What happened to Sora?
OpenAI closed the Sora app and website on 26 April 2026 and the API on 24 September 2026, after announcing the shutdown on 24 March. Creators went looking for replacements in threads such as “Sora is dead, what’s everyone actually using now?”
What did creators switch to?
Four names come up in those threads.
- Seedance 2.5. One creator: “Seedance 2.5 is better than Sora in a lot of ways.”
- MiniMax H3. “I use MiniMax H3”, writes another. A third on cost: “I pay about 25c for 10s of H3 vs $1.30 for seedance.”
- Google Flow, with Veo and Gemini Omni, named in the same threads.
- Kling, whose 4.0 model Kuaishou launched on 15 October 2026.
Not everyone is happy. Another in the same thread wrote: “I cant seem to find any model that handles dialogue as well as sora 2 did.”
How do the alternatives compare?
| Model | Where you use it | Paid plans from, a month | Free option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veo 3.1 and Gemini Omni (Google) | Google Flow, Gemini | Google AI Plus, $4.99 for 200 Flow credits (Google) | 50 credits a day in Flow (Google) |
| Seedance 2.5 (ByteDance) | Dreamina; inside Higgsfield, Luma and Pika (Runway lists Seedance 2.0 Pro) | Higgsfield Plus, $49 for 1,000 credits (Higgsfield) | Daily free credits in Dreamina |
| Kling 3.0 and 4.0 (Kuaishou) | Kling, and inside Runway | $6.99 for the first month, then $8.80, for 660 credits (Kling) | Basic: watermarked, no commercial use |
| MiniMax H3 | Hailuo, MiniMax API | API from $0.08 a second at 768p ($0.13 at 2K); H3-Lite from $0.025 (MiniMax) | Reported: a small watermarked free pool |
| Gen-4.5 (Runway) | Runway | $12 billed yearly, $15 monthly, for 625 credits (Runway) | 125 credits, once |
| Ray3.2 (Luma) | Luma | $30 for 10,000 credits (Luma) | No free plan listed |
| Wan 3.0 (Alibaba) | Alibaba Cloud API; also inside Pika | API from $0.05 a second at 480p; Pika Starter, $10 (Pika) | 3.0 has no open weights; the older Wan 2.2 is free to run yourself |
Prices change often, sometimes in the middle of a plan. One creator saw the same Dreamina generation go from 255 credits to 825 overnight, so check the price on the day you buy.
Which one should you choose?
- People talking on screen: test Veo in Google Flow first, since it generates speech and sound with the video (the Kalshi NBA Finals ad was made with Veo 3). Plan to fix or replace voices on longer lines.
- Cinematic motion and action: start with Seedance 2.5 and Kling.
- A tight budget: MiniMax H3-Lite and Wan 3.0 had the lowest API prices we checked, and Google’s daily Flow credits cost nothing.
- One subscription for many models: Higgsfield, Runway, Luma and Pika each run several of these models in one plan, at different credit rates.
Whatever you pick, budget for retries, which matter more than the sticker price. One creator estimates 5 to 15 generations per usable clip, another 2 to 6. The AI video tool prices calculator works out what that costs.
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Is Sora shut down?
Yes. OpenAI ended the Sora app and website on 26 April 2026 and the Sora API on 24 September 2026, after announcing the shutdown on 24 March 2026.
What is the best free Sora alternative?
Google Flow gives 50 free credits a day without a subscription, Runway gives 125 credits once and Kling has a free Basic plan. Higgsfield's free plan includes no video. Kling's free plan adds a watermark and does not allow commercial use, so check the terms before you post client work.
Which Sora alternative is best for dialogue?
One creator says no model handles dialogue as well as Sora 2 did. Google's Veo generates speech and sound with the video, so it is a good first test; try your own lines in two or three tools before you commit, and add voices separately when lip sync matters.
What is the cheapest Sora alternative per second?
On published API prices, MiniMax H3-Lite is listed from $0.025 a second at 480p (H3 from $0.08 at 768p) and Wan 3.0 from $0.05 at 480p. One creator reports paying about 25 cents for 10 seconds of H3 against $1.30 for Seedance.
How we checked this
The Sora dates are from OpenAI's own help article, and the Kling 4.0 date from Kuaishou's release. We read each tool's pricing page on 29 October 2026; Kling's prices are from its own credit guide (28 July 2026) and Higgsfield's from its own pricing post (October 2026). A second, independent check re-read these sources the same day, and its corrections are applied, including that Wan 3.0 has no open weights. Wan 3.0's API price is from Alibaba Cloud's blog, and MiniMax's free pool is a third-party report, so the table marks it as reported. Which tools creators moved to comes from Reddit threads; each quote is one person's first-hand report. If something has changed, tell us on WhatsApp and we will update this page.
Sources
- OpenAI: help article on the Sora discontinuation: app and website ended 26 April 2026, API 24 September 2026
- Reddit, r/generativeAI: the thread 'Sora is dead, what's everyone actually using now?', 2 April 2026
- Reddit, r/SoraAi: creators on Seedance 2.5 and on dialogue after Sora 2, 17 October 2026
- Reddit, r/SoraAi: a creator who moved to MiniMax H3, 24 September 2026
- Reddit, r/Seedance_AI: one creator on the cost of H3 against Seedance, 23 October 2026
- Kuaishou: investor release on the Kling 4.0 launch, 16 October 2026
- Google: Google AI plans and their monthly Flow credits
- Google: Flow help page: 50 free credits a day without a subscription
- Higgsfield: pricing post, plans and credits, October 2026
- Kling: Kling 3.0 credit cost guide, plan prices and credits, 28 July 2026
- MiniMax: API pay-as-you-go pricing for H3 and H3-Lite
- Runway: pricing page, plans and credits
- Luma: pricing page, plans and credits
- Pika: pricing page, Starter plan
- Reddit, r/generativeAI: one creator on a Dreamina credit cost rising from 255 to 825
- Reddit, r/generativeAI: one creator on 5 to 15 generations per usable clip, 27 April 2026
- Reddit, r/HiggsfieldAI: one creator on 2 to 6 re-generations, 24 April 2026