Sora (Discontinued) Pricing
All plans and pricing as of 2026-04-26
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 API still operational until 2026-09-24 for existing API customers (no new signups)
- ✓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)
Is Sora (Discontinued) Worth the Price?
Value Score: 1/10
Overall Score: 5.0/10 · 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).
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 survives until 2026-09-24 for existing API customers only. 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.
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How Sora (Discontinued) Pricing Compares
| Tool | Free Tier | Starting Price | Value Score | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sora (Discontinued)(this tool) | No | N/A | 1/10 | 5.0 |
| Seedance 2.0 | Yes | $0 | 8.5/10 | 8.8 |
| Opus Clip | Yes | $0 | 7/10 | 8.0 |
| Google Veo 3.1 | Yes | $0 | 6.5/10 | 7.9 |
| Runway | Yes | $0 | 6/10 | 7.8 |
| Pika | Yes | $0 | 8/10 | 7.8 |