Evaluating Runway Model Router

Runway's Model Router picks which video model serves each request according to a developer's stated preference for cost, quality, or speed, and the company tested it in an experiment that shows why the cheapest setting can be a poor proxy for usable output. Across 250 image-to-video prompts, Runway reports that quality-oriented routing with a $1 generation cap averaged $0.61 per clip, with 74% judged usable. Its fixed Seedance 2.5 baseline averaged $1.80 and 78% usability. Choosing the cheapest compatible model lowered cost to $0.30 but usability to 38%. These reported results support evaluating cost alongside the fraction of acceptable clips; they come from the company's own benchmark and usability judgments, rather than a universal measure of visual quality.