Sora
OpenAI's text-to-video model with synchronized audio, now in wind-down with API access ending September 2026
Paid
About Sora
Sora is OpenAI's flagship text-to-video and image-to-video model, best known for generating short clips up to 1080p with synchronized dialogue, sound effects, and ambient audio in a single pass. The Sora 2 generation added stronger physics, world-state persistence across shots, and a cameo feature that drops a verified likeness into scenes. OpenAI is discontinuing it: the sora.com site and mobile apps shut down on April 26, 2026, and the API sunsets on September 24, 2026, so today it's reachable only through the paid API.
Key Features
- Text-to-video and image-to-video generation
- Synchronized audio with dialogue, sound effects, and ambient sound
- Output up to 1080p on the Sora 2 Pro tier
- Clips from 4 to 20 seconds, extendable toward roughly two minutes
- Cameo feature that inserts a verified likeness into scenes
- Improved physics and consistent world state across cuts
Pros & Cons
What we like
- One of the few models generating native synchronized audio with video
- Strong prompt adherence and physical realism in the Sora 2 generation
- Backed by OpenAI with a documented per-second API
- Image-to-video lets you animate a still you already have
Room for improvement
- Consumer app and sora.com were shut down on April 26, 2026
- API is scheduled to be discontinued on September 24, 2026
- API only and paid per second, with no free or consumer tier left
- Generated clips carry a visible moving watermark
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Sora?
Sora is OpenAI's flagship text-to-video model that turns written prompts into short, realistic clips with synchronized audio, and can animate still images or extend existing shots. It made a splashy debut, but OpenAI is now retiring it.
Is Sora still available in 2026?
Barely. OpenAI shut down the Sora consumer app and sora.com on April 26, 2026, and the API is scheduled to sunset on September 24, 2026. Until then it is reachable only through the paid API, and account data is set to be deleted after those dates.
Why did OpenAI discontinue Sora?
Usage collapsed. After launch the worldwide user count peaked near a million, then fell below 500,000, while the product reportedly burned roughly a million dollars a day. Faced with heavy costs and thin revenue, OpenAI chose to wind it down.
What are the best Sora alternatives?
For ongoing work, look at Google Veo and Seedance for quality with native audio, Runway for creative control, and Kling or Hailuo for strong image-to-video. Any of these is a safer bet than building on a model that is being retired.
Best For
Short social and marketing video clipsAnimating a still image into motionConcept and storyboard previsualizationSound-synced product or explainer snippets
Featured in
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