MiniMax H3 (also called Hailuo 3) has open weights, but most people who want to use it don't want to set up a 33-billion-parameter model. The question that keeps coming up on Reddit is simply: where can I actually run it? Here are the six options, what each is good for, and what to watch out for.
1. Hailuo AI — MiniMax's own app
Hailuo AI is MiniMax's consumer app for its video models, and H3 is live there. It's the official place to use the model, with plans and credits set by MiniMax.
Good for: people who want the official product and its extra tools. Watch out for: availability can differ by country, and plans are subscription-based.
2. MiniMax Design — official, no setup
MiniMax also offers H3 in MiniMax Design, its creative workspace, along with tutorials and workflows for the open model.
Good for: trying the model from MiniMax directly, alongside its design tools.
3. APIs — for developers
MiniMax's API and API marketplaces (for example OpenRouter or fal) bill H3 per second of output. You send a request with a prompt and files and get a video URL back.
Good for: building H3 into your own product or pipeline. Watch out for: you need an API key and some code; there's no editor or history unless you build one.
4. Multi-model creative apps
Apps that offer many video models side by side — such as Higgsfield or Krea — added H3 to their model pickers.
Good for: comparing H3 with Kling, Veo or Seedance in one place. Watch out for: they're usually subscriptions, and H3's reference options may be simplified.
5. Run the weights on a rented GPU
You can run the open weights in ComfyUI on a cloud GPU (RunPod, Colab, Kaggle and similar). See our guide to running MiniMax H3 locally for the files and VRAM needs.
Good for: full control, LoRAs and experiments. Watch out for: the license lists the EU, the UK, South Korea and the US as excluded territories for the weights, and quantized builds trade away quality.
6. MiniMax H3 AI — pay per second, in the browser
MiniMax H3 AI (this site) runs MiniMax H3 and H3 Max in the browser with every mode: text to video, image to video with first and last frames, and reference to video with up to 12 images, clips and audio files.
- No subscription: one-time credit packs from $9.99 for 300 credits; credits don't expire.
- Per-second pricing, shown before you render: H3 Max starts at 6 credits a second at 480P, so a 5-second clip is 30 credits; H3 at 2K is 14 credits a second.
- Failed renders refund automatically.
Good for: making videos with H3 without a GPU, an API key or a subscription. Watch out for: there's no free tier — every render uses credits.
Which one should you pick?
| You want to… | Best option |
|---|---|
| Use the official product | Hailuo AI or MiniMax Design |
| Build H3 into an app | An API |
| Compare many models in one subscription | A multi-model app |
| Fine-tune or tinker, and the license allows it where you are | Run the weights on a GPU |
| Make videos now, pay only for what you render | MiniMax H3 AI |
Whichever you choose, prompts work the same way — our MiniMax H3 prompt guide covers the structure MiniMax recommends.
Read more
How to Run MiniMax H3 Locally: ComfyUI, VRAM and GGUF — or Online
What it really takes to run the open-weight MiniMax H3 (Hailuo 3) on your own GPU: the files, ComfyUI and other runtimes, VRAM by quantization, and when the online version is the cheaper choice.
MiniMax H3 vs H3 Max: Which One Should You Use?
Resolution, length, speed and price of MiniMax H3 and its fast variant H3 Max, and when to pick each.
MiniMax H3 Prompt Guide: The Official Structure, Camera Moves and Examples
How to prompt MiniMax H3 (Hailuo 3): a simple five-part structure, the three-field format from MiniMax's own prompting guide, camera-move vocabulary, multi-shot timing, dialogue and sound — with examples you can copy.