Kling AI opens global beta

Background

Kling AI is Kuaishou's AI video generation service. Before the product was opened globally, access was gated by application: Kuaishou had received more than 1 million applications for it and granted early access to more than 300,000 users ^[1]. Queues of this kind are a common way for AI video services to limit load while a model is still being tuned, and they leave the operator with a large pool of registered interest once the doors open.

The global opening

On 25 July 2024, Kuaishou opened full beta testing of Kling AI to users worldwide ^[1]. Two sites served the launch: an English site at klingai.com and a Chinese site at klingai.kuaishou.com ^[1]. In practice "full beta" meant the product was no longer reserved for invited testers — a user could sign up and start generating, either on a free daily allowance of credits or on a paid subscription ^[1].

Model upgrades

The opening came with a model update. Kuaishou said the upgraded model improved composition, colour, aesthetics and motion range ^[1]. These map onto the qualities viewers notice first in a generated clip: how the elements of a scene are arranged in the frame (composition), how the image looks in tone and finish (colour and aesthetics), and how far and how freely the subject can move (motion range). Improving them is the difference between a clip that reads as a still image with a wobble and one that reads as filmed motion.

Pricing and plans

Usage is denominated in credits. Free users received 66 credits per day ^[1]. Paid plans in mainland China ran from RMB 66 to RMB 666 per month ^[1]. The Gold plan at RMB 66 per month included 660 credits, described as about 66 standard videos — roughly 10 credits for a standard clip ^[1]. Platinum at RMB 266 per month included 3,000 credits, and Diamond at RMB 666 per month included 8,000 credits ^[1]. A limited-time promotion, "50% Off Frenzy Week", started at RMB 33 per month ^[1].

Subscribers got more than a larger credit balance. The paid tiers also included high-performance mode, longer videos, end-frame references and professional cinematography support ^[1]. High-performance mode is a higher-specification setting chosen at generation time; end-frame references let a user pin the closing frame of a clip, so the generated motion arrives at a chosen image rather than stopping wherever the model happens to end. Credits and capabilities were thus sold together: the entry plan buys volume, the upper plans buy volume plus control.

What it signalled

At the time of the announcement, the paid tiers applied to mainland China, and Kuaishou said it expected to launch international subscriptions soon ^[1]. The global beta therefore began in a split shape: free daily credits available to everyone, paid plans live first in the home market, with pricing for the rest of the world to follow.

Why it matters

For users, the immediate change was procedural. A product that had been reached through an application and a wait became one that could be tried the same day, with a free quota sized for a handful of short generations a day ^[1]. For the company, the announcement bundled three things that have since become a standard shape for consumer video models: a model upgrade timed to the launch, a free daily allowance that pulls users in without a payment step, and tiered subscriptions priced in local currency with credits as the unit that links usage to price ^[1]. The credit is the part that does the quiet work. A user does not need to know how much computation a generation costs; they need to know that a standard video costs about ten credits, and that 66 free credits a day is a limited but real amount of trying ^[1].