OpenAI shut Sora down in 2026. Here's where creators went.
OpenAI discontinued Sora in 2026: the Sora app closed on 26 April 2026 and the API was shut down on 24 September 2026, according to OpenAI's Help Center article on the discontinuation. If you relied on Sora, you need a replacement — and which one depends on whether you were making short generative clips or full videos.
Sora is remarkable for short generative video clips. For that, it's cutting-edge — this page is for creators who need complete, long-form narrated videos.
Sora gives you clips; DreamTuber gives you the whole narrated film, ready to publish.
The pipeline writes and narrates, then builds and animates the visuals.
Full runtimes at credit pricing, not per-second generation.
OpenAI announced the discontinuation on 24 March 2026. The consumer app and website closed on 26 April 2026, and the Videos API (sora-2 and sora-2-pro) was shut down on 24 September 2026; OpenAI did not name a replacement model. Check OpenAI's Help Center for export deadlines if you still have content there.
If you used Sora for cinematic shots, the closest replacements are other video models: Google Veo (about 8 seconds per clip, with native audio), Kling (5 or 10 seconds per generation, up to about 3 minutes with extensions), Luma Dream Machine (5–10 seconds, about 30 with extensions) and Pika (short stylised clips; free plan, paid from $10 a month). Free access varies — most offer limited daily or signup credits, often with watermarks or slow queues.
If you were assembling Sora clips into longer YouTube videos, a long-form tool is a better fit than another clip model: building a 30-minute video from 8-second clips means hundreds of generations and an edit. DreamTuber writes a chaptered script, narrates it, illustrates every moment and renders one continuous video up to 10 hours. DreamTuber isn't free — plans start at $20/mo for 159 credits, and a finished 10-minute narrated video costs about 44 credits (an hour about 260), with no watermark.
DreamTuber isn't the right fit for every Sorauser. If your videos are short, avatar-led or hand-edited, one of these may suit you better. Prices and limits are from each tool's own pricing page, checked October 2026.
Sora today: Discontinued by OpenAI — app closed 26 April 2026, API shut down 24 September 2026. Source
| Tool | Best for | Price & limits |
|---|---|---|
| InVideo AI | Prompt-to-video for social and marketing, with access to generative video models | Credit-based; unused credits don't roll over |
| Runway | Cinematic generative clips and VFX | From $12/mo billed annually. Standard plan's 625 credits ≈ 52 s of Gen-4.5 video a month |
| Pika | Short stylised generative clips and effects | Free plan; paid $10, $35 or $95 a month. Plan credits refresh monthly and don't roll over |
| Kling | Realistic generative clips with strong motion | 5 or 10 s per generation; ≈3 min with extensions |
| Luma Dream Machine | Fast cinematic generative clips | 5–10 s per generation; ≈30 s with extensions |
For full narrated videos, yes — it produces finished 10-minute to 10-hour videos. For photoreal generative clips, a video model like Veo, Kling or Luma is closer to what Sora did.
Yes — it scripts and narrates, then generates and animates script-matched visuals, and can publish to YouTube.
No. OpenAI closed the Sora app on 26 April 2026 and shut the API down on 24 September 2026.
Several video models offer limited free credits or daily generations, usually with watermarks or queues. Open-weight models such as Wan can be self-hosted, which is free apart from the hardware.
More comparisons
One topic in, a finished 1–10 hour video out — the whole pipeline, automated.
Get startedMonthly plan · one credit pool for any tool