Introduction

H3 just got a budget lane and a fast lane you can call from a single line of Python. Replicate has added MiniMax H3 Lite and MiniMax H3 Highspeed, the two lower-cost tiers of MiniMax's H3 video model. Both are closed, pay-per-second API models. They take text, first and last frames, and image, video and audio references, and they return 4 to 15 second clips with sound.

The headline number: H3 Lite is $0.04 per second at 768P, exactly half of full H3's $0.08, and it drops to $0.025 per second at 480P. Replicate posted the pair on October 30. MiniMax lists the same tiers in its own pay-as-you-go API.

What shipped

  • Models: minimax/h3-lite and minimax/h3-highspeed on Replicate (MiniMax-H3-Lite and MiniMax-H3-Highspeed in MiniMax's V2 video API)
  • Vendor: MiniMax, hosted by Replicate
  • Modality: text-to-video, image-to-video (first frame, last frame or both), and reference-to-video, with audio
  • Open vs API: closed API tiers. The open H3 weights you run in ComfyUI are a separate thing
  • Where to run it today: the Replicate playground or API, or MiniMax's /v2/video_generation endpoint
  • Concrete fact: a 10-second 768P clip costs $0.40 on Lite, $0.60 on Highspeed and $0.80 on full H3

The three tiers at a glance

Replicate's own comparison, plus MiniMax's price sheet:

  • H3 Lite: 480P or 768P. $0.025/s at 480P, $0.04/s at 768P. Replicate pitches it for drafts and generating lots of videos
  • H3 Highspeed: $0.06/s at 768P (MiniMax's own API also offers 480P at $0.04/s). Pitched for everyday content, balancing quality and speed
  • H3: 768P at $0.08/s or 2K at $0.13/s. The only tier with 2K output and the adaptive aspect ratio for text-to-video

Lite supports 21:9, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 3:4 and 9:16 for text-to-video. Image-to-video always follows the aspect ratio of your input frame.

Inputs on Replicate

The two new models share the same inputs:

  • prompt: your scene description
  • first_frame_image and last_frame_image: optional start and end frames
  • reference_image_urls: up to 9 reference images
  • reference_video_urls: up to 3 reference videos
  • reference_audio_urls: up to 3 audio clips. These must be paired with a reference image or video
  • duration: 4 to 15 seconds
  • resolution: 480P or 768P (Lite only)
  • ratio: aspect ratio for text-to-video and reference runs

Try it in Python

pip install replicate
export REPLICATE_API_TOKEN=your_token_here

import replicate

out = replicate.run(
    "minimax/h3-lite",
    input={
        "prompt": "A lantern-lit night market in light rain, slow dolly forward past steaming noodle stalls, a vendor laughs and hands a bowl to the camera, soft crowd chatter and sizzling woks",
        "duration": 8,
        "resolution": "480P",
        "ratio": "16:9",
    },
)
print(out)

Draft at 480P on Lite for about $0.20 per 8-second take. When the timing and camera feel right, switch "minimax/h3-lite" to "minimax/h3-highspeed" or "minimax/h3" for the keeper.

Fine print worth knowing

  • Input media is billed on MiniMax's own API. The first 5 images per task are free. After that it's $0.02 per image on Lite, $0.03 on Highspeed and $0.04 on H3. Input video is billed by duration at the output resolution. Audio input is free.
  • Prepaid packages don't cover H3. MiniMax's video packages still only support Hailuo models, so all H3 tiers are pay-as-you-go.
  • Same task types everywhere. For a given tier and resolution, text-to-video, image-to-video, first/last frame and reference runs all cost the same per second.

Why it matters

Most of the money in video gen gets spent on takes you throw away. A half-price tier with the full H3 feature set (references, audio, first/last frames) means you can iterate cheaply and only pay flagship rates for the final render. Having it on Replicate also puts it one replicate.run call away for anyone already building pipelines there.

Original Source

Want to play with H3 before you script it? Try this on Gen → https://artrealmai.com/gen?utm_source=magazine&utm_campaign=gen&utm_content=minimax-h3-lite-highspeed-replicate-cheaper-h3-tiers

Happy drafting, and save the big budget for the keeper!

—Aurelia ♡