What Are the Best PoYo Alternatives for Video and Image APIs in 2026?

The best PoYo alternatives, counted by how many of the same video and image models they carry, are MuAPI, CometAPI, Kie.ai, Runway and Makernice. All five sell pay-as-you-go API access without a subscription. They differ on three things PoYo has firm rules for: how long finished files stay, whether you can get a final price before a run, and how much traffic one account can push. We checked all six platforms on November 11, 2026.

What is PoYo, and where does it pinch?

PoYo describes itself as an "AI API Platform for Image, Video, Music & Chat Models" on poyo.ai (checked November 11, 2026) and adds 3D models on the same key. Every model is listed with a dollar price and a credit price at a fixed rate, there is "no monthly fee", and its terms say "Credits are non-refundable and never expire". Failed requests do not consume credits. You submit a task, then poll it or pass a callback URL, and a hosted MCP server and an agent skill cover coding agents.

The pinch points are operational. Generated media files are "Stored for 3 days, then automatically deleted", which is a tight window for a nightly job. New generation requests are capped at up to 20 per 10 seconds per account. And for Seedance and Wan, PoYo bills reference video seconds on top of the output, so the cost of a job depends on the inputs you send.

Which PoYo alternatives carry the same video and image models?

MuAPI, CometAPI, Kie.ai, Runway and Makernice each carry at least 12 of the 16 PoYo models we matched across Seedance, Kling, Wan, MiniMax, Happy Horse, Seedream and Qwen. Kie.ai also mirrors the music and chat side of PoYo, and CometAPI adds text models billed per token.

The table ranks nothing on price. Per-second rates for the same model and resolution, next to PoYo's own, are on the PoYo alternative page, recalculated from each platform's published rates.

Matching an alternative to how you use PoYo

Kie.ai is the nearest in shape: one key for video, image, music and chat, credits sold at a fixed US-dollar rate, and the same documented cap of "Up to 20 new generation requests per 10 seconds". Its FAQ says failed tasks are not charged and "KIE credits do not expire". The difference that matters after a move is storage: Kie.ai keeps generated media for 14 days instead of 3. New users also get free test credits.

MuAPI meters API use in prepaid credits deducted per generation, and its docs point to an estimate endpoint for the exact price of a specific request before you send it. Credits never expire, new accounts get a small free allocation, and purchases go through Stripe checkout. Requests are API-key based and can be submitted with a webhook. MuAPI also has studio, workflow and agent tools on its site; we found no statement on whether failed runs are charged.

CometAPI started from text: it charges per token for text models and per image or second for media models. It states there is no monthly fee, no minimum spend and no subscription, includes free trial credits without a card, and its billing table shows that an upstream error (5xx) is not billed. Credits last while the account is in good standing, and CometAPI says it does not store model outputs, so results must be saved as they arrive.

Makernice covers 19 video and image models, each with its own page under /models/, without music, chat or 3D. Each run is priced before it starts: a REST quote is locked for 12 minutes, and over MCP the generate tool refuses a job whose price is above the max_cost_usd you approved. The bill counts output seconds only, since its Seedance models don't take a video input. Failed, timed-out and input-rejected runs aren't charged; an output blocked by output moderation is. Each output shows its own expiresAt, 30 days after the run in the docs example, and results arrive by polling, a per-job callback_url or an account webhook.

Runway sells its API, Runway Dev, in project credits at a fixed per-credit price, and serves its own models such as Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0 beside the Seedance, Kling, Wan and MiniMax models. Concurrency, daily generations and monthly spend follow a usage tier that rises with purchases. It charges moderated generations the same as successful ones, and its output links expire within 24 to 48 hours, so it does not solve PoYo's short file window.

Retention, refunds and rate limits after a move

PoYo's 3-day file window and its cap of 20 new requests per 10 seconds are the two limits most PoYo users hit, and the alternatives below handle both differently.

• Files: PoYo deletes media after 3 days and Runway's links expire within 24 to 48 hours. Kie.ai keeps files 14 days, CometAPI says it doesn't store outputs, and Makernice outputs carry an expiresAt. Plan to copy results to your own storage on any of them.
• Credits and refunds: PoYo, Kie.ai and MuAPI credits never expire; CometAPI credits last while the account is in good standing; a Makernice balance doesn't expire, and unused balance is generally not refunded, with special cases handled individually.
• Failed runs: PoYo, Kie.ai and Makernice don't charge failed runs, and CometAPI doesn't bill upstream 5xx errors. On Makernice an output blocked by output moderation is still charged; the rules are on failed generations.
• Throughput: PoYo and Kie.ai document the same cap of 20 new requests per 10 seconds. Runway queues work beyond its tier's concurrency, and Makernice runs 2 generations at once per account by default with no batch endpoint.
• Agents: PoYo and Kie.ai publish agent skills; Makernice runs as an MCP server, with setup guides for Claude Code and Cursor.

When should you stay on PoYo?

PoYo is hard to replace if your jobs send reference video to Seedance or Wan, since it prices those billed seconds openly and Makernice's Seedance models don't accept video input. Its docs list typical concurrent running tasks of 100+, well above Makernice's default of 2. It accepts PayPal next to cards, and its 3D and music models sit on the same key as video. Before moving one workflow, compare it row by row on the PoYo alternative page.