Sora (Discontinued)
D Tier · 5.0/10
OpenAI's text-to-video model -- consumer web + iOS + Android SHUT DOWN as of 2026-04-26 (sora.com + sora.chatgpt.com return 403). The API followed: Sora 2 models and the Videos API were shut down on 2026-09-24 -- the API shutdown executed on schedule, and OpenAI states there is no one-to-one replacement API. See alternatives: Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.0, Runway Gen-4.5
Score Breakdown
The Good and the Bad
What we like
- +Visual quality and physical realism were among the best in AI video during the product's brief run -- motion and lighting looked natural, and Sora 2 storyboard mode introduced several ideas competitors adopted
- +Understood spatial relationships and physics better than its 2024 contemporaries -- objects interacted more believably than in Runway Gen-2 or Kling 1.x of the same era
- +Sora's research informed the entire AI-video field -- multi-shot coherence, character consistency, and extended-duration generation were problems Sora helped define benchmarks for
- +Integrated into ChatGPT while it lasted -- users didn't need a separate platform or account to try it
What could be better
- −DISCONTINUED -- OpenAI shut down the consumer Sora web + iOS + Android experiences on 2026-04-26 after approximately six months of public availability. Both sora.com and sora.chatgpt.com now return HTTP 403. The API was shut down on 2026-09-24 as scheduled -- no one-to-one replacement
- −No free tier ever existed -- $20/month ChatGPT Plus minimum, and the 50-video limit was tight for casual use, which contributed to low adoption
- −The $200/month ChatGPT Pro requirement for full features (longer clips, no watermark) priced out the hobbyist market that Kling and Pika captured instead
- −Per TechCrunch and WSJ reporting: Sora was a 'money pit that nobody was using.' Peak worldwide users were around 1 million, then collapsed to fewer than 500,000. Daily compute burn was roughly 1 million USD per day. Video generation's chip-level compute cost drove the decision, freeing capacity for higher-priority OpenAI work. Disney's planned 1 billion USD partnership terminated alongside the product
Pricing
DISCONTINUED (consumer)
- ✓OpenAI announced shutdown on 2026-03-24
- ✓Sora web and app SHUT DOWN 2026-04-26 (today) -- sora.com + sora.chatgpt.com confirmed returning HTTP 403
- ✓Sora 2 models and the Videos API SHUT DOWN 2026-09-24 (confirmed on OpenAI's sora-2 model page 2026-09-28: 'no longer available', 'no one-to-one replacement API')
- ✓Sora 1 was unavailable in the US since 2026-03-13
- ✓Generated-video exports were available until 2026-04-26 at sora.chatgpt.com/exports/me
Alternatives (recommended)
- ✓Google Veo 3.1 -- free via Google Vids, best quality + audio (see /tools/veo)
- ✓Kling 3.0 -- free 66 credits/day, native 4K (see /tools/kling-ai)
- ✓Seedance 2.0 (CapCut) -- $9.99/mo, unified A/V, Identity Lock (see /tools/seedance)
- ✓Runway Gen-3 -- pro-grade cinematic tool (see /tools/runway)
Known Issues
- DATED FLIP EXECUTED -- SORA 2 MODELS AND THE VIDEOS API SHUT DOWN ON 2026-09-24, NO REPLACEMENT (verified 2026-09-28, vendor-primary): OpenAI's model page for `sora-2` now reads: 'The Sora 2 models and Videos API were shut down on September 24, 2026 and are no longer available. There is no one-to-one replacement API.' The deprecations document still lists the six rows (`Videos API`, `sora-2`, `sora-2-pro`, `sora-2-2025-10-06`, `sora-2-2025-12-08`, `sora-2-pro-2025-10-06`) under the 2026-03-24 notice with shutdown date 2026-09-24 and replacement '---'; as of 9/28 that section had not yet been moved to 'Past deprecations', so the model page is the primary confirmation of execution. This closes the last live Sora surface: consumer web and apps ended 2026-04-26, the API ended 2026-09-24, six months apart exactly as announced on 2026-03-24. For developers who were still calling the Videos API, OpenAI names no successor; the on-site alternatives below (Veo 3.1 / Omni 1.1 via Vertex AI and Google Vids, Kling, Seedance, Runway) are the practical migration paths.Source: OpenAI API docs (developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/sora-2.md -- 'shut down on September 24, 2026'; platform.openai.com/docs/deprecations.md -- rows still under the 2026-03-24 notice) -- fetched 2026-09-28 via curl with browser UA · 2026-09-24
- T-0 CONFIRMED 2026-04-26: the Sora consumer experience is dead as of today. sora.com and sora.chatgpt.com both return HTTP 403, the iOS and Android apps were pulled, and OpenAI's help center confirms 'sora.com, the iOS app, and the Android app are discontinued April 26, 2026.' No 11th-hour delay or extension. The user-facing product is gone -- only the API remains, and only for existing API customers until 2026-09-24. Anyone Googling 'sora alternatives' or 'sora replacement' today should be redirected to Veo 3.1 (free via Google Vids), Kling 3.0 (free 66 credits/day), or Runway Gen-4.5 (current AA leaderboard #1 at 1247 Elo)Source: OpenAI Help Center: Sora discontinuation, The Decoder, direct curl on sora.com/sora.chatgpt.com (HTTP 403, verified 2026-04-26) · 2026-04-26
- OpenAI announced the discontinuation on 2026-03-24, gave users one month to export their videos via sora.chatgpt.com/exports/me, and held the line on the date despite pushback. The export window closed alongside the consumer shutdown today. OpenAI cited unsustainable compute costs (~$1M/day), low adoption (<500K MAU at end of life from a peak ~1M), and a strategic pivot to enterprise AISource: OpenAI Help Center, CNN, TechCrunch, Variety · 2026-03
- Disney, which was reportedly committing $1 billion to a Sora partnership, learned of the shutdown less than an hour before the public announcement. The deal had not formally closed so no money changed hands, but the trust signal was bad for OpenAI's enterprise pitchSource: Variety, WSJ · 2026-03
- During its active period: characters sometimes changed appearance between cuts when generating multi-scene videos with storyboard mode, and generation queue times exceeded 10 minutes during peak hours for Plus subscribersSource: Reddit r/OpenAI · 2026-03
Best for
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).
Not for
Any new project. The consumer experience is gone (HTTP 403 confirmed 2026-04-26) and the API was shut down on 2026-09-24. For any new AI video project pick one of the alternatives above.
Our Verdict
Sora is now a cautionary tale rather than a product recommendation. OpenAI announced the consumer shutdown on 2026-03-24 and held the line: as of 2026-04-26, sora.com and sora.chatgpt.com both return HTTP 403 and the iOS + Android apps are pulled. The API was shut down on 2026-09-24, on schedule, with no replacement API. The WSJ's investigation produced the numbers that drove the decision -- peak ~1 million worldwide users that collapsed to fewer than 500,000, while the product burned through roughly $1 million per day in compute. Video generation was consuming finite AI chip capacity that OpenAI chose to redirect to higher-priority work. The underlying video tech was genuinely strong -- physical realism and multi-shot coherence were state of the art when Sora launched -- but the $20-and-up pricing with tight limits never found a viable consumer market, and Disney's $1 billion partnership terminated alongside the product (Disney learned less than an hour before the public announcement). If you were a Sora user, this is your pointer to the actual working 2026 video tools: Veo 3.1 for quality (free tier now), Kling 3.0 for budget-conscious creators, Seedance 2.0 for short-form social workflows inside CapCut, Runway Gen-4.5 for cinematic work.
Sources
- OpenAI API docs: Sora 2 model page -- 'shut down on September 24, 2026 and are no longer available', no one-to-one replacement (fetched 2026-09-28) (accessed 2026-09-28)
- OpenAI API docs: Deprecations -- 2026-03-24 Sora 2 / Videos API notice with 2026-09-24 shutdown rows (fetched 2026-09-28) (accessed 2026-09-28)
- OpenAI Help Center: Sora discontinuation (T-0 confirmed 2026-04-26) (accessed 2026-04-26)
- The Decoder: Two-stage Sora shutdown (accessed 2026-04-26)
- Direct curl confirmation -- sora.com + sora.chatgpt.com both return HTTP 403 on 2026-04-26 (accessed 2026-04-26)
- OpenAI Help Center: Sora 1 Sunset FAQ (accessed 2026-04-16)
- TechCrunch: Why OpenAI really shut down Sora (accessed 2026-04-16)
- CNN Business: OpenAI is shutting down its Sora video app (accessed 2026-04-16)
- Variety: OpenAI Will Shut Down Sora; Disney Drops $1 Billion Investment (accessed 2026-04-16)
- Wikipedia: Sora (text-to-video model) (accessed 2026-04-16)
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Alternatives to Sora (Discontinued)
Runway
**Praxis-1 (announced 2026-09-30): Runway's first open-weight world action model for robots, built on the same video pretraining as its world models -- in testing with Noble Machines, Standard Bots and Ultra, public release and weights 'in the coming months', not a video product.** **GWM Worlds 2 (research preview, 2026-09-03)**: real-time interactive worlds at 720p/24fps with 48 kHz generated audio, steered by text actions to any subject or the scene -- not in the product yet. Runway Gen-4.5 (shipped 2025-12-01) -- #1 on Artificial Analysis text-to-video leaderboard at 1,247 Elo. **GWM-1 (General World Model family) announced May 2026** for Worlds / Avatars / Robotics, built on Gen-4.5. Gen-4.5 also gained **native audio generation + native audio editing** (May 2026). Gen-4 Turbo supports native 4K. The most capable professional AI video generator available in 2026
Pika
**Nov 2026: Pika relaunched as a multi-model creative platform with new Free, Starter, Creator and Fancy plans.** AI video, image and audio generator running Pika's own models (Pika H3 Flex with open weights from 2026-10-29, Pika 2.5, Pika audio models) alongside Seedance, Kling, Veo, Wan and MiniMax. Starter $10/mo, Creator $35/mo, Fancy from $95/mo; Free has no watermark but no monthly credits
HeyGen
**Nov 2026: HeyGen now ships its own models -- HeyGen Video (2026-09-30) and HeyGen Voice (2026-10-09) -- and Creator and Pro credits now roll over, with Creator $29, Pro $49+ and Business $149 unchanged.** AI avatar videos for marketing and sales -- like Synthesia but with better lip-sync and more personality
Kling AI
Kuaishou's AI video generator, now at kling.ai, with a free tier that punches above its price point -- Kling 4.0 (rolled out to all users 2026-10-15) adds native 30s generation, Omni reference, and multiple keyframes, building on Kling 3.0 (Feb 5 2026; 15s clips with native audio) and native 4K video (added 2026-04-23)
Google Veo 3.1
**Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash went generally available on 2026-11-05, the first GA Omni model: native 15-second clips (up from 10), multi-turn conversational editing across the whole clip and up to six reference images, at about $0.07 per second of 720p video in the Gemini API, 30% below Omni 1.1 Flash. Calls to gemini-omni-1.1-flash route to 1.2 from 2026-12-03, and from the same day Google Vids runs on Omni 1.2 Flash, giving anyone with a Google account up to three free 15-second videos a month.** Google's AI video stack -- Veo 3.1 (native 4K at 60fps with synchronized audio) plus the newer Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash, which from **2026-09-23 generates free 1080p scenes for any Google account inside Google Vids** (extend scenes, set exact clip durations, upscale, templates, SynthID watermark) after landing in Google Flow on 8/27. Also 9/23: **Google Flow Tools** -- describe a workflow and Flow builds a reusable custom tool; six creator-built tools shipped (ambient sound and foley stems, multilingual captions, social thumbnails, architectural textures, animated collages, Swiss-style motion graphics), each duplicable and remixable.
Luma Dream Machine
Fast AI video generator with its own Ray3.2 model (June 2026: 16 keyframes, HDR/EXR, 20s 1080p clips) plus access to Veo 3 and Kling in one interface
Captions
AI video editor with auto captions, eye contact correction, and dubbing for talking-head content
Opus Clip
AI tool that automatically turns long videos into viral short clips for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts
InVideo AI
Turn text prompts into fully edited videos with stock footage, voiceover, and music
Pictory
Turn scripts, articles, and blog posts into short videos automatically using AI
Seedance 2.5 (ByteDance)
ByteDance's unified audio and video generator. Seedance 2.5 (2026-07-31) makes 30-second clips with synchronized audio in a single pass, extends them over multiple rounds and accepts up to 30 images, 10 video clips and 10 audio clips as references. Its API is live on BytePlus ModelArk at $1.156 per 5-second 720p clip, and Dreamina now offers it to US visitors. Seedance 2.0, 2.0 Fast and 2.0 Mini remain on the API, with 4K only on 2.0