Sora 2 was the AI video app everyone talked about in late 2025. Now it's gone, and millions of people are looking for a Sora alternative that makes realistic video with sound. This guide covers what happened to Sora, the models that replaced it for most creators, what each costs and how to try them, checked on the makers' own pages on 10 November 2026.
Key takeaways
Sora is gone for good: the app closed in April 2026 and the API in September.
For realistic video with sound, Kling 4.0 and Seedance 2.5 make single clips of up to 30 seconds.
For dialogue, Google's new Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash lip-syncs speech.
Free options are small: Dreamina's daily credits, Runway's one-time credits, AITube's first video (free once you save a card).
What happened to Sora?
OpenAI announced on March 24, 2026 that it was shutting Sora down. It did it in two stages: the Sora app and website closed on April 26, and the API on September 24, 2026. OpenAI's deprecations page lists the Videos API and every Sora 2 model as removed on September 24, with no replacement. Users were told to export their videos before the deadlines, after which their data would be permanently deleted.
The best Sora alternatives at a glance
Model (maker) | Longest single clip | Sound | Cheapest way to try it |
|---|---|---|---|
Kling 4.0 (Kuaishou) | 30 s | Stereo | Paid plans from about $10 a month |
Seedance 2.5 (ByteDance) | 30 s | Yes | Dreamina: 120 free credits a day (US) |
Seedance 2.0 (ByteDance) | 15 s | Stereo | Dreamina: 120 free credits a day (US) |
Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash (Google) | 15 s | Yes, lip-synced dialogue | API from $0.07 a second at 720p |
Veo 3.1 (Google) | 8 s, extendable | Yes | Gemini Ultra plan or Google Cloud |
Hailuo H3 (MiniMax) | 15 s | Stereo | API from $0.08 a second |
Wan 3.0 (Alibaba) | 30 s | Yes | API from $0.05 a second at 480p (promotional) |
Runway Gen-4.5 (Runway) | 10 s | Not stated | 125 free credits once |
Luma Ray3.2 (Luma) | 10 s | No | Plans from $30 a month |
The best Sora alternatives, model by model
Kling 4.0: the closest all-rounder
Kuaishou's Kling 4.0 opened to everyone on October 15, 2026. It makes single clips of 3 to 30 seconds with stereo sound, double Kling 3.0's 15 seconds. Kling's free tier has no monthly credits; paid plans started at about $10 a month in Kling's July 2026 price guide. Kling was already a top-five free iPhone app in the US weeks after Sora's shutdown was announced, according to 9to5Mac.
Seedance 2.0 and 2.5: the best value
ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 makes clips of up to 15 seconds with two-channel sound, and Seedance 2.5 up to 30 seconds in one pass. The official free route is Dreamina, which gives US free accounts 120 credits a day; Seedance 2.0 costs 17 Dreamina credits a second at 720p, Seedance 2.5 costs 37. Our Seedance 2.0 guide compares every way to use it.
Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash and Veo 3.1: Google's options
Google released Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash on November 5, 2026: clips of 3 to 15 seconds with lip-synced dialogue, at $0.07 a second at 720p through the Gemini API. It replaced Veo 3.1 on that API, where the Veo 3.1 models shut down on October 22. Veo 3.1 itself is still sold on Google Cloud, making 4 to 8-second clips with sound, and in the Gemini app on Google's AI Ultra plan, from $99.99 a month.
Hailuo H3: long 2K clips, cheap API
MiniMax's Hailuo H3 makes clips of up to 15 seconds at 2K with stereo sound. Its API costs $0.08 a second at 768p and $0.13 at 2K.
Wan 3.0: open roots
Alibaba's Wan 3.0 makes clips of up to 30 seconds with dialogue, music and sound effects. The newest open-weight release is still Wan 2.2, which you can run on your own hardware for free.
Runway Gen-4.5 and Luma Ray3.2: for cinematic shots
Runway's Gen-4.5 makes clips of 2 to 10 seconds; Runway's free plan gives 125 credits once, and Standard costs $15 a month. Luma's Ray3.2 makes 1080p HDR clips of 5 or 10 seconds but no sound, and Luma's plans start at $30 a month.
Use several Sora alternatives in one app
No single model is best at everything, so many creators test a prompt on two or three. AITube's AI Studio runs several of the models above, paid per clip with credits and no subscription needed. These are the credit prices for a 5-second clip on 12 November 2026 (150 credits cost $3):
Model on AITube | Credits per clip |
|---|---|
Kling 4.0 | From 104 |
Hailuo H3 (MiniMax H3) | From 53 |
Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash | From 70 |
Seedance 2.0 Fast | From 53 |
Seedance 2.5 | From 93 |
Kling 3.0 | From 167 |
Hailuo 2.3 | From 38 (6-second clip) |
Veo 3.1 Fast | 120 (6-second clip) |
Runway Gen-4.5 | 80 |
Luma Ray 3.2 | From 20 |
Wan 3 | From 24 |
Save a card (no charge) and your first AI video is free; credits from packs never expire, and a clip that fails costs nothing. We ran the same prompt through Kling 4.0, MiniMax H3 and Gemini Omni in a side-by-side test. What it adds is an audience: you can publish your videos to people who come to watch AI video, enter Prompt Battles and earn from your videos. Full prices are on the pricing page.
Can you still watch Sora videos?
Yes, where creators published them. AITube has more than 620 Sora videos made before the shutdown, and many work as inspiration for prompts on the models above. For Sora 2 prompts that still work on these models, with the clips they made, see our tested list and Secret Prompts, and for the basics, How to Prompt.
Frequently asked questions
Facts and prices were checked on each maker's own pages and in the reporting linked above on 10 November 2026; AI video changes monthly, so check before you buy. To try several Sora alternatives in one place, open AITube's AI Studio.
