Adobe Firefly vs Google Veo 3 – AI Video

Adobe Firefly is a fairly new AI Video tool and competes with Google Veo 3 – which has recently been released. Veo 3 is the successor to Veo 2, which we compared earlier this year.

Capabilities

Adobe Firefly allows you to create video clips up to 5 seconds in length, in HD 1080p resolution at 24 fps.

Google Veo 3 can create video clips up to 8 seconds long, in 4K resolution at 24 fps. It also can generate realistic audio – something Adobe Firefly does not currently offer.

Availability & Costs

Adobe Firefly Pricing

Adobe Firefly uses a credit based system. It is available in both standalone plans, as well as being bundled with Adobe Creative Cloud. Their pricing plans page states that 2000 credits can be used to create 20 5 second videos. So this works out at 100 seconds. Their pricing plans are:

• Firefly Standard: £9.98 / month for 2000 credits – which you can create 100 seconds of video. This works out at 10p / second.
• Firefly Pro: £28.99 / month for 7000 credits – which you can create 350 seconds of video. This works out at 8p / second.
• Firefly Premium: £200.40 / month for 50,000 credits – which you can create an unlimited number of videos.
• Creative Cloud: Starting from £9.98 / month – the amount of credits varies.

Google Veo 3 Pricing

Google Veo 3 is not available in standalone plans – you need to buy a Google AI plan, which includes a number of products. The options are:

• Google AI Pro: £18.99 / month for 1000 credits. This has ‘limited’ access to Veo 3 – up to 10 ‘Quality’ video generations / month.
• Google AI Ultra: £234.99 / month for 12,500 credits. This has a limit of 625 ‘Fast’ Veo 3 generations or 125 ‘Quality’ Veo 3 generations.
• For both plans, the number of credits per Veo 3 video generation are:
  • ‘Fast’: 20 credits / generation
  • ‘Quality’: 100 credits / generation
• Therefore for ‘Quality’, it’s possible to generate:
  • Google AI Pro: 10 x 8 seconds videos = 80 seconds total. So cost works out at 23p / second.
  • Google AI Ultra: 125 x 8 seconds videos = 1000 seconds total. So cost also works out at 23p / second.
• For both plans, it’s possible to buy top up credits.

It is also possible to access Google Veo 3 via the Vertex AI Platform. This is intended to be used by developers to integrate into their own applications. With this Veo 3 (without audio) costs $0.50 / second of video. For the UK, this works out at 37p / second. With audio, it costs $0.75 / second – about 56p / second.

Comparison

To help compare the tools, we used the same prompts Google used for the Veo 3 videos and ran those in Adobe Firefly.

Human and Toy – Duck Interrogation

Prompt: A detective interrogates a nervous-looking rubber duck. “Where were you on the night of the bubble bath?!” he quacks. Audio: Detective’s stern quack, nervous squeaks from rubber duck.

Both Veo 3 and Firefly did pretty well on this. Firefly decided to show the scene closer up, which gives a bit more dramatism. In Veo 3, the detective looks old fashioned, whilst in Firefly he looks more modern and up to date. So different approaches, with pros and cons.

My ratings:

• Veo 3 = 8/10
• Firefly = 8/10

Nature and People – Irish Coast

Prompt: In rural Ireland, circa 1860s, two women, their long, modest dresses of homespun fabric whipping gently in the strong coastal wind, walk with determined strides across a windswept cliff top. The ground is carpeted with hardy wildflowers in muted hues. They move steadily towards the precipitous edge, where the vast, turbulent grey-green ocean roars and crashes against the sheer rock face far below, sending plumes of white spray into the air.

Whilst Veo 3 did well, Adobe Firefly just doesn’t look very real – with a strange jump to the walk and also the camera. Veo 3 definitely wins on this one.

My ratings:

• Veo 3 = 9/10
• Firefly = 4/10

Cartoon – Forest Spirit

Prompt: A breathtaking, painterly 2D animated continuous visual narrative, rendered with the lush, vibrant, and slightly surreal, almost dreamlike, infused with the intricate, delicate detail of traditional Japanese woodblock prints (Ukiyo-e), follows a young, adventurous, and kind-hearted girl (perhaps with bright, curious eyes and wearing simple, practical, beautifully patterned traditional Japanese farm attire) as she befriends a colossal, gentle, ancient Forest Spirit. The Spirit is a magnificent, awe-inspiring creature, its form a harmonious blend of animal and plant – perhaps with moss-covered, antler-like branches, fur like shimmering leaves that change color with its mood, and eyes like deep, tranquil forest pools. They meet in a sun-dappled, sacred grove deep within an ancient, primeval forest, where impossibly tall, gnarled trees form a living cathedral and tiny, glowing, friendly forest sprites (Kodama-like) peek from behind mossy rocks and giant, fantastical mushrooms. The girl, initially awestruck, offers the massive Spirit a small, carefully cultivated offering – perhaps a perfectly ripe persimmon or a handful of wild berries – her gesture one of pure, innocent respect and affection. The Forest Spirit responds with a slow, gentle inclination of its massive head, its leafy fur rustling like a thousand whispers, and perhaps causes a shower of magical, luminous flower petals to drift down from the canopy, or a tiny, new sapling to sprout at the girl’s feet. The animation captures the incredible, detailed textures of the forest, the Spirit’s majestic yet gentle presence, and the profound, unspoken emotional connection forming between the child and this ancient guardian of nature. The color palette is a rich symphony of deep forest greens, earthy browns, vibrant floral hues, and the soft, magical glow of the sprites and the Spirit’s own subtle luminescence. This continuous, sweeping visual journey is a celebration of the profound, often mystical, bond between humanity and nature, the innocence and courage of childhood, and the power of kindness and respect to bridge even the most fantastical of divides, an affectionate, visually intoxicating ode to ecological harmony and interspecies understanding. The only implied sounds are the gentle rustling of leaves, the distant calls of unseen forest birds, the girl’s soft, respectful breathing, the Spirit’s deep, resonant, almost inaudible hum, and a soaring, emotionally resonant, orchestral score.

Both of these are quite artistic and have many elements from the (very long!) prompt. The scene in Veo 3 is more detailed, whilst Firefly is softer and has a continuously evolving effect. Although artistic, the Firefly scene is a bit strange and would be distracting for a real cartoon.

My ratings:

• Veo 3 = 9/10
• Firefly = 6/10

Food – Onions

Prompt: A close up in a smooth, slow pan focuses intently on diced onions hitting a scorching hot pan, instantly creating a dramatic sizzle. Audio: distinct sizzle.

These are both good and fairly realistic. However the Veo 3 one is definitely more realistic, showing the heat of the pan with the bubbling oil.

My ratings:

• Veo 3 = 9/10
• Firefly = 7/10

Person – Classical Violinist

Prompt: A woman, classical violinist with intense focus plays a complex, rapid passage from a Vivaldi concerto in an ornate, sunlit baroque hall during a rehearsal. Their bow dances across the strings with virtuosic speed and precision. Audio: Bright, virtuosic violin playing, resonant acoustics of the hall, distant footsteps of crew, conductor’s occasional soft count-in (muffled), rustling sheet music.

These are both good, but Veo 3 is the best and feels more realistic.

My ratings:

• Veo 3 = 8/10
• Firefly = 7/10

Summary

Overall Ratings:

• Google Veo 3 = 43/50
• Adobe Firefly = 32/50

In my view based on these demos, Google Veo 3 is definitely better in terms of the results produced. It should be noted that the demos originated from Google Veo 3, so it’s highly likely they will have picked prompts and videos that they know worked really well. So it’s not a completely fair comparison. However my aim was to see how close Firefly could get using the same prompts.

When comparing to Veo 2, Veo 3 has definitely improved. Whilst Adobe Firefly does not seem to have improved much since we compared it with Veo 2.

However Adobe Firefly is still significantly cheaper – around 1/2 of the price of Veo 3. Firefly also has the extra benefit that the clips produced are commercially safe.

Google Veo 3 allows you to create videos with audio, which is a significant advantage for many users. It also supports 4K, which Firefly does not yet support.

What tool is best for you very much depends on what types of videos you plan to create. For some businesses who want to create short clips without audio, Adobe Firefly may be a better value option. However if you want the best quality or audio, Google Veo 3 is your best option currently.