Best AI Video Generators in 2026: Veo 3.1 vs Kling 3.0 vs Seedance 2.0 (and More)

This page used to be called “Sora vs Runway vs Pika.” That comparison is dead. OpenAI closed the Sora app in April 2026, most of the 2025 leaders have been replaced by newer versions, and three Chinese labs now sit at or near the top of the public leaderboards. So this is the 2026 update, rewritten in September 2026 with current versions, clip lengths, audio support and prices, for people making TikToks, Reels, Shorts, faceless channels and small-business ads.

What Happened to Sora
How the Leaderboard Looks in September 2026
The Quick Comparison Table
Google Veo 3.1 (and Gemini Omni Flash)
Kling 3.0
Seedance 2.0 and 2.5
Hailuo (MiniMax H3)
Alibaba: HappyHorse and Wan
Runway Gen-4.5
Pika
Luma Ray3.2
Which One Should You Pick?
The Prompt Still Matters More Than the Model

What Happened to Sora

OpenAI announced on March 24, 2026 that it was discontinuing Sora. The Sora web and app experience shut down on April 26, 2026, and the Sora API is scheduled to shut down on September 24, 2026. After those dates, OpenAI says user data is permanently deleted, so anyone with old generations should export them from their Sora library now.

The short version: Sora is not an option anymore, for new projects or old workflows. If you built your process around it, the Sora shutdown alternatives guide walks through where to move and how to adapt your prompts.

How the Leaderboard Looks in September 2026

The Artificial Analysis Video Arena ranks models from blind human votes. In its text-to-video with audio board this month, the top five are Gemini Omni Flash (Google), Wan 3.0 (Alibaba), two MiniMax H3 variants, and Seedance 2.0 (ByteDance). HappyHorse 1.1, Kling 3.0 and Veo 3.1 sit further down but are still close enough that prompt quality matters more than the gap between them.

Rankings move every few weeks, and a model that wins blind votes can still be wrong for you if it is not available in your country or costs too much per clip. So the table below focuses on practical limits.

The Quick Comparison Table

Model	Best for	Max clip per generation	Native audio	Free tier / price
Veo 3.1 (Google)	Cinematic shots with dialogue	8s (API extend up to 148s)	Yes	API from $0.05/sec (Lite 720p); Fast $0.10/sec; Standard $0.40/sec
Gemini Omni Flash (Google)	Editing and remixing video by chat	Short clips, extendable	Yes	Paid Google AI plans; API about $0.10/sec at 720p
Kling 3.0 (Kuaishou)	Multi-shot stories, action, dialogue	15s, up to 6 shots	Yes (5 languages)	66 free credits/day; Standard about $10/mo
Seedance 2.0 (ByteDance)	Reference-driven shots, motion copying	15s	Yes	Via CapCut and Dreamina; not in the US
Seedance 2.5 (ByteDance)	Longer one-take stories	30s	Yes	Dreamina subscribers, BytePlus API; not in the US
MiniMax H3 (Hailuo app)	Viral shorts, edits from references	15s at 2K	Yes (stereo)	Hailuo app credits; API pricing varies
HappyHorse 1.1 (Alibaba)	Lip-synced dialogue, ads	15s at 1080p	Yes	Alibaba Cloud and HappyHorse site
Wan 3.0 (Alibaba)	30-second clips, document-to-video	30s at 1080p	Yes	API $0.05/sec (480p) to $0.20/sec (1080p)
Wan 2.2 (Alibaba)	Free local generation	About 5s	No	Free, open weights
Runway Gen-4.5	Editing workflows, one-minute sequences	Up to 1 min (multi-shot)	Yes (paid plans)	Plans from $12/mo billed yearly; API $0.12/sec
Pika 2.5	Effects, quick social clips	About 10s	Via Pika audio tools	Free plan has no monthly credits; Starter $10/mo
Luma Ray3.2	HDR footage for editors	Short clips	Separate audio tools	Paid plans with trial credits

Prices are what the vendors or their API pages listed in September 2026. Consumer app prices change with promos and regions, so check before you subscribe.

Google Veo 3.1 (and Gemini Omni Flash)

Best for: cinematic shots, talking characters, anything where sound design sells the clip.

Google released Veo 3.1 in October 2025, and it is still the newest model in the Veo line. There is no Veo 4 yet. What 3.1 added over Veo 3:

Ingredients to Video: up to three reference images of a person, character or product, and Veo keeps their look in the clip.
Frames to Video: give it a first frame and a last frame, and it generates the motion between them.
Extend: continue a clip from its final second. In the Gemini API each extension adds 7 seconds, up to 20 times, for a maximum of 148 seconds at 720p.
Audio everywhere: dialogue, sound effects and ambience now work in all those modes, not just plain text-to-video.
Vertical video: 9:16 portrait output alongside 16:9.

A single generation is 4, 6 or 8 seconds. 1080p and 4K are available on 8-second clips. You write dialogue in quotes, and Veo lip-syncs it.

The catch: video generation inside the Gemini app now runs on Gemini Omni Flash, which Google announced at I/O in May 2026. Veo 3.1 lives on in Google Flow, the Gemini API and Vertex AI. Omni Flash is built around conversation: generate a clip, then say “make it night” and it edits the same video. Google’s developer docs now suggest Omni Flash as the default and Veo 3.1 when you want frames, extension and reference images.

Price: in the Gemini API, Veo 3.1 Lite costs $0.05 per second at 720p, Veo 3.1 Fast $0.10 per second at 720p, and full Veo 3.1 $0.40 per second. Consumer access comes through paid Google AI plans.

Veo responds best to film language and explicit sound cues. Our Veo 3.1 prompt guide has 15+ examples, and the Veo 3 prompt generator page shows how to turn a one-line idea into a full prompt.

Kling 3.0

Best for: short stories with several cuts, action scenes, characters that speak.

Kuaishou launched Kling 3.0 in February 2026, along with Kling 3.0 Omni. The headline features:

Clips from 3 to 15 seconds, with the length set by you.
Multi-shot in one generation: up to six shots, each with its own framing, camera move and duration. You can let Kling plan the cuts or write them yourself.
Native audio: dialogue in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean and Spanish, including American, British and Indian English accents. It maps lines to the right speaker when several characters talk.
Omni mode: upload up to 7 reference images, or a 3 to 10 second reference video plus images, save them as “elements,” and call them in your prompt with @names. You can bind a voice sample to a character too.
1080p and 720p output.

The catch and price: the free plan gives 66 credits a day, but they expire after 24 hours and do not stack. Paid plans start with Standard at about $10 per month.

For multi-shot syntax, dialogue formatting and Omni element prompts, see the Kling 3.0 prompt guide or the Kling AI prompt generator page.

Seedance 2.0 and 2.5

Best for: copying a camera move from a reference clip, keeping a product or character identical across shots.

ByteDance released Seedance 2.0 in February 2026. Its trick is multimodal references: you upload images, videos and audio, tag them (@Image1, @Video1, @Audio1) and tell the model which file controls identity, motion or rhythm. Clips run up to 15 seconds with sound generated in the same pass.

On July 31, 2026 ByteDance followed with Seedance 2.5, which doubles single-generation length to 30 seconds, accepts up to 30 images, 10 videos and 10 audio clips as references, and lets you edit specific timestamps without regenerating the whole clip.

The catch: availability. Seedance’s global rollout was paused in early 2026 after legal threats from Hollywood studios. Seedance 2.0 reached CapCut on March 26, 2026 in markets that did not include the United States, and it blocks real faces in uploaded images. Seedance 2.5 is rolling out to Dreamina subscribers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America, and through the BytePlus API, which is not offered in the US. US creators mostly reach it through third-party platforms.

Price: depends on the platform (CapCut, Dreamina, or API resellers).

Seedance wants motion-first prompts and clear reference roles. The Seedance prompt guide covers the tag system, and the Seedance prompt generator page shows sample outputs.

Hailuo (MiniMax H3)

Best for: viral shorts, expressive motion, editing an existing clip with a sentence.

MiniMax launched MiniMax H3 on July 31, 2026, and it is available in the Hailuo app. Some sites call it “Hailuo 3.0,” but H3 is MiniMax’s official name, and it follows the Hailuo 02 and 2.3 generation. It is one model that takes text, images, video and audio together and returns up to 15 seconds at 2K with native stereo sound. Multi-shot within a clip is built in, and you can describe edits in plain words, for example “reference the camera move from Video 1 and have the character from Image 2 sing along to Audio 3.” MiniMax also said it plans to release the model weights.

H3 variants sit near the top of the Artificial Analysis arena this month. Hailuo has always been good at big, physical, slightly exaggerated motion, which is exactly what performs on short-form feeds. The Hailuo AI prompt generator page and our older MiniMax Hailuo prompt guide cover how to prompt it.

Alibaba: HappyHorse and Wan

Alibaba now runs two separate video lines, which confuses a lot of people.

HappyHorse comes from Alibaba’s ATH business unit. HappyHorse 1.0 first appeared anonymously on the Artificial Analysis arena in April 2026 and climbed to the top before Alibaba confirmed it was theirs. It generates up to 15 seconds of 1080p video with multiple shots and synchronized audio, including lip-synced dialogue. HappyHorse 1.1 arrived on June 23, 2026 with better motion, subject consistency, prompt adherence and lip sync. You can use it on the HappyHorse website, Alibaba Cloud’s Bailian (Model Studio) platform and Qwen Cloud.

Wan is the Tongyi Lab line. The history matters:

Wan 2.1 and 2.2 are open-weight. Wan 2.2 (July 2025) is Apache 2.0 licensed, so you can run it free on your own GPU. Short clips, no audio.
Wan 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 were API-only releases. Wan 2.7 reached 15 seconds.
Wan 3.0 launched in August 2026. It makes 30-second clips in a single pass at up to 1080p with multilingual voice, and it accepts text, images, audio, video and even documents like PDFs or slide decks as input. Weights are closed. API pricing on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio is $0.05 per second at 480p, $0.10 at 720p and $0.20 at 1080p.

Wan 3.0 ranks first on the Artificial Analysis text-to-video board without audio and second with audio as of this month. If you want free local generation, Wan 2.2 is still the answer, and our Wan prompt guide applies to it.

Runway Gen-4.5

Best for: editors and teams who want generation plus real editing tools in one place.

Runway’s current flagship is Gen-4.5, released in late 2025. In December 2025 Runway added native audio, dialogue and multi-shot generation up to one minute with consistent characters, on all paid plans. Its real strength is the workflow around the model: video-to-video, editing tools and an API.

The catch and price: credits go fast at 12 credits per second of Gen-4.5 video. Paid plans start at $12 per month billed annually, and the API lists Gen-4.5 at $0.12 per second. See the Runway Gen-4 prompt guide for prompting basics that still apply.

Pika

Best for: playful effects, quick social clips, and trying other models under one subscription.

Pika’s own video model is still Pika 2.5 (clips up to about 10 seconds, up to 1080p), plus its own speech, music and sound-effect tools. The bigger change: Pika is now a multi-model platform that also offers Seedance 2.5, MiniMax H3, Wan 3.0 and Google’s Omni Flash, which can be an easier route to models that are hard to reach directly.

The catch and price: the free plan has no monthly credits, only paid credit packs. Starter is $10 per month ($8 per month billed yearly), Creator $35 per month. Our Pika 2.5 prompt guide covers its effects.

Luma Ray3.2

Best for: filmmakers and editors who need HDR footage that holds up in a color grade.

Luma’s current model is Ray3.2, released in June 2026, following Ray3.14 in January. It outputs 1080p with native HDR and 16-bit EXR export for compositing. Sound comes from separate audio models in Luma’s app, not from Ray itself. It is built for production pipelines more than fast vertical shorts. Plans are Plus, Pro and Ultra, with trial credits on signup. The Luma Dream Machine prompt guide explains how Luma reads prompts.

Which One Should You Pick?

For viral shorts (TikTok, Reels, Shorts)

Start with Kling 3.0 or Hailuo (MiniMax H3). Both do 9:16 well, both generate sound in the same pass, and both handle the exaggerated physical motion that stops a scroll: a cat knocking a glass off a table, a dog blocking a stranger, a doorbell camera catching something strange. Kling’s free daily credits make it the easiest place to test. If you just need a quick clip and already pay for Google AI, Gemini Omni Flash is right there in the Gemini app.

The format matters as much as the model. “Found footage” styles like CCTV, doorbell camera, dashcam and shaky phone video hide AI artifacts because viewers expect low quality from those cameras. The TikTok and Reels prompt guide and the YouTube Shorts monetization guide go deeper.

For ads and product videos

Veo 3.1 if you need a spoken line and a clean product shot in the same 8 seconds; use Ingredients to Video with up to three product photos so the packaging stays correct. Seedance if you are outside the US and want to copy a camera move from an ad you already like. HappyHorse 1.1 if lip-synced dialogue is the core of the ad. See the ads and marketing prompts guide for templates.

For cinematic and story work

Veo 3.1 for single hero shots with sound. Kling 3.0 when you want several shots cut together in one generation. Seedance 2.5 or Wan 3.0 when you need a longer 30-second take. Runway Gen-4.5 if you also need to edit what you made. Luma Ray3.2 if the footage is going into a professional grade.

On a tight budget

Kling 3.0 free plan: 66 credits every day, enough to test ideas.
Veo 3.1 Lite through the API: $0.05 per second at 720p, so an 8-second clip costs about $0.40.
Wan 3.0 API at 480p: $0.05 per second for drafts.
Wan 2.2 locally: free if you have a capable GPU.

Test prompts on the cheapest tier, then spend credits on the final render only after the prompt works.

The Prompt Still Matters More Than the Model

After testing these tools for my own YouTube Shorts and Facebook Reels, the pattern is clear. The gap between the top five models is smaller than the gap between a lazy prompt and a good one. “Funny dog video” gives you a generic clip on every model. A prompt that names the camera, the setting, the light, the action beats and the sounds gives you something people actually watch.

Here is the kind of prompt that works across Veo, Kling, Seedance, Hailuo and Wan:

CCTV security camera footage in a dimly lit alleyway with faint street lighting, featuring a large brown dog and its owner, a young woman in a red jacket. A stranger in a black hoodie approaches, and the dog blocks the path, growling while the owner stands frozen, scared. The dog's fur stands on end as it positions itself firmly between the stranger and owner. Grainy security cam aesthetic, static surveillance, include low growls and footsteps sounds.

It has a camera style, a setting, a light source, specific characters, a clear sequence of action, imperfections that make it believable, and sound cues for models with native audio. The 6-part prompt formula breaks this structure down.

Writing ten of those by hand for every video idea is the slow part. That is why I built LzyPrompt. You type an idea in plain words, like “dog protects owner from stranger,” optionally pick a camera style, shot type, lighting or aesthetic, and get 10 full prompt variations, each with a scene title and a ready-to-post caption. The prompts are plain text, so you paste them into whichever model you picked from this list, and you can export all 10 to CSV for bulk generation. It costs $9 a month or $60 a year, with unlimited prompts. Try LzyPrompt free for 7 days.

Key Takeaways

Sora is gone. The app closed April 26, 2026 and the API ends September 24, 2026.
Best all-round for creators: Kling 3.0 for multi-shot stories and free daily credits, Veo 3.1 for cinematic shots with dialogue.
Rising fast: MiniMax H3, Wan 3.0 and HappyHorse rank at or near the top of blind-vote leaderboards.
Cheapest: Veo 3.1 Lite or Wan 3.0 through the API, or Wan 2.2 locally for free.

Pick one or two models and spend your effort on the prompt. The models will change again in six months. Good prompting habits carry over.