Start Here
- Best overall: Veo 3.1, with native audio generated in the same pass and 4K output. Lite runs $0.05 a second.
- Cheapest that is still good: Wan 2.6 and Vidu Q3, both $0.07 a second with audio.
- Do not use: Sora 2. OpenAI switched it off on 24 September 2026 and did not replace it.
Read This First: Sora Is Gone
On 24 September 2026 OpenAI removed sora-2, sora-2-pro and three dated snapshots of both. It also removed the entire Videos API. On OpenAI's own deprecations page the recommended replacement column for every one of those models contains a single dash.
There is no successor. There is no migration path. The endpoint is gone and nothing from OpenAI took its place.
The notice went up on 24 March 2026, so this was signposted six months ahead. That has not stopped the rest of the internet. Every one of these pages was live when we checked on 2 October 2026:
- A "cheapest AI video generation APIs in 2026" comparison still ranking Sora 2 at $0.11 a second.
- An "AI video API pricing 2026" guide still listing Sora 2 Standard at $0.10 a second for 720p and $0.30 to $0.70 for 1080p.
- A "best AI video generators 2026" roundup still placing Sora 2 in its top tier at around $0.75 a second.
Three live buying guides, more than a week after the shutdown, quoting rates for an API that returns nothing. If you have been pricing a project against any of those numbers, start again.
If you had Sora in a pipeline, the closest replacements by capability are Veo 3.1 for quality with audio, Kling Video O3 if you need clips longer than eight seconds, and Seedance 2.0 Fast at $0.09 a second if you were using it for volume.
All Ten, Normalised to One 8-Second Clip
Per-second rates get quoted at different resolutions and nobody converts them, so here is the same deliverable priced across every tool. Where a model caps below eight seconds, the cost is for its maximum and the cap is stated.
| Tool | Per second | 8-second clip | Max length | Audio |
|---|
| Hailuo 2.3 (512p) | $0.01 | $0.08 | 10s | Not detailed |
| Wan 2.6 | $0.07 | $0.35 at 5s cap | 5s | Yes |
| Veo 3.1 Lite (720p) | $0.05 | $0.40 | 8s | Yes |
| Vidu Q3 | $0.07 | $0.42 at 6s cap | 6s | Yes |
| Runway Gen-4 Turbo | $0.05 | $0.40 | Credit based | Not stated |
| Hailuo 2.3 (1080p) | $0.08 | $0.64 | 10s | Not detailed |
| Grok Imagine Video 1.5 (480p) | $0.08 | $0.64 | Not stated | Preset voices free |
| Kling Video O3 | $0.085 | $0.68 | 15s | Native |
| Seedance 2.0 Fast | $0.09 | $0.72 | 8s | No |
| Veo 3.1 Fast (720p) | $0.10 | $0.80 | 8s | Yes |
| Runway Gen-4.5 | $0.12 | $0.96 | Credit based | Not stated |
| Grok Imagine Video 1.5 (720p) | $0.14 | $1.12 | Not stated | Preset voices free |
| Kling 3.0 | $0.153 | $1.22 | 10s | Native |
| Seedance 2.0 Pro | $0.247 | $1.98 | 8s | No |
| Veo 3.1 Standard (1080p) | $0.40 | $3.20 | 8s | Yes |
| Veo 3.1 Standard (4K) | $0.60 | $4.80 | 8s | Yes |
| Luma Dream Machine | Per clip | $0.60-$1.00 per 5s | Not stated | Not stated |
Top to bottom that is a 60x spread for eight seconds of video. Compare like for like at 1080p and it narrows to about 5x, from Hailuo at $0.64 to Veo Standard at $3.20 - and that is the number worth budgeting against, because 512p is not a deliverable.
The Constraint Nobody Leads With: Length
Price gets all the attention and duration decides more projects. Veo 3.1 caps at eight seconds. Wan 2.6 caps at five. Vidu Q3 at six. Kling 3.0 and Hailuo reach ten, and Kling Video O3 at fifteen seconds is the longest single generation on this list.
If your shot needs to run thirty seconds, none of these produce it in one pass. You are stitching, and stitching is where continuity breaks - a character's jacket changes, the light shifts, the camera jumps. Budget for that editing time, because it is usually larger than the generation cost.
ByteDance has announced Seedance 2.5 with up to thirty seconds and multimodal input. It has not shipped, so it is not on this list.
1. Veo 3.1 - Best Overall
Verdict: the only one here that generates synchronised audio and video in a single pass at 4K, and the Lite tier makes it cheap enough to use as a default.
| Variant | 720p | 1080p | 4K |
|---|
| Veo 3.1 | $0.40/s | $0.40/s | $0.60/s |
| Veo 3.1 Fast | $0.10/s | $0.12/s | $0.30/s |
| Veo 3.1 Lite | $0.05/s | $0.08/s | Not supported |
Audio is included in every one of those rates. There is no cheaper video-only tier on the Gemini API, which is unusual - most competitors charge audio as an extra and quote the silent price in their marketing.
Per Google's own documentation, every Veo model generates 4, 6 and 8 second clips, 1080p and 4K are 8-second only, and output is 16:9 or 9:16. Veo 3.1, 3.1 Fast and 3.1 Lite are all preview status; Veo 3 and Veo 3 Fast are stable.
Standout: native audio in one pass. Dialogue, ambience and effects arrive matched to the footage rather than laid over it afterwards, and that is a different product from a silent clip you then score.
Limitation: eight seconds, hard. And a 4K clip at $4.80 is the most expensive eight seconds on this page - roughly 60 times the cheapest.
A note on these prices: Google's public pricing page did not display a Veo table when we checked. The rates above come from third-party trackers that agree with each other and with the tier structure in Google's own docs, but they are not Google's published figures. Check your console before committing a budget.
Best for: anything that needs sound, anything that needs 4K, and anyone who wants one tool to cover draft and final.
2. Kling - Longest Clips, Native Audio
Verdict: the one to use when eight seconds is not enough.
Kling 3.0 runs $0.153 a second for ten seconds at 1080p with native audio. Kling Video O3 goes to fifteen seconds at $0.085 - longer and cheaper, which makes it the better pick of the two for most work.
On the consumer app the pricing is credit-based, per second of Kling Video 3.0: six credits for 720p without audio, eight for 1080p without audio, nine for 720p with audio, twelve for 1080p with audio, and two more on top for voice control. The entry plan is $6.99 for a first month and $8.80 on renewal for 660 credits, which works out to 55 seconds of 1080p with audio per month. Budget accordingly - that is about four clips.
Free tier: exists, and Basic output is not licensed for commercial use. Same trap as the image-generation free tiers: the most generous-looking allowance is the one you cannot sell.
Standout: fifteen seconds in one generation, uncontested here.
Limitation: the credit system obscures real cost, and audio nearly doubles your per-second burn - twelve credits against six.
Best for: longer single shots, and anything where a cut every eight seconds would be obvious.
3. Runway Gen-4.5 - Best Workflow
Verdict: you are buying an editing suite that happens to generate, not a generator with an interface bolted on.
| Plan | Annual | Monthly | Credits | Gen-4.5 seconds |
|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 125 one-time | No Gen-4.5 access |
| Standard | $12/user | ~$15 | 625 | ~52s |
| Pro | $28/user | ~$35 | 2,250 | ~187s |
| Max | $76/user | ~$95 | 9,500 | ~791s |
Gen-4.5 costs 12 credits a second, which is $0.12. Gen-4 Turbo costs 5 credits a second, $0.05, and stretches a Standard plan from about 52 seconds to roughly 125. Picking the right model inside Runway matters more than picking the right plan.
Free tier: 125 credits, one time, they do not refresh, and Gen-4.5 is excluded. You can evaluate Turbo and nothing above it.
Standout: the tooling around generation - motion brush, camera controls, timeline editing, multi-seat workspaces. Standard covers 5 users, Pro and Max up to 10.
Limitation: the most expensive per finished second once you account for the iterations the workflow encourages.
Best for: teams, agencies, and anyone whose output needs editing rather than just generating.
4. Seedance 2.0 - Volume Production
Verdict: $0.09 a second for 1080p is the best quality-per-dollar on this list, provided you do not need sound.
ByteDance's model. Fast runs $0.09 a second, Pro $0.247, both 8 seconds at 1080p. On BytePlus the token-metered range runs $0.19 to $0.42 at 480p up to $4.20 to $9.33 at 4K.
Standout: Fast at $0.09 undercuts Veo 3.1 Fast on raw rate while matching resolution.
Limitation: no audio at all, on either tier. Factor in a scoring pass, and the gap to Veo closes fast. Seedance 2.5 with 30-second clips is announced but not shipped.
Best for: high-volume silent b-roll, product loops, backgrounds.
5. Hailuo 2.3 - Cheapest Per Second
Verdict: $0.01 a second at 512p is the lowest rate anywhere here, and 512p is the catch.
MiniMax's model: $0.01 a second at 512p, $0.04 at 768p, $0.08 at 1080p, up to 10 seconds. At 1080p it is $0.64 for an eight-second clip, which still undercuts Veo 3.1 Fast.
Standout: the 1080p rate. The headline $0.01 figure gets quoted everywhere and is largely useless, but $0.08 at full HD is a genuinely strong number.
Limitation: audio support is not clearly documented, so assume you are scoring it yourself.
Best for: social-first content, rapid iteration, testing a concept before paying Veo rates for the final.
6. Wan 2.6 - Cheapest With Audio
Verdict: $0.07 a second including audio, which is the best audio-inclusive rate here - and it stops at five seconds.
Alibaba's model. 720p, audio included, five-second maximum. An entire generation costs $0.35.
Standout: the cheapest route to a clip with sound.
Limitation: five seconds and 720p. For anything longer or sharper you are stitching, or you are on another tool.
Best for: short social loops, ad variants, anything where five seconds is the format rather than a limit.
7. Vidu Q3 - Best Balance
Verdict: $0.07 a second at 1080p with audio is the quietest good deal on this list.
Shengshu AI's model. Six-second maximum, 1080p, audio included. Same rate as Wan 2.6 but a higher resolution and a second longer.
Standout: 1080p with audio at a price most competitors charge for 720p silent.
Limitation: six seconds, and the smallest ecosystem here - fewer integrations, less community tooling, thinner documentation.
Best for: anyone who wants Wan's price at Veo's resolution and can live with six seconds.
8. Grok Imagine Video 1.5 - Bundled With X
Verdict: reasonable rates, and the real argument is that you may already be paying for it.
xAI's grok-imagine-video-1.5: $0.08 a second at 480p, $0.14 at 720p, $0.25 at 1080p. Audio input with preset voices is free. It accepts text, image and audio input, runs in us-east-1, and is rate-limited to 10 requests a second.
Standout: multimodal input, and access bundled into X and SuperGrok subscriptions. If you are already paying for SuperGrok the marginal cost is zero.
Limitation: $0.25 at 1080p is roughly 3x Hailuo for the same resolution, and maximum duration is not documented.
Best for: existing SuperGrok subscribers. Our Grok Imagine Video 1.5 breakdown goes deeper on the model, and the Grok video generation guide covers the app side.
9. Luma Dream Machine - Priced Per Clip
Verdict: the only one here that prices by the clip rather than the second, which makes it hard to compare and usually expensive.
The developer API runs $0.60 to $1.00 per five-second clip, roughly 11 to 20-plus credits a second. At the low end that is $0.12 a second; at the high end $0.20.
Standout: strong camera motion control and a mature interface.
Limitation: per-clip pricing with a range rather than a rate makes forecasting awkward, and at the top of that range it is among the priciest here.
Best for: creative work where motion control matters more than unit economics.
10. Sora 2 - Discontinued
Verdict: it does not exist. It is on this list so you stop looking for it.
Shut down 24 September 2026 along with the Videos API. OpenAI listed no replacement. If a guide you are reading still recommends it, that guide has not been updated since September and you should discount everything else on it too.
Decision Framework
- You need sound - Veo 3.1 Lite at $0.05 a second, or Wan 2.6 at $0.07 if five seconds is enough. Not Seedance, which has no audio at any tier.
- You need longer than 8 seconds - Kling Video O3 at 15 seconds, or Kling 3.0 and Hailuo at 10. Veo cannot do it at any price.
- You need 4K - Veo 3.1 or 3.1 Fast only. $0.30 a second on Fast, $0.60 on Standard, 8 seconds maximum.
- You are generating thousands of clips - Seedance 2.0 Fast at $0.09, or Hailuo at $0.08 for 1080p.
- You are testing an idea - Hailuo at 512p, $0.01 a second. Eight seconds costs eight cents.
- Your team needs to edit, not just generate - Runway. Nothing else here has the surrounding tooling.
- You already pay for SuperGrok - Grok Imagine Video 1.5, marginal cost zero.
- You were using Sora - Veo 3.1 for quality, Kling Video O3 for length, Seedance 2.0 Fast for volume. There is no official migration path.
- You want to try before paying - Runway's 125 one-time credits, but they exclude Gen-4.5. Kling's free tier bars commercial use.
- Budget is the hard constraint - compare at 1080p, not on headline rates. The honest spread is about 5x, not the 60x the quoted numbers imply.
The Stack That Actually Works
Generation cost is rarely the biggest line. Iteration is. The sequence that keeps it down:
- Block out the shot on Hailuo at 512p, $0.01 a second. Twenty attempts at eight seconds costs $1.60. This is where you find out whether the prompt works, and it is the step people skip before burning Veo credits on a composition that was never going to land.
- Confirm at Veo 3.1 Lite, $0.05 a second. Same prompt, real quality, audio included. $0.40 an attempt. Two or three here, not twenty.
- Final at Veo 3.1 Fast 1080p, $0.12 a second, or Standard 4K at $0.60 if it is going on a big screen. One generation, $0.96 or $4.80.
- Anything over eight seconds, switch to Kling Video O3 at $0.085 for fifteen, and accept the quality trade rather than stitching two Veo clips and fighting continuity.
A finished eight-second shot through that sequence runs under $4 including twenty drafts. Going straight to Veo Standard 4K and iterating there costs $4.80 per attempt - so the same twenty attempts would be $96. The saving is not the rate, it is doing the failing at the cheap tier.
FAQ
Is Sora still available in 2026?
No. OpenAI shut down sora-2 and sora-2-pro on 24 September 2026, along with the entire Videos API, and listed no recommended replacement on its deprecations page. Guides still quoting Sora pricing have not been updated since the shutdown.
What is the cheapest AI video generator?
Hailuo 2.3 at $0.01 a second for 512p, which makes an eight-second clip cost eight cents. At a usable 1080p the cheapest are Hailuo at $0.08 a second and Seedance 2.0 Fast at $0.09. If you need audio included, Wan 2.6 and Vidu Q3 are both $0.07.
Which AI video tool generates audio?
Veo 3.1 generates synchronised audio in the same pass at every tier, with no cheaper silent option on the Gemini API. Kling offers native audio at a credit premium - twelve credits a second at 1080p against eight without. Wan 2.6 and Vidu Q3 include it. Seedance 2.0 has no audio on either tier.
How long can AI-generated videos be?
Shorter than most people expect. Veo 3.1 caps at 8 seconds, Wan 2.6 at 5, Vidu Q3 at 6, Kling 3.0 and Hailuo 2.3 at 10. The longest single generation here is Kling Video O3 at 15 seconds. Anything longer means stitching clips and managing continuity yourself.
How much does Veo 3.1 cost?
Lite is $0.05 a second at 720p and $0.08 at 1080p. Fast is $0.10, $0.12 and $0.30 for 720p, 1080p and 4K. Standard is $0.40 for 720p and 1080p, $0.60 for 4K. Audio is included in all of them. An 8-second 4K clip is $4.80.
Is there a free AI video generator?
Partly. Runway gives 125 one-time credits that never refresh and exclude the Gen-4.5 model. Kling has a free Basic tier whose output is not licensed for commercial use. Google AI subscription plans include Flow credits from 200 a month, but a Flow credit is not an API dollar and does not map to a fixed number of clips. There is no meaningful free tier for commercial video work.
Should I use a subscription or the API?
The API, if you generate irregularly - you pay only for what you make and the per-second maths is transparent. A subscription makes sense once volume is steady and predictable: Kling's $8.80 plan buys 55 seconds of 1080p with audio, which beats the API rate if you use all of it, and wastes money if you do not. Credits on most plans do not roll over.
All pricing verified 2 October 2026 from vendor documentation and pricing trackers. We have not generated video on all ten tools; quality characterisations come from the sources cited and from vendor claims. Video pricing moves faster than any other category in AI - check the vendor's own console before committing a budget.
Related: best AI text to image tools covers the still-image side, including which free tiers let you keep the rights to what you make.