Google Flow: What It Is, Pricing, and How to Get Started

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Google Flow is a Google Labs studio for creating AI video and images: in one interface you get Veo 3.1, Gemini Omni Flash, and Nano Banana models. Anyone with a Google account aged 18+ receives 50 free credits daily, and paid Google AI plans add between 200 and 25,000 credits monthly. We checked pricing, credits, and availability on September 28, 2026, on Google’s pages. We didn’t log into Flow itself, but we generated one clip with Polish dialogue via API using the model Flow uses in its cheapest tier.

What Google Flow Is in 2026

Google launched Flow on May 20, 2025, as a tool for Veo video generation. Since February 25, 2026, Flow also includes the former Whisk and ImageFX experiments, so the same platform now handles image generation, editing, and animation. According to Google, you generate images in Flow for free, and credits are only spent on video.

According to the Flow help pages, the platform currently has three model groups:

• Video: Veo 3.1 in three variants (Lite, Fast, Quality), clips of 4, 6, or 8 seconds, plus Gemini Omni Flash 1.1 with clips up to 10 seconds and video editing capabilities.
• Images: Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2, and Nano Banana 2 Lite. You can use images as the first or last frame of a video or as “ingredients.”
• Music: a separate Flow Music service at flowmusic.app, which we cover below.

For details on the video model and its pricing outside Flow, see our article Veo 3.1: pricing.

How to Access Google Flow

You go to flow.google.com (the old address labs.google/fx/tools/flow redirects there automatically) and log in with your Google account. Google help lists three requirements: verified age 18+, location in a supported region (VPN doesn’t help), and a Chromium-based browser like Chrome or Edge. Workspace accounts on Business, Enterprise, and Education plans also receive 50 daily credits. The interface supports 38 languages, but Google recommends prompts in English.

We didn’t log into Flow or test it in a browser, so this article contains no interface screenshots. Plan and credit data come from Google’s pages, and the steps below are based on Flow’s help documentation.

Google Flow Pricing: Credits and Plans

Every account receives 50 credits daily, even without a subscription. Unused daily credits expire. Google AI plans add a monthly pool:

We found Google AI Plus pricing in two versions: $4.99 on the Gemini plans page and $9.99 with 2TB storage on the Google One page. Check which variant appears on your account before purchasing. According to the Gemini page, students may get a year of the Plus plan free; we covered details in our article Gemini for students. For a comparison with OpenAI subscriptions, see our article on ChatGPT pricing.

Cost per generation according to Flow help:

A Quality clip costs 100 credits, so you can’t generate one on a free account: the daily pool is 50 and doesn’t accumulate. According to Flow help, Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers can purchase additional credits.

Your First Video Step by Step

1. Open flow.google.com and create a project.
2. Click the model name (default is Nano Banana Pro, for images) and switch to Video.
3. Choose a mode: text only, Frames (first and last frame), or Ingredients (reference images of characters, locations, objects).
4. Set aspect ratio (16:9 or 9:16), number of versions, and length. Each additional version consumes credits.
5. Describe the scene in English: who, what they’re doing, where, lighting, camera movement. Click Generate.
6. You can extend the finished clip (Veo 3.1 Lite) or refine it with Omni Flash editing.

For beginners, we recommend Veo 3.1 Lite: with 50 free credits you get 5 attempts, and when making your first clips you’ll learn more from several tries than from one higher-quality clip. That’s our opinion.

Our Test: Non-English Dialogue in Veo 3.1 Lite

Google recommends prompts in English, so we tested a mixed approach: scene description in English, dialogue line in Polish in quotes, and a note “Dialogue in Polish.” We generated the clip not in Flow but via the OpenRouter API, using the Veo 3.1 Lite model - the same one that costs 10 credits in Flow: 6 seconds, 720p, with audio. It cost $0.30, and generation took 52 seconds. The barista is an AI-generated character, not a real person.

We ran the result through faster-whisper speech recognition: the model identified the language as Polish with over 99.9% confidence and transcribed “Dzień dobry! Kawa z mlekiem czy bez?” (Good morning! Coffee with milk or without?) - word for word what we entered. We didn’t evaluate lip-sync accuracy as we only reviewed a few frames.

Prompt to copy:

A friendly barista in her forties with short grey hair and a green apron stands behind the counter of a small cozy cafe in Krakow, morning light through the window, steam from the espresso machine. She looks at the camera, smiles and says in Polish, clearly: "Dzień dobry! Kawa z mlekiem czy bez?" Dialogue in Polish. Natural cafe ambience, static medium shot, realistic.

Use case: short scene with one line of non-English dialogue. Where: Flow, Video mode, Veo 3.1 Lite or Fast, 6-8s. Watch out for: the longer the dialogue, the greater the risk it won’t fit in the clip. One short sentence in 6 seconds is a safe length. We tested this with Polish dialogue.

Flow Music: Separate App for Songs

Flow Music is a separate Google application for generating songs using Lyria models, available at flowmusic.app. Basic features are free, with daily credit refills. Paid plans according to the September 28, 2026 pricing: Starter $6 with 3,000 credits (about 600 songs), Plus $18 with 10,000 credits, and Member $48 with 30,000 monthly credits. We covered the new model launch in our article Lyria 3.5 in Flow Music.

Flow, Gemini, Kling, or Higgsfield

This comparison is our opinion based on feature descriptions, not a comparative test of these four tools.

Watermark and Content Rights

Every image and video from Flow has an invisible SynthID watermark. You can enable or disable the visible watermark in your profile settings; in India, South Korea, and Vietnam it’s added automatically. Google states in its help documentation that it doesn’t claim ownership of generated content, but usage terms are governed by the full terms of service. Don’t generate real people without their consent.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Google Flow free?

Yes, at the basic level. Every account receives 50 daily credits, enough for 5 Veo 3.1 Lite clips or 2 Veo 3.1 Fast clips. According to Google, you generate images for free.

Does Google Flow work outside the US?

Yes. Flow works in over 190 countries. You need a Google account with verified age 18+.

How many credits does a video cost in Google Flow?

From 4 credits (Omni Flash 360p, 4s) to 100 credits (Veo 3.1 Quality, 8s). The most commonly used Veo 3.1 Fast costs 20 credits, or 10 in the Ultra plan.

Does Flow understand non-English prompts?

The interface supports 38 languages, but Google recommends prompts in English. In our test (Veo 3.1 Lite via API, outside Flow), an English description with Polish dialogue produced correctly spoken Polish speech - a useful data point for non-English video generation.

What’s the difference between Flow and Veo in Gemini?

In Gemini you create a single clip in conversation. Flow provides projects, start and end frames, ingredients, clip extension, and a separate credit pool.

Kinetyra