Top 10 AI Video Tools in 2026: Comparison, Pricing and Free Plans

As of Sept. 25, 2026, Google Flow leads this comparison: its Gemini Omni Flash model tops the public leaderboards for video with audio, and Flow gives you 50 free credits a day, then $4.99 a month. Hailuo and Wan follow closely at a moderate price ($10.50 a month on promotion and $6.50 a month, with shots up to 30 seconds). Seedance and Kling suit scenes with several characters or products, while Runway and Luma are built for editing shots and delivering in HDR. The comparison table brings together the prices listed on the official pages, the free plans and the main catch for each tool.

Looking for something else?

• A talking avatar on camera: the HeyGen and Synthesia profiles, or the HeyGen alternatives.
• A UGC-style ad, with an AI actor presenting your product: the comparison of AI UGC ad generators.
• Captioned shorts cut from a long video: the OpusClip alternatives.
• Dubbing a video into another language: the guide to AI dubbing software.
• A voice-over without paying: the comparison of free AI voice generators.

These ten generators turn a text prompt, an image or a set of references into a clip, usually with sound. A lot has changed since the April 2025 version of this guide. Two tools from that list are gone, native audio is now standard at the top of the leaderboards, and several platforms resell their competitors’ models alongside their own. Avatars, captions and dubbing are covered at the end.

How we chose

We combined three sources, all checked Sept. 25, 2026:

• Public leaderboards: Artificial Analysis (text-to-video, plus an image-to-video leaderboard) and Arena (formerly LMArena). On both, people vote blind between two short clips generated from the same prompt. They measure perceived quality, not price or ease of use.
• Official pages: product announcements for features, pricing pages for prices and free plans. We read them from France. When a site localizes its prices (Google, Adobe, LTX Studio), we quote the price it shows for the United States. Hailuo, Wan, Kling, Runway, Luma, PixVerse and Vidu showed us prices in U.S. dollars; Dreamina only showed us euros.
• Access and restrictions: regional limits and age requirements when the company publishes them, and what the free plan actually includes.

When something couldn’t be verified, we say so.

The order follows the leaderboards, then accessibility. Hailuo comes ahead of Wan, which ranks higher in text-to-video, because it beats Wan in image-to-video with audio. Runway and Luma come ahead of PixVerse for their professional tools (editing existing footage, HDR).

Génie Artificiel is funded by affiliate commissions, and every affiliate link is labeled as such right next to it. The ranking was set on Sept. 25, 2026, when none of the ten tools had an affiliate link. Since then, PixVerse (No. 8, on Oct. 13, 2026) and Hailuo AI (No. 2, on Oct. 15, 2026) have gained one; their rank and assessment haven’t changed.

Tools we left out

• Adobe Firefly gives access to more than 30 partner models (Kling, Veo, Gemini Omni Flash…) and plugs into Premiere, but its in-house model doesn’t appear on any leaderboard, and Firefly Standard ($9.99/month in the U.S.) only covers up to 20 five-second videos a month (Firefly plans, checked Sept. 25, 2026).
• Grok Imagine (xAI) ranks well (8th on Artificial Analysis in image-to-video with audio, provisionally 4th on Arena), but its plans page showed no prices without an account when we checked from France (Sept. 25, 2026), and in January 2026 the European Commission opened an investigation into X after sexualized deepfakes generated by Grok were shared there (The Register).
• Midjourney only animates images, with a video model launched in June 2025, in SD or HD depending on the plan (Midjourney plans, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

1. Google Flow – top-ranked, with free daily credits

Flow, the AI filmmaking studio Google launched in May 2025, gives access to Veo 3.1 (Quality, Fast and Lite) and to Gemini Omni Flash, unveiled May 19, 2026 (Google announcement). Omni Flash is also available in Gemini with a subscription.

What it does. Text, image, audio or video in, video with sound out. You can then edit the clip conversationally, extend a scene, add reference images (“ingredients”) or lock the first and last frames. Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash, unveiled Aug. 27, 2026, adds extensions up to 40 seconds and 4K output (Google post).

Who it’s for. Anyone who wants the best measured quality without a big budget, or who would rather fix a shot in plain English than regenerate it from scratch.

Strengths

• Gemini Omni Flash ranks 1st on Artificial Analysis in text-to-video with audio, and the two versions of Omni Flash hold the top two spots on Arena.
• A free daily quota, and an entry plan under $5 a month in the U.S.

Limitations

• Credits come in layers: a daily quota, then monthly credits depending on your plan.
• Adults only (18+). Editing uploaded videos and avatars aren’t available in the EEA, Switzerland or the U.K. (Flow availability, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Free plan. 50 credits a day, which don’t roll over. A Veo 3.1 Lite clip costs 10 credits, a Fast clip 20 and an 8-second 720p Omni Flash clip 12 (Flow credits, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Google contradicts itself on Omni Flash: the announcement reserves it for subscribers in Flow, while the models help page opens it to everyone. Google Vids also offers 10 Veo 3.1 generations a month (Google blog).

Starting price. Google AI Plus costs $4.99/month in the U.S. and includes Omni Flash in Gemini and Flow, plus 200 extra Flow credits a month. Google AI Pro costs $19.99/month, with 1,000 extra credits (Google AI plans and Flow credits, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

2. Hailuo AI – near the top for less

Hailuo AI commission is MiniMax’s video app (Hailuo AI guide). Its MiniMax H3 model (also called Hailuo 3.0) was released July 31, 2026 (MiniMax blog).

What it does. Text, images, video and audio in (up to 12 references), video with native stereo sound out, up to 15 seconds in 2K, plus video editing. The app also offers Hailuo 2.3 and Veo 3.1.

Who it’s for. Creators who want near-top quality for about $10 a month.

Strengths

• Consistently near the top of Artificial Analysis: 4th in text-to-video with audio, 3rd without audio, and 2nd in image-to-video with audio.
• MiniMax has announced that it will release the model’s weights.

Limitations

• Displayed prices are promotional (30% off on monthly billing), and free videos are watermarked.
• Sora 2 is still listed even though OpenAI shut down its API on Sept. 24, 2026.

Free plan. Sign-up credits that expire three days after they’re granted, and watermarked downloads (terms, checked Sept. 25, 2026). We couldn’t verify how many credits you get.

Starting price. Standard has a list price of $14.99/month, shown at $10.50/month billed monthly or $8.40/month billed annually ($100.80/year). It includes 1,000 credits, or roughly 84 seconds of H3 in 2K (Hailuo plans, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

3. Wan – 30-second shots on a budget

Wan is Alibaba’s video generator. Wan 3.0 has been available since August 2026 (Alibaba Cloud blog).

What it does. Up to 30 seconds in a single pass, from text, images, audio, video or even documents (PDF, PowerPoint). It accepts up to 20 references, edits video and supports first and last frames (Wan 3.0 documentation).

Who it’s for. Anyone who wants long shots and top-tier quality on one of the cheapest plans in this guide.

Strengths

• 2nd on Artificial Analysis in text-to-video with audio and 1st without audio; 6th on Arena.
• 30 seconds in one take, versus 15 for MiniMax H3 and 16 for Vidu Q3.

Limitations

• 1080p and clips of 10 to 30 seconds are for subscribers only.
• The model is very recent and has had little independent testing so far.

Free plan. Credits you collect by logging in each day, one video at a time, with a watermark (Wan pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Starting price. Pro costs $6.50/month billed monthly (crossed-out price: $10) or $5/month billed annually. It includes 300 credits a month, 1080p and no watermark (Wan pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

4. Seedance (Dreamina) – scenes built from many references

Seedance is the video model from ByteDance, the company behind TikTok and CapCut. You use it in Dreamina, CapCut’s creative app, and in CapCut itself. Seedance 2.0 reached the U.S. on April 7, 2026 (CapCut announcement), and Seedance 2.5 was announced on July 31, 2026 (Seedance 2.5 announcement).

What it does. Text, image, video or audio in, video with sound out. Seedance 2.5 adds clips up to 30 seconds and up to 50 references per clip (images, video, audio, text). It can also edit a single moment or character without redoing the whole clip.

Who it’s for. Narrative and ad scenes that have to follow many references, and CapCut users.

Strengths

• Seedance 2.0 is 5th on Artificial Analysis in text-to-video with audio, with the largest vote count near the top of that leaderboard (more than 20,000). It is also 5th on Arena, where Seedance 2.5 is 7th.
• Seedance 2.0 has been available in the U.S. since April 2026.

Limitations

• Seedance 2.5 is limited to subscribers over 16. CapCut’s announcement lists Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America for it, but not the U.S. The same post does include the U.S. for Seedream 5.0 Pro. We couldn’t check from the U.S. whether Seedance 2.5 has arrived there since.
• It has faced a copyright dispute: Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter on Feb. 13, 2026 (Axios), and ByteDance then announced safeguards (CNBC).

Free plan. Dreamina advertises a free plan with credits but doesn’t publish the amount (Dreamina pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Starting price. Basic costs €13.99/month at full price for 1,361 credits, or about 19 ten-second videos according to the page. The first month costs €1.39 (card or PayPal) for subscriptions started by Oct. 9, 2026. These are the prices we saw from France, where the page only showed euros (Dreamina pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

5. Kling AI – realism and character control

October 16, 2026 update. Kling 4.0 has been available to everyone since Oct. 15, 2026 (official release note): clips up to 30 seconds, 10 credits per second at 720p and 15 at 1080p, sound included (details on our Kling AI pricing page). The section and leaderboard positions below still cover Kling 3.0, checked September 25. See where to use Kling and Hailuo for access details and platforms.

Kling AI is developed by the Chinese video platform Kuaishou and has moved from klingai.com to kling.ai. Kling 3.0 and 3.0 Omni came out in early February 2026 (Kuaishou press release).

What it does. Video from text or an image with synced sound, up to 15 seconds. It offers multi-shot storyboards and “Elements” to keep the same characters and objects from shot to shot. Motion Control reproduces a filmed movement, and the tool also offers native 4K and video extension (Kling plans).

Who it’s for. Creators who want realism and consistent characters at a low entry price.

Strengths

• A very complete set of control tools.
• Kling models are offered by at least six competing platforms: Runway, Luma, Adobe Firefly, Higgsfield, LTX Studio and PixVerse.

Limitations

• Kling 3.0 is only 12th on Artificial Analysis in text-to-video, with or without audio, and doesn’t appear on Arena. By contrast, Kling 2.5 Turbo reached 1st place on Artificial Analysis in October 2025, according to a Kling press release carried by Barchart.
• The entry price is a first-month promotion. 1080p, 4K and video extension are for subscribers only.

Free plan. The FAQ on the plans page promises monthly credits to non-subscribers, valid for 31 days, without saying how many. Free videos are watermarked (Kling plans, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Starting price. Standard costs $6.99 for the first month (one time only), then $8.80/month (list price: $10), for 660 credits a month (Kling plans, checked Sept. 25, 2026 from France). Every plan and the cost of a clip by resolution and sound are broken down on our Kling AI pricing page. At 720p and for the same price, Standard bought 165 seconds of silent Kling 1.5 video in December 2024, 110 seconds of silent Kling 3.0 on Oct. 5, 2026, and 66 seconds of Kling 4.0, sound included, on Oct. 16, 2026 (AI video pricing since 2024).

6. Runway – generate and edit in one place

Runway (formerly runwayml.com) pairs its Gen-4.5 model (December 2025) with Aleph 2.0 for video editing and Ruby for HDR conversion (changelog). Depending on the plan, it also includes Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.0 and 2.5, and Wan 3.0.

What it does. It generates video from text or an image, and edits existing footage from a modified frame. It also converts to HDR and creates music, voices and sound effects. Plugins are available for Premiere Pro, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve on paid plans.

Who it’s for. Editors who want to generate and edit shots in the same tool.

Strengths

• It edits existing footage (Aleph 2.0) and converts it to HDR with Ruby. HDR conversion is limited to the Max plan ($95/month billed monthly, Runway pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).
• Kling, Seedance and Wan are included in paid plans.

Limitations

• Gen-4.5 is only 19th on Artificial Analysis in text-to-video without audio, and it doesn’t appear on the with-audio leaderboard.
• Credits go fast: 625 credits buy 52 seconds of Gen-4.5, versus 125 seconds of Gen-2 in May 2024; the older Gen-4 Turbo gives 104 (125 before June 2026) (AI video pricing since 2024).

Free plan. 125 credits, granted once and not renewed (Runway pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Starting price. Standard costs $15/month billed monthly or $12/month billed annually, for 625 credits a month and no watermark (Runway pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026). See also our Runway overview.

7. Luma AI – frame-level control and HDR

Luma AI no longer uses the Dream Machine name, which its official information page describes as a former model replaced by Ray. The app is now simply called Luma. Its current video model, Ray3.2, was released June 9, 2026 (Luma announcement).

What it does. Text, image or video to video, with up to 16 keyframes per clip and performance tracking for up to 8 faces. It offers native HDR with 16-bit EXR export, and clips up to 20 seconds in 1080p. The subscription also includes Seedance, Kling 3.0, Veo 3.1, MiniMax H3 and Gemini Omni Flash.

Who it’s for. Advertising and VFX professionals who want to direct every frame and deliver in HDR.

Strengths

• Fine control and professional-grade HDR export.
• Several top-ranked third-party models (Gemini Omni Flash, MiniMax H3, Seedance) in a single tool.

Limitations

• Its own models lag behind: Ray 3 (2025) is 32nd on Artificial Analysis without audio, and Ray3.2 isn’t listed.
• A complicated credit system.

Free plan. The pricing page lists no free plan. The official information page mentions trial credits, without an amount (checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Starting price. Plus costs $30/month billed monthly (up to 20% less billed annually) and includes 10,000 credits. Five seconds of Ray3.2 in 1080p cost 400 credits in SDR, and two to three times more in HDR. That works out to about 2 minutes of SDR video a month (Luma pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

8. PixVerse – free credits every day

PixVerse commission targets short-form social video. Its PixVerse V6 model was released March 30, 2026 (PixVerse press release). From the Pro plan up, the platform also offers Seedance 2.5, Kling O3, MiniMax H3, Wan 3.0 and Gemini Omni Flash.

What it does. Video from text or an image with native sound, camera controls and multiple shots. It comes with plenty of ready-made effects and a preview mode that costs fewer credits.

Who it’s for. Short-form creators who want a free quota that renews every day.

Strengths

• 5th on Artificial Analysis in image-to-video without audio.
• A free quota that renews daily, and paid plans add daily bonus credits too.

Limitations

• Only 21st in text-to-video with audio.
• The Standard plan is capped at 720p. 1080p, 4K and third-party models start with Pro ($30/month billed monthly).

Free plan. 60 credits at sign-up, then 30 credits a day (PixVerse plans, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Starting price. Standard costs $10/month billed monthly or $8/month billed annually ($96/year). It includes 1,200 credits every 30 days plus 60 a day, with no watermark (PixVerse plans, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Use cases, prompts, plans and the commercial-use catch are covered on our PixVerse page.

9. Vidu – recurring characters and anime

Vidu is developed by ShengShu Technology with Tsinghua University. Vidu Q3 (January 2026) generates picture and sound together, up to 16 seconds in 1080p. It gained a reference-to-video mode in April 2026 (ShengShu press release).

What it does. Video from text, an image or several reference images that keep the same character or setting. It adds native sound and offers ready-made templates.

Who it’s for. Short series and anime that need consistent characters, on a small budget.

Strengths

• A reference-to-video mode designed for consistency.
• Native sound and ready-made templates.

Limitations

• Outside the top 10 on the leaderboards: 19th on Artificial Analysis in text-to-video with audio, 13th without audio.
• An unclear free plan.

Free plan. The FAQ promises trial credits at sign-up and daily login credits, without giving numbers, but the Free plan shows no monthly credits (Vidu pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Starting price. Standard costs $10/month billed monthly or $8/month billed annually ($96/year), for 800 credits a month (Vidu pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Vidu has announced changes to its plans on Oct. 6, 2026, so these prices may change.

10. LTX Studio – storyboards and an open model

LTX Studio (formerly ltx.studio) is Lightricks’ pre-production platform. Its LTX-2.5 model, released Aug. 11, 2026, is published with open weights (Hugging Face). It is free to use for organizations with less than $10 million in annual revenue.

What it does. Storyboards, pitch decks, image and video generation, audio-to-video and automations. Depending on the plan, it also gives access to Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Seedance 2.0. You can run the LTX model on your own machine (ComfyUI).

Who it’s for. Screenwriters, agencies and filmmakers preparing storyboards and mockups, and developers who want an open model.

Strengths

• Tools built for pre-production.
• One of the best-ranked open-weights models (16th on Artificial Analysis without audio).

Limitations

• The in-house model trails the leaders: 25th in text-to-video with audio.
• The Free and Lite plans don’t include a commercial license.

Free plan. 800 credits, granted once, for personal use only (LTX Studio pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Starting price. Lite costs $15/month billed monthly or $12/month billed annually ($144/year), for 8,000 credits a month. The commercial license starts with Standard, at $35/month or $28/month billed annually (LTX Studio pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Comparison table

Prices checked Sept. 25, 2026 on the official pages (links in each section), billed monthly unless noted.

What about avatars, editing or short clips?

The generators above create shots from scratch. To edit existing footage, see Runway above. For other needs, these tools are a better fit (official pages checked Sept. 25, 2026). All our video tool profiles are grouped by task on the AI video tools page.

• A talking avatar on camera. Synthesia turns a script into training videos in 140+ languages and voices (pricing page, checked Oct. 7, 2026). Its free plan allows up to 10 minutes a month, but downloading requires the Starter plan (pricing). See our tutorial on making an educational video with Synthesia and ChatGPT. HeyGen focuses on realistic avatars and translation with lip sync. Its free plan gives you 3 videos a month, up to one minute each, with a watermark (pricing). Colossyan targets e-learning, with interactive videos and SCORM export (from the Professional plan).
• A video from a script or article. Fliki creates videos with voice-over in more than 80 languages; free exports are limited to one minute in 720p, with a watermark. Zebracat turns an article into a short video, but its pricing page contradicts itself about the free plan.
• Editing, captions and short clips. invideo AI edits your own footage: you describe the edit in plain English, and an agent carries it out on a timeline you can then adjust by hand. SendShort adds captions to long videos and cuts them into shorts, with clipping included from the $29-a-month Professional plan (pricing, checked Oct. 7, 2026). Submagic adds animated captions and B-roll. OpusClip cuts podcasts and YouTube videos into clips. Its free plan includes 60 processing minutes a month, with a watermark and clips exportable for 3 days, according to both the pricing page and the help center (checked Oct. 7, 2026).
• Dubbing or translation. ElevenLabs dubs videos into 90+ languages and clones voices from the Starter plan. Its pricing page doesn’t list dubbing on the free plan and reserves Dubbing Studio for Starter and up, while its documentation mentions watermarked dubs for free accounts (checked Sept. 26, 2026). See our tutorial on creating realistic AI voices. Rask AI and Vozo translate and dub videos with lip sync.

What changed since 2025

Here’s what happened to the tools in the April 2025 version of this guide (checked Sept. 25, 2026):

• Sora (OpenAI) has shut down: the app closed on April 26, 2026 and the API on Sept. 24, 2026 (OpenAI help). Our article on Sora’s debut is now of historical interest only.
• Haiper can no longer be used. Its site only shows a logo, and Microsoft hired its two co-founders in March 2025 (Sifted).
• Moonvalley is off the list. Reka took on 50 of its researchers and engineers in June 2026 (Reka), and no pricing is published.
• Pika is off the list. It has become a showcase for competing models and no longer offers free monthly credits (Pika pricing). Pika 2.5 is only 53rd on Artificial Analysis in text-to-video without audio.
• Higgsfield is off the list. It resells third-party models (Kling, Seedance…) without a ranked video model of its own, and it faces complaints about its “unlimited” plans (WION).
• Kling, Luma, Runway, Hailuo and Vidu stay on the list with new models: Kling 1.6 → 3.0, Luma Ray 2 → Ray3.2, Runway Gen-3 → Gen-4.5, Hailuo → MiniMax H3 and Vidu → Vidu Q3.

Two trends stand out. Sound generated along with the picture is now standard at the top of the leaderboards. And many tools (Runway, Luma, LTX Studio, PixVerse, Adobe Firefly…) resell Kling, Seedance or Veo next to their own models.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI video tool is free?

None is completely free, but three tools in this guide renew a quota every day: Google Flow (50 credits, or up to 5 Veo 3.1 Lite clips), PixVerse (30 credits) and Wan. Vidu also promises daily login credits and Kling monthly credits, but neither publishes the amount. Runway (125 credits) and LTX Studio (800) only give a one-time allowance. Free videos are watermarked on Kling, Hailuo and Wan.

What is the best AI video generator in 2026?

On the public leaderboards as of Sept. 25, 2026, Google’s Gemini Omni Flash (in Flow and Gemini) leads for video with audio. It is closely followed by Wan 3.0 (1st without audio), MiniMax H3 (Hailuo) and Seedance 2.0. These votes are on short clips, though. Kling, Runway or Luma may be a better fit for recurring characters, editing a shot or delivering in HDR.

How long can an AI-generated video be?

Wan 3.0 and Seedance 2.5 go up to 30 seconds per clip, Luma Ray3.2 up to 20 seconds, Vidu Q3 up to 16 and MiniMax H3 up to 15. CapCut’s Seedance 2.5 announcement doesn’t list the U.S., though. Google says Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash can extend clips up to 40 seconds. For anything longer, you extend or chain shots.

Is Sora still available?

No. OpenAI shut down the Sora app on April 26, 2026 and the API on Sept. 24, 2026; only data export is still possible. Hailuo and PixVerse still list Sora 2, but that access has become uncertain.

Which tool should you choose?

• The best quality on a small budget: Google Flow, starting with the free quota.
• Near-top quality at a moderate price: Hailuo or Wan.
• Scenes with several characters or products: Seedance or Kling.
• Editing existing footage: Runway. Controlling every frame and delivering in HDR: Luma.
• Trying every day for free: Google Flow, PixVerse or Wan.
• Planning a film or a campaign: LTX Studio.

Prices and models change fast, and many offers are promotional. Check the pricing page before you subscribe, and start with a month-to-month plan rather than an annual one.