Softwr

Social Media · head to head

Khoros vs Runway

Khoros logo

Khoros

Social Media

Enterprise social media management and branded community platform, now owned by IgniteTech

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Runway logo

Runway

Social Media

AI-powered creative tools for video and images

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Runway has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Khoros igniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.; Runway the free tier is 125 one-time credits rather than a monthly allowance, so it runs out and does not refill
  • They diverge on capability: Khoros covers Branded communities, Runway covers Gen-2 video generation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Khoros and Runway actually diverge.

Attributes where Khoros and Runway differ
AttributeKhorosRunway
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotesubscription
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb
FoundedUnknown2018

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Social Media).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Khoros

  • Branded communities
  • Community gamification
  • Social publishing
  • Social customer care
  • Moderation tooling
  • Listening and analytics
  • Aurora and Iris AI
  • Knowledge deflection

Only in Runway

  • Gen-2 video generation
  • Green screen
  • Inpainting
  • Super resolution
  • Motion tracking
  • Adobe Premiere
  • Final Cut Pro
  • API access

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Khoros

  • A telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volumenot Runway
  • A consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissionsnot Runway
  • A games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing featuresnot Runway
  • A bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same SLA framework as its email and chat queuesnot Runway

Runway

  • Generating video clips from text or image promptsnot Khoros
  • Extending or editing existing footage with generative modelsnot Khoros
  • Removing objects and backgrounds from videonot Khoros
  • Storyboarding and previsualisation for productionnot Khoros

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Khoros

  • IgniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.
  • Community migration is genuinely hard: moving years of threads, accepted solutions, member reputation and SEO-bearing URLs off Khoros later is a project measured in quarters, which makes the switching cost far higher than the annual licence suggests.
  • Pricing is not published and the platform is sold on annual enterprise contracts with substantial implementation and design services, so the first-year cost is materially higher than the recurring licence and hard to benchmark.
  • The publishing and listening side inherited from Spredfast has been outpaced by dedicated social suites, so social-first teams frequently find themselves keeping a second tool for scheduling and analytics and paying for overlapping capability.
  • The product is the result of merging two large codebases and has now changed private-equity owner twice, and reviewers consistently report that community administration and social management still feel like separate systems sharing a login rather than one product.
  • Khoros Community Classic is being sunset in favour of the new Aurora AI community platform, so existing customers face a forced migration of an already hard-to-move asset, on the acquirer timetable rather than their own.

Runway

  • The free tier is 125 one-time credits rather than a monthly allowance, so it runs out and does not refill
  • Outputs carry a watermark until the Standard plan at $12 a month
  • Everything is metered in credits, and Gen-4.5 video costs 60 credits per 5 seconds, so a Standard plan covers roughly 125 short videos a year
  • Only the Max plan at $76 a month rolls unused credits over, and only for one month
  • The free tier gives a selection of models rather than the full set

Pricing, plan by plan

Khoros

On request
  • Khoros$undefined/year
    • Branded communities
    • Social publishing and governance
    • Social customer care queue

Runway

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 125 credits
    • Basic tools
    • 720p exports
  • Standard$12/month
    • 625 credits/month
    • Gen-2 access
    • 4K exports
  • Pro$28/month
    • 2250 credits/month
    • All tools
    • Priority processing
  • Unlimited$76/month
    • Unlimited generations
    • Custom models
    • API access

Which should you pick?

Choose Khoros if

  • You need branded communities.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want community gamification.
Khoros review

Choose Runway if

  • You need gen-2 video generation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want green screen.
Runway review

Questions people ask

Is Khoros or Runway better?
Neither clearly leads. Khoros starts at On request and Runway at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Khoros or Runway?
Runway has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Khoros and Free for Runway.
Does Khoros or Runway run on more platforms?
Khoros runs on Web, iOS, Android, API. Runway runs on Web.
Can I use Runway for free?
Yes. Runway has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Khoros starts at On request.
What is Khoros best used for?
Khoros is most often used for a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume, a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions, a games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing features, a bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same sla framework as its email and chat queues. Of those, a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume and a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions are not what Runway is typically brought in for.
What can Khoros do that Runway cannot?
Khoros covers Branded communities, Community gamification, Social publishing, Social customer care. Runway covers Gen-2 video generation, Green screen, Inpainting, Super resolution.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Khoros: Who owns Khoros now?

IgniteTech, an ESW Capital company, acquired Khoros on 27 May 2025. Vista Equity Partners, which created Khoros by merging Lithium and Spredfast, is no longer the owner.

Runway: How much does Runway cost?

Runway publishes four tiers on annual billing: Standard at $12 per month, Pro at $28 and Max at $76, against monthly rates of $15, $35 and $95. Enterprise is quoted. Annual billing is advertised as 20% off.

Source
Khoros: Why does the website say khoros.ai?

The company moved its corporate domain from khoros.com to khoros.ai as part of an AI-first relaunch under IgniteTech, centred on its Aurora and Iris AI capabilities.

Runway: Does Runway have a free plan?

Yes. The free plan costs nothing and includes 125 one time credits to explore the AI tools, plus 5GB of asset storage. The credits are one time rather than monthly.

Source
Khoros: Is pricing published?

No. Khoros quotes privately on annual enterprise contracts, and implementation services are a significant separate cost.

Runway: How many credits does each Runway plan include?

Standard includes 625 credits a month, Pro includes 2,250 and Max includes 9,500. Only Max offers credit rollover, and it rolls over for one month.

Source
Khoros: Should the ownership change affect my decision?

It should affect your contract. Ask for written roadmap commitments, named support staffing and exit or data-export terms before signing a multi-year community deal.

Runway: When do I need Runway Pro rather than Standard?

Pro adds custom voices for lip sync, raises storage to 500GB and gives access to the best models, on top of Standard's AI image and video models, 4K upscaling and watermark free output.

Source
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