NuWay Business Solutions has published a hands-on test comparing nine methods for producing an AI video ad, from free desktop models to paid cloud tools, with all 14 paid shots totaling $5.85.
-- NuWay Business Solutions founder Brian Pawl has published a first-hand account of building the same soda ad nine ways using different AI video tools, from free open-source models run on a desktop PC to paid cloud services including Google’s Veo 3.1 and Kuaishou’s Kling 3.0. The test was designed to help small business owners work out which AI video tools, if any, are worth paying for.
More details can be found at https://nuwaybizsolutions.com/blog/same-ai-video-ad-nine-ways
The test comes at a moment when AI-generated video is improving rapidly but still falling short in predictable ways. A University of Cambridge preprint published in August 2026, cited in the NuWay Business Solutions article, tested eight AI video models including Veo 3.1 and Kling 3.0, and found that models capable of producing visually convincing footage often moved objects inaccurately. The authors noted that visual realism and physical accuracy appear to be largely separate skills, a gap the NuWay test illustrates directly.
The stated goal of the test was to establish whether AI video tools were worth the cost for small business owners who lack a production budget. Pawl’s starting position was that free video generators exist, but their output quality is inconsistent, and the nine-version format was designed to find out where paid models actually outperformed free ones.
The methodology centered on producing a short ad for a fictional soda brand, BANANA BOOM, with each of the nine approaches using the same brief. The write-up documents the specific failures in each version alongside the successes, with character consistency across shots and label legibility treated as key benchmarks.
Pawl documents the full cost breakdown in the post: all 14 paid shots across the nine versions totaled $5.85 through OpenArt’s Plus plan at $34 a month. The Claude work behind the project would have cost approximately $120 at Anthropic’s published API rates but ran on an existing $100-a-month Claude Max subscription, adding no extra cost. Pawl notes the $120 figure covers all nine versions and the trial-and-error process involved, not a single finished ad.
Pawl found that no single tool produced fully consistent output, with every version showing some visible flaw. The version he said he’d stand behind (#9) combined the free photoreal approach from version seven, built on Wan 2.2 with identity-locked starting images, with a single paid Kling 3.0 shot for the can-opening moment, at roughly 50 cents. A visible seam remains where the paid shot joins the free footage, the result of the Kling shot being made from an earlier set of reference images before the character’s appearance was fully locked.
NuWay Business Solutions is an AI implementation consulting firm focused on practical systems for small businesses. The company is led by Brian Pawl, its founder, who works with small business owners on AI workflow development and implementation.
For more information, visit https://nuwaybizsolutions.com
Contact Info:
Name: Brian Pawl
Email: Send Email
Organization: NuWay Business Solutions
Address: 2501 Chatham Rd #6721, Springfield, IL 62704, United States
Website: https://nuwaybizsolutions.com/
Source: PressCable
Release ID: 89208152
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