Runway

Runway is an AI company building what it calls Real-World Intelligence — models that can understand, simulate, and act in the world. Its homepage describes three platforms built on the same underlying models: Runway Creative, Runway Dev, and Runway Robotics.

Runway Creative is the consumer-facing product: a cloud-based creative platform for generating and editing video, images, and audio in a single workspace. It's aimed at individuals and teams of all sizes, and the site claims it's used by more than 60 million creatives. You can try it free and cancel anytime.

Runway Dev is an API platform for developers who want to build applications on top of AI media models — both Runway's own and models from other labs. The pitch is that Runway's tooling helps get production-ready output from those models at scale.

Runway Robotics is a more specialized offering: a toolkit for running policy inference through photorealistic simulation, including synthetic data generation. Every component is powered by GWM-1, which Runway describes as its state-of-the-art General World Model. Runway says it works with customers to fit the toolkit to their hardware.

Behind the products is Runway Research, which is working on General World Models capable of simulating a broad range of worlds and experiences. Recent company news on the site includes the launch of Runway Ads, a research release called Praxis-1, and Runway models becoming available through the OpenAI Marketplace.

Best for

• Video creators and editors who want AI generation and editing tools in one cloud workspace
• Teams producing marketing or social content with generated video and imagery
• Developers building apps that need AI media generation through an API
• Robotics teams needing policy inference and synthetic data from photorealistic simulation
• Studios or agencies experimenting with AI-generated audio, video, and images together

Frequently asked questions

What can I make with Runway?

Runway Creative covers video, image, and audio generation and editing in one workspace. The exact list of tools and models available changes as Runway releases updates, so check the site for current capabilities.

Is Runway free?

The site says you can try Runway Creative free and cancel anytime. Details about what the free tier includes and what paid plans cost aren't specified on the homepage.

Who uses Runway?

Runway says its creative platform is used by more than 60 million creatives worldwide. It also says it partners with leading organizations to advance their industries, though the homepage doesn't name specific customers.

What is GWM-1?

GWM-1 is Runway's General World Model, described as the engine behind its Robotics toolkit. Runway Research is building General World Models intended to simulate a wide range of worlds and experiences.

Does Runway offer an API?

Yes. Runway Dev is an API platform that gives developers access to Runway's models and models from other labs, with tooling designed to produce production-ready output at scale.

What is Runway Ads?

Runway Ads is a recent product announcement featured on the company's news page. The homepage doesn't provide details beyond the announcement itself.

Alternatives

• Canva — a broader design platform for layouts, presentations, and print, rather than AI video generation
• ElevenLabs — focused specifically on AI text-to-speech and voice generation
• Suno AI — for generating music and songs rather than video or images
• Jitter — for animated content and interface design instead of AI-generated media