4K output sounds great in a headline, but the honest version matters more: 4K upscaling costs several times more per second than 720p or 1080p, and it is only worth paying for when the source can support it. This guide covers the free trial, the real credit costs, and the exact steps to a 4K render without wasting credits.
What the free trial covers
Every new signed-in account gets one free first video upscale, with specific limits:
- Standard model only
- 720p target resolution
- Up to 5 seconds of source video
- Verified email required
That is a deliberately small trial job. It proves the pipeline works and gives you a before-and-after sample, but it will not produce 4K. If you want 4K output, you pay credits — the trial is a test run, not a shortcut.
Step 1: Check your source resolution
Open the free resolution check tool and drop in your clip. It reads the width and height locally, no upload, and shows the next sensible target.
The key question: is your source at least 1080p? Upscaling 720p footage to 4K means generating 9 output pixels for every source pixel, and most of that detail is invented. From a 1080p source, 4K is a 2x linear increase and far more defensible.
Step 2: Price the job first
Video upscaling bills per second of source footage with a 5-second minimum. On the standard model, rates are 9 credits per second at 720p and 1080p, 17 at 2K, and 33 at 4K.
Concrete examples on the standard model:
- 5 seconds at 4K (the minimum billable job): 165 credits
- 30 seconds at 4K: 990 credits
- The same 30 seconds at 1080p: 270 credits
The upscale cost calculator applies these same rules, and the final cost is always shown in the preflight before you submit. The pricing page lists current credit packs.
Step 3: Run the free trial first
Even if your goal is 4K, do the trial run before anything else:
- Sign in and verify your email
- Open the video upscaler
- Upload your clip and select the standard model
- Choose 720p and trim to 5 seconds or less
- Submit — a qualifying first job costs nothing
Inspect the trial result at 100% zoom. It tells you how the pipeline handles your specific footage — noise, motion, and edge quality — before you pay for the expensive 4K version.
Step 4: Run the real 4K job
- Upload the full clip (or a representative section) to the video upscaler
- Keep the standard model if the trial result looked clean
- Select 4K as the target
- Confirm the credit cost in the preflight
- Render, download, and compare against the source at full zoom
If the trial showed halos around edges or softened texture, consider the seedvr2 or pro models for the 4K run. They cost more per second — seedvr2 4K is 82 credits per second — but they are built for detail-heavy footage. Our model comparison breaks down all five options.
Why 4K costs more
It is not just marketing: the provider charges a higher per-second rate for 4K processing, more frames are computed per second of source, and larger outputs take longer to render. On the standard model, 4K costs about 3.7x more per second than 720p.
How long a render takes
The tool shows an estimated time before you submit, and the planning math is simple: the standard model processes about 10 seconds of compute per second of source footage, while the other models run around 20 to 30 seconds per source second. Resolution adds a further multiplier — roughly 1.25x for 2K and 1.5x for 4K.
In practice that means a 5-second 720p test can finish in about a minute on the standard model, while a 30-second 4K render on a heavier model can take well over ten minutes. The estimate shown in the preflight is the number to plan around, and the render runs server-side — you do not need to keep the tab open or worry about your own machine's performance.
When to skip 4K
Choose 1080p or 2K instead when:
- The source is 720p or lower
- The clip will be watched on a phone or social feed
- The platform will re-compress 4K anyway
- You are testing a workflow, not delivering a final file
Use the trial to prove the pipeline, pay for 4K only when the source supports it, and always confirm the credit total in the preflight screen before submitting.