Description
Pika
What is Pika?
Main Models
Pika 2.5 (2025)
- Ultra-realistic generations: Improved photorealism
- Enhanced physics: More natural movement and physics
- Unmatched prompt adherence: Follows prompts precisely
- Sharper motion: Cleaner movement
- Better camera control: Improved camera control
- Stronger character/style consistency: Visual coherence
- Deeper image integration: Image integration
Pika 2.2 (February 2025)
- Pikaframes: Keyframe transitions 1-10 seconds
- 10-second videos: 1080p resolution (double vs 5-sec previous)
- Extended video lengths: Greater flexibility
- Improved quality: Cleaner generations
Pika 2.0 (December 2024)
- Scene Ingredients: Combine/add images to videos
- Enhanced video rendering
- Improved cinematic effects
- Unlimited videos (5 days free at launch)
Pika 1.5 (October 2024)
- Pikaffects: Improved special effects
- Advanced camera techniques
- Better human features rendering
- Improved physics
Pika 1.0 (November 2023)
- First major web launch (previously Discord)
- Text-to-video, image-to-video, video-to-video
- Multiple styles: 3D animation, anime, cinematic
Key Features
Pikaframes (Pika 2.2)
- Upload first and last frame
- Pika generates seamless transition between them
- Duration: 1-10 seconds
- Full control over storytelling
- Perfect for cinematic sequences
Pikaswaps (February 2025)
- Swap objects/characters in videos
- Only need 1 reference image
- Text prompts or reference images
- Instant character swapping
- VFX-level simple editing
Pikadditions (February 2025)
- Insert objects, animals, people
- Automatic color/lighting matching
- Seamless integration
- Perfect for branded visuals
Pikaffects
- Inflate: Expand objects
- Melt: Melt
- Explode: Explosion
- Squish: Crush
- Deflate: Deflate
- Crumble: Crumble
- Dissolve: Dissolve
- Ta-da: Surprise productions
- Cake-ify: Decorate like cake
Pikatwists (March 2025)
- Add dramatic twist endings
- Enhance storytelling flexibility
- Creative motion effects with 1 click
Regional Editing
- Modify specific areas of video
- AI-generated elements
- Frame interpolation
- Precise customization
Core Capabilities
- Generate videos from descriptions
- Multiple styles: 3D, anime, cinematic, realistic
- 1-10 seconds in 1080p
- Animate static images
- Camera movements
- Bring static content to life
- Transform video styles
- Extend video length
- Expand canvas/aspect ratio
- Edit moving objects
- Zoom, pan, tilt
- Cinematic movements
- Professional-grade control
- Sound effects generation
- Native lip sync tool
- Audio-driven video generation
Pricing
Free Plan
- 80-150 monthly credits
- Access Pika 1.5 (limited)
- Basic features
- Watermarks
- Community access
Standard/Starter Plan
- $8/month (with annual billing)
- 700 monthly credits
- Access Pika 1.5 & 1.0
- Priority queue
- Faster generations
- No watermarks
Plus Plan (reported)
- Pricing not clearly specified
- More monthly credits
- Enhanced features
Fancy/Pro Plan
- $76/month
- Unlimited monthly video calls (reported as 6,000 credits)
- Access all models (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.2, 2.5)
- Priority processing
- Commercial use rights
- Advanced features
Credit Consumption
- Basic generations: 5-10 credits
- Advanced 2.2 generations: 35-100 credits (depends on specs)
- Higher resolution/longer duration: More credits
Company
HQ: Palo Alto, California (San Francisco)
Founders:
- Demi Guo (CEO, 27 years) - Ex-Stanford AI PhD
- Chenlin Meng (CTO) - Ex-Stanford AI PhD, aspiring animator
- Pre-seed/Seed: $20M (Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross lead)
- Series A: $35M (Nov 2023) - Lightspeed Venture Partners lead
- Series B: $80M (Jun 2024) - Spark Capital lead
- Total: $135-141M
Use Cases
- TikTok, Instagram Reels
- YouTube Shorts
- Viral short-form content
- Scroll-stopping visuals
- Product teasers
- Promotional videos
- Brand campaigns
- Ad creatives
- Rapid prototyping
- Concept visualization
- Storyboarding
- Creative experimentation
- Film professionals
- VFX projects
- Cinematic sequences
- Client presentations
- Explainer videos
- E-learning modules
- Tutorial content
- Educational visuals
- Short films
- Creative animations
- Meme animation
- Artistic visuals
- Training videos
- Presentations
- Client-facing materials
Advantages
✅ User-friendly interface: Simple, intuitive
✅ Fast generation: 15 seconds in some cases
✅ Pikaframes: Unique keyframe transitions control
✅ 10-second 1080p: Doubled from 5-sec previous
✅ Pikaffects: Unique creative effects
✅ Pikaswaps: Instant character/object swapping
✅ Generous free tier: 80-150 credits/month
✅ Well-funded: $135M, valuation $470M-700M
✅ 16.4M+ users: Massive community
✅ Multiple styles: 3D, anime, cinematic, realistic
✅ Commercial use: In paid plans
✅ Active development: Constant updates
Limitations
❌ Quality variability: Inconsistent results sometimes
❌ Credit system: Confusing, consumes quickly
❌ Watermarks: On free plan
❌ No phone/live chat support: Only Discord/email
❌ OpenAI Sora: Superior in capabilities (but not public)
❌ Learning curve: Prompt engineering necessary
❌ No advanced editing: Fewer features than Runway full suite
Key Features
Pika 2.5: ultra-realistic, enhanced physics, prompt adherence
Pikaframes: keyframe transitions 1-10 sec, storytelling control
10-second 1080p videos (double vs previous 5-sec)
Pikaswaps: swap characters/objects with 1 image
Pikadditions: insert objects with auto color/lighting match
Pikaffects: Inflate, Melt, Explode, Squish, Deflate, etc.
Pikatwists: dramatic twist endings with 1 click
Regional Editing: modify specific areas
Text-to-video: multiple styles (3D, anime, cinematic)
Image-to-video: animate static images
Video-to-video: transform styles, extend length
Advanced camera controls: zoom, pan, tilt
Sound effects generation + native lip sync
Audio-driven video generation
Free plan: 80-150 credits/month
Discord community: 11M+ users
Commercial use rights (paid plans)
Fast generation: up to 15 seconds
Multiple aspect ratios
Extend videos + expand canvas
Use Cases
Social media: TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts
Product teasers and promotional videos
Marketing campaigns and ad creatives
Cinematic VFX projects
Visual rapid prototyping
Concept art and storyboarding
Educational explainer videos
E-learning modules
Short films and animations
Meme animation
Corporate training videos
Client presentations
Brand campaigns
Creative experimentation
Film professional workflows
Scroll-stopping social content
Viral short-form content
Tutorial content
Artistic visuals
Character swapping for content
Categories
Information
Company
Pika Labs
Website
pika.artUser Reviews
Related AIs

Midjourney
Midjourney Inc.
Leading AI image generator in artistic quality that transforms text prompts into stunning visual artwork, with V7 model, V1 video generation, and 21M+ user community.

Stable Diffusion
Stability AI
Open-source AI image generation model from Stability AI. Includes SD 3.5 with 8.1B parameters, runnable locally on consumer hardware, with over 10,000 fine-tuned models and free license for commercial use.

Runway
Runway AI Inc.
Leading AI video generation platform for film and creatives. Gen-4.5 (#1 Video Arena), partnerships with Lionsgate/IMAX, 300K+ customers and $3B+ valuation.
