Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3) vs Sora (Discontinued)
Which one should you pick? Here's the full breakdown.
Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3)
Tencent's Hy3 Preview launched 2026-04-23 -- 295B total / 21B active MoE, 256K context, open-sourced on HuggingFace under tencent/Hy3-preview. Cheapest frontier-class API at ~1.2 RMB per million input tokens. Integrated into Yuanbao, WeChat, QQ
Sora (Discontinued)
OpenAI's text-to-video model -- consumer web + iOS + Android SHUT DOWN as of 2026-04-26 (sora.com + sora.chatgpt.com return 403). API remains operational for existing API customers until 2026-09-24. See alternatives: Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.0, Runway Gen-4.5
| Category | Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3) | Sora (Discontinued) |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Output Quality | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Value | 9.5 | 1.0 |
| Features | 8.0 | 4.0 |
| Overall | 8.1 | 5.0 |
Pricing Comparison
| Feature | Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3) | Sora (Discontinued) |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Yes | No |
| Starting Price | $0 | N/A |
Which Should You Pick?
Pick Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3) if...
- ✓Better value for money (9.5/10)
- ✓More features (8 vs 4)
- ✓Has a free tier
Chinese-market builders, multilingual products that need strong CN performance, and cost-sensitive developers who want frontier-class quality at sub-DeepSeek pricing. Also anyone watching the open-weights field who wants Tencent's distribution-backed entry on the bench.
Visit Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3)Pick Sora (Discontinued) if...
Historical context only -- the consumer product is shut down as of 2026-04-26. Anyone researching the AI-video space needs to understand why Sora failed: it's a case study in how consumer-pricing + compute economics can kill a product even when the underlying tech is impressive. For a working video generator today, go to Veo 3.1 (best quality, free via Google Vids), Kling 3.0 (best value, free 66 credits/day), Seedance 2.0 (best workflow inside CapCut), or Runway Gen-4.5 (current AA leaderboard #1).
Visit Sora (Discontinued)Our Verdict
Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3) is the clear winner here with 8.1/10 vs 5.0/10. Sora (Discontinued) isn't bad, but Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3) outperforms it across the board. Pick Sora (Discontinued) only if historical context only -- the consumer product is shut down as of 2026-04-26.