three cast tiers — 1 person, 2–3 people, 4–5 people — because each tier renders a different number of shots.
What the packs are for
- Starter — 7 credits: exactly one solo 480p video.
- Band Pack — 16 credits: a 720p video with four or five people, or two solo renders.
- Studio Pack — 50 credits: a set of videos for a group.
When credits come back
- 1A photo fails the safety check — the whole job is cancelled and every credit is returned.
- 2An upstream shot fails or times out — the job is marked failed and the credits are returned automatically.
- 3The 1080p upscale fails — the credits are returned automatically.
How this compares
Similar tools charge roughly 7 to 15 US dollars per video for a fixed clip. Here a solo starts at $6.99 and the price scales with cast size and resolution, so you only pay for the shots your cast actually needs.
The honest limits are on photo requirements, and the formal rules are in the refund policy.