We sent the same six-second prompt to 12 AI video generation models through one API. Ten got the line right. The cheapest 1080p clip with sound cost $0.65; the most expensive cost $3.41 and fumbled the punchline.
The 12 are a representative cut of the 200+ models on Modellix: the big names, the budget routes, and a few you may not have tried. Below are every clip side by side, what each call cost, and the request fields that quietly change your bill. (Avatar tools like HeyGen and template renderers like Shotstack are a different product and are not covered.)
Best AI Video Models at a Glance
| If you need... | Start with | Why | Our 6 s clip: time · cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium all-rounder |  Veo 3.1 |
Said the line right, clean 1080p, under two minutes | 95 s · $2.16 |
| Premium look on a budget |  Kling V3 |
Handheld feel and a cut to the reaction shot, at 37% of Veo 3.1's cost | 103 s · $0.81 |
| Cheapest 1080p clip with sound | Veo 3.1 Fast |
Same line accuracy as Veo 3.1 for 30% of the price | 96 s · $0.65 |
| Cinematic framing, shots up to 30 s |  Seedance 2.5 |
Best composition in the batch, but the priciest and it misread one word | 294 s · $3.41 |
| Natural human motion |  HappyHorse 1.1 |
The only clip with a full walk, reach, and slide | 126 s · $1.08 |
| Long shots from a brief or a URL | Wan 3.0 |
30 s ceiling, reads a pptx, pdf, or web page as input | 142 s · $1.08 |
| Anime and stylized clips |  Vidu Q3 Pro |
Closest to a flat 2D cel look, 1080p with sound at $0.12 per second | 196 s · $0.72 |
| Fastest drafts | Gemini Omni Flash |
Back in 38 seconds, flat $0.10 per second at 720p | 38 s · $0.60 |
No single route won everything. That is the whole argument for routing each job to its best model instead of marrying one vendor.
200+ Models, One API Key
These 12 plus 200+ image, video, audio, and language models. Give each job to the model that wins it, batch the shot list from one script, and pay only for what you generate.
Get API KeyBenchmark: One Prompt Across 12 AI Video Generation Models
Same request to every model: 6 seconds, 16:9, 1080p where offered, audio on where it is a switch. One prompt that tests three things at once: a believable person, a specific action, and one spoken line. One run each, so treat the timings as a range.
A barista in a sunlit café slides a latte across the counter, smiles and says, "Your usual, on the house." Handheld medium shot, shallow depth of field, natural café ambience.
The clips
Copy the prompt and try it on any model in the text-to-video playground. Generated on Modellix: 6 seconds, 16:9, 1080p where offered.
Speed, cost, and dialogue accuracy
Time is what each task reported; the line was checked by transcribing every clip with Fun-ASR. Bold marks the best result in each column.
| Model | Res | Time (café / anime) | Cost / clip | Line right |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veo 3.1 |
1080p | 95 s / 120 s | $2.16 | Yes |
| Kling V3 |
1080p | 103 s / 108 s | $0.81 | Yes |
| Veo 3.1 Fast |
1080p | 96 s / 163 s | $0.65 | Yes |
| Seedance 2.5 |
1080p | 294 s / 176 s | $3.41 | No |
| HappyHorse 1.1 |
1080p | 126 s / 121 s | $1.08 | Yes |
| Seedance 2.0 |
1080p | 170 s / 170 s | $2.22 | No |
| Wan 3.0 |
1080p | 142 s / 353 s | $1.08 | Yes |
| Vidu Q3 Pro |
1080p | 196 s / 226 s | $0.72 | Yes |
 MiniMax H3 |
2K | 245 s / 235 s | $0.78 | Yes |
 PixVerse V6 |
1080p | 80 s / 70 s | $1.38 | Yes |
| Gemini Omni Flash |
720p | 38 s / 43 s | $0.60 | Yes |
 Grok Imagine |
720p | 58 s / 135 s | $0.65 | Yes |
- Dialogue is no longer the hard part. Ten of 12 routes said the line correctly. Both misses were Seedance ("on the boss", "on the board"), so script-heavy Seedance work needs a review pass.
- Price per clip spreads 5.3x at the same resolution. At 1080p with sound, a 6-second clip cost $0.65 on Veo 3.1 Fast and $3.41 on Seedance 2.5.
- Speed spreads 7.8x. Gemini Omni Flash returned in 38 seconds; Seedance 2.5 took 294.
- Requested length is not always returned length. MiniMax H3 delivered 6.58 seconds and HappyHorse 1.1 6.12. Trim on download if your product fills a fixed slot.
Style test: which models hold a 2D anime look
A realistic prompt flatters realistic models, so we also asked for a cartoon cat detective (reused from our Kling 4.0 preview).
Premium anime short-drama shot. A silver tabby cat detective in a tan trench coat stands on a rain-soaked neon rooftop at night. Slow push-in as he turns to camera; a lightning flash lights his face. Heavy rain, pink and cyan neon reflections on wet concrete, 2D cel-anime style. Sound: rain and a thunderclap.
| Model | 2D cel look | Turned to camera | Push-in | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vidu Q3 Pro |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Closest to flat cel animation |
| Seedance 2.5 |
Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| HappyHorse 1.1 |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Cleanest turn and push-in |
| Kling V3 |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Added a fedora nobody asked for |
| Seedance 2.0 |
Yes | Yes | No | Cut from wide to close-up instead |
| PixVerse V6 |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Bolder look, added a hat and tie |
| MiniMax H3 |
Yes | Yes | No | Cut from a distant wide shot instead |
| Grok Imagine |
Yes | No | Yes | Cat on four legs, facing camera from frame one |
| Wan 3.0 |
No | Yes | Yes | Semi-realistic; only clip with a visible bolt |
| Veo 3.1 |
No | Yes | Yes | Illustrated realism |
| Veo 3.1 Fast |
No | Yes | Yes | Illustrated realism |
| Gemini Omni Flash |
No | Yes | Yes | Painterly |
Eight routes held the cel look. The four that drifted toward realism are fine for a cinematic brief and wrong for an anime series. For series work, see the AI anime video generator guide and the AI short drama guide.
The 12 Best AI Video Generation Models, Ranked
Ranked by first-take reliability, output quality, and cost per usable clip. Each section shows the model's anime clip; its café clip is in the grid above.
1. Google Veo 3.1 API: Best Premium All-Rounder
Best for: client-facing clips where the first take has to work. Our test: 1080p · 95 s · $2.16 per 6 s clip · line correct.
The only premium-priced route that got the line, the frame, and the speed right on both prompts. In the anime test it kept every story beat but drew the cat closer to illustrated realism than flat cel animation. Both of our 6-second 1080p requests returned true 1920 x 1080 files, so the published 4, 6, and 8 second options all work at 1080p. Setup details are in the Veo 3.1 API guide.
Skip it if: you generate drafts at volume (Veo 3.1 Fast matched its line accuracy for 30% of the price) or need shots longer than 8 seconds.
2. Kling V3 API: Best Premium Look per Dollar
Best for: UGC and social clips that should feel shot, not rendered. Our test: 1080p · 103 s · $0.81 per 6 s clip · line correct.
The most "edited" result: a close-up of the hand pushing the cup, then a cut to the barista laughing, with real handheld movement. That comes from multi_shot, which is on by default. audio is off by default, so send "audio": "native" or the file is silent. Kling 4.0 is announced with 30-second clips; see Kling V3 vs Kling 4.0.
Skip it if: you need one locked camera; set multi_shot to false or pick Veo.
3. Google Veo 3.1 Fast API: Best Price per 1080p Clip with Sound
Best for: high-volume 1080p clips with dialogue. Our test: 1080p · 96 s · $0.65 per 6 s clip · line correct.
The surprise of the batch: 1080p, native sound, and the correct line for the same $0.65 that Grok Imagine charges at 720p. Framing was close to Veo 3.1 with a more static camera. Time to result moved from 96 seconds to 163 seconds between the two prompts, so measure it on your own load before promising users a wait time.
Skip it if: shots run longer than 8 seconds.
4. Seedance 2.5 API: Best Cinematic Framing and 30-Second Shots
Best for: brand films and single shots longer than 15 seconds. Our test: 1080p · 294 s · $3.41 per 6 s clip · said "boss" for "house".
Unprompted, it picked the most cinematic angle in the batch: over the customer's shoulder, warm haze, the barista leaning in. It also held the 2D cel look. Then it fumbled the punchline ("on the boss"), and it was the slowest and most expensive route on the café prompt. It is one of two routes here that reach 30 seconds in one shot.
Skip it if: dialogue must be exact on the first take or cost per clip is tight.
5. HappyHorse 1.1 API: Best Natural Human Motion
Best for: people doing physical things on screen. Our test: 1080p · 126 s · $1.08 per 6 s clip · line correct.
The only clip that turned "slides a latte across the counter" into a complete action: walk in, reach across, slide. In the anime test it gave the cleanest turn and push-in of any route. Its price band is narrow ($0.14 to $0.18 per second), so budgets are easy to forecast, and it adds 4:5, 5:4, 9:21, and 21:9 ratios.
Skip it if: cost per second is your main filter; Wan 3.0 starts at a third of its floor.
6. Seedance 2.0 API: Best for 4K Product and Hero Shots
Best for: 4K delivery and polished hero shots. Our test: 1080p · 170 s · $2.22 per 6 s clip · said "board" for "house".
The warmest, most commercial-looking café shot, with the barista offering the cup straight to camera. Like 2.5, it misread the last word. In the anime test it cut from a wide shot to a close-up instead of pushing in. It shares the 4K tier with Kling V3 and the Veo 3.1 routes, and its image-to-video sibling is a common pick for product ads.
Skip it if: you need dialogue right without retries.
7. Wan 3.0 API: Best for Long Shots and Brief-to-Video
Best for: long single shots and clips built from a document or web page. Our test: 1080p · 142 s · $1.08 per 6 s clip · line correct.
Two features no other route here has: file_url and link_url, which build a video from a pptx, a pdf, or a public page, plus a 30-second ceiling. It was the only route to draw a visible lightning bolt in the anime test, though the cat came out semi-realistic, and the only one that returned 30 fps.
Skip it if: you need a strict 2D anime look.
8. Vidu Q3 Pro API: Best for Anime and Stylized 1080p
Best for: anime, stylized series, and budget 1080p with sound. Our test: 1080p · 196 s · $0.72 per 6 s clip · line correct.
Its anime clip was the closest to the flat 2D cel look we asked for, and its café clip got the line right at $0.12 per second. The trade-offs: over three minutes per clip, and garbled text on a neon sign, which matters if signs or packaging appear in your shots.
Skip it if: readable on-screen text matters or users wait on the result.
9. MiniMax H3 API: Best for 2K Output
Best for: 2K masters without 4K pricing. Our test: 2K (2560 x 1440) · 245 s · $0.78 per 6 s clip · line correct.
The only route here with a 2K tier at mid-range pricing: it returned 2560 x 1440 for $0.78. It also returned 6.58 seconds when asked for 6, and in the anime test it cut from a distant wide shot to a close-up instead of pushing in. The route publishes no audio field, yet both clips came back with sound.
Skip it if: latency matters; it was among the three slowest routes on both prompts.
10. PixVerse V6 API: Fastest 1080p Route
Best for: quick 1080p social clips. Our test: 1080p · 80 s · $1.38 per 6 s clip · line correct.
The fastest 1080p route on both prompts. Its café clip cut between the barista's face and her hand on the cup; its anime clip added a hat and tie nobody asked for. Sound is off unless generate_audio_switch is true, which is part of why our clip cost more than Kling V3.
Skip it if: details in the prompt must be followed closely.
11. Gemini Omni Flash API: Fastest Drafts
Best for: drafts and previews at volume. Our test: 720p · 38 s · $0.60 per 6 s clip · line correct.
The fastest and cheapest route per clip, with a clean shot and the right line. Output is fixed at 720p, 16:9 or 9:16, up to 10 seconds. For 1080p or 4K from the same family, use Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash.
Skip it if: you deliver finals at 1080p or above.
12. Grok Imagine Video API: Cheap 720p Social Clips
Best for: cheap 720p social variants. Our test: 720p · 58 s · $0.65 per 6 s clip · line correct.
Right line and a fast return on the café prompt, but the most static framing in the batch. In the anime test it drew the cat on four legs and facing the camera from frame one: the most realistic cat in the batch, just not the detective we asked for. It caps at 720p and 15 seconds.
Skip it if: you need 1080p; Veo 3.1 Fast costs the same and delivers it.
How to Choose a Video Generation Model: Price, Limits, and Use Case
AI video API pricing compared
Prices per second are from each model page; "Our 6 s clip" is what our benchmark call was actually billed.
| Model | Price / s | Our 6 s clip | Limits | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veo 3.1 |
$0.36 to $0.54 | $2.16 | 8 s · 4K | Always on |
| Veo 3.1 Fast |
$0.09 to $0.27 | $0.65 | 8 s · 4K | Always on |
| Kling V3 |
$0.067 to $0.34 | $0.81 | 15 s · 4K | Off by default |
| Seedance 2.5 |
$0.10 to $0.57 | $3.41 | 30 s · 1080p | On by default |
| Seedance 2.0 |
$0.07 to $0.78 | $2.22 | 15 s · 4K | On by default |
| HappyHorse 1.1 |
$0.14 to $0.18 | $1.08 | 15 s · 1080p | Always on |
| Wan 3.0 |
$0.045 to $0.18 | $1.08 | 30 s · 1080p | On by default |
| Vidu Q3 Pro |
$0.045 to $0.12 | $0.72 | 16 s · 1080p | Always on |
| MiniMax H3 |
$0.08 to $0.13 | $0.78 | 15 s · 2K | Not listed |
| PixVerse V6 |
$0.05 to $0.23 | $1.38 | 15 s · 1080p | Off by default |
| Gemini Omni Flash |
$0.10 flat | $0.60 | 10 s · 720p | Always on |
| Grok Imagine |
$0.084 to $0.11 | $0.65 | 15 s · 720p | Not listed |
Budget the tier you will send, not the floor. Seedance 2.5 has the lower floor, yet billed its top rate at 1080p and ended up five times pricier than Veo 3.1 Fast.
Cheaper routes for drafts
| Draft route | List price per second | Ceiling | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vidu Q3 Turbo |
$0.0350 to $0.0650 | 16 s | Fast storyboards before a Q3 Pro final |
| Seedance 2.0 Mini |
$0.0400 to $0.0800 | 15 s, 720p | Cheap Seedance drafts with the same prompt style |
| Veo 3.1 Lite |
$0.0450 to $0.0720 | 8 s | Everyday Veo clips where 4K is not needed |
| Hailuo 02 |
$0.0504 to $0.0738 | 10 s at 1080p | Physics-heavy B-roll at a fixed low price |
| Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite |
$0.0200 to $0.1400 | 15 s | Lowest floor in the catalog; 1080p is upscaled from 720p |
Per-model volume math is in the AI video model API pricing comparison.
5 checks before you commit
1. Clip length and resolution. Seedance 2.5 and Wan 3.0 reach 30 seconds; most routes stop at 15, Gemini Omni Flash at 10, and Veo 3.1 at 8 (4, 6, or 8 only). For 4K, the options are Kling V3, Seedance 2.0, and the Veo 3.1 family; MiniMax H3 offers 2K; Grok Imagine Video and Gemini Omni Flash stop at 720p.
2. Audio defaults. Check what an unset field does. Seedance and Wan 3.0 generate sound unless you turn it off; Kling V3 (audio) and PixVerse V6 (generate_audio_switch) stay silent until you turn it on. If you bring your own voice track, pair a silent route with Vidu Lip Sync.
3. Input and reference control. All 12 routes here are text-to-video. For product ads and recurring characters, the image and reference routes in the same families matter more: up to 9 reference images on bytedance/seedance-2.0-v2v, 3 on google/veo-3.1-i2v (the only general route with a last-frame input), and dedicated first-and-last-frame routes from MiniMax, Vidu, and PixVerse.
4. Price per usable clip. A cheap route is expensive if you discard its clips. One retry for a misread line doubles a $3.41 Seedance 2.5 clip, while Veo 3.1 Fast got the same line right for $0.65. Budget from your discard rate, not the floor price.
5. Latency. If users wait on the result, test Gemini Omni Flash, Grok Imagine Video, and PixVerse V6 first; all three returned the café clip in under a minute and a half. Vidu Q3 Pro, MiniMax H3, and Seedance 2.5 took three to five minutes.
Best AI video API by use case
| Use case | First test | Backup test |
|---|---|---|
| Premium ad or brand film | Google Veo 3.1 |
Seedance 2.5 |
| UGC and talking-to-camera clips | Kling V3 |
Google Veo 3.1 Fast |
| Product shots and packshots | Seedance 2.0 (4K) |
Google Veo 3.1 |
| Anime and stylized short drama | Vidu Q3 Pro |
Seedance 2.5 or HappyHorse 1.1 |
| One continuous shot longer than 15 s | Seedance 2.5 |
Wan 3.0 |
| Video from a product brief or web page | Wan 3.0 |
(no other route takes a file or URL) |
| High-volume drafts | Gemini Omni Flash |
Vidu Q3 Turbo |
| Lowest cost per 1080p second | Google Veo 3.1 Fast |
Vidu Q3 Pro |
Comparing platforms rather than models? The Replicate alternatives guide separates model quality from billing and catalog strategy.
How to Test Your Shortlist on One API Key
Every model above is also an API call. For the request flow itself (async tasks, polling, and the fields each provider expects), see the video generation API guide.
Why Modellix is the best API for running several video models
One API key for 200+ models
- One request shape. All 12 routes here share the same submit, poll, and download flow, so swapping a model is a path change, not a new integration.
- Each model on the job it wins. Draft on Gemini Omni Flash at $0.60 a clip, render the keepers on Veo 3.1, and queue both from one script. No vendor accounts to juggle.
- Costs you can audit. Every model page lists its per-second price and every task reports what it billed. That is how this guide knows the exact cost of all 24 clips.
Six ways to run these models
Playground
No code. Sign in, open any model page such as Veo 3.1 Fast, paste a prompt, and the clip, time, and cost show up in your browser. Best for picking a shortlist.
Coding agent, no install
Paste one sentence into Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor and let it read the docs:
My Modellix API key is mdlx-••••••••••••••••••••••••. Read https://docs.modellix.ai/get-started/index.md, then run the prompt in prompt.txt on google/veo-3.1-fast-t2v, kling/kling-v3-t2v, and alibaba/happyhorse-1.1-t2v at 6 seconds, 16:9, 1080p, audio on. Run at most 4 tasks at a time, save the MP4s to ./clips, and report the time and cost of each.
Swap in your own key from the console, and only share it with agents you trust.
Agent Skill
Install the skill once and your agent reads each model's schema and fills in the request fields itself. Name the model in your prompt; if you don't, it asks which one to run. Works in any Agent Skills host. Setup is in the Skill guide.
npx skills add https://github.com/Modellix/modellix-plugin --skill modellix-design
Plugin
If your host has a plugin marketplace (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), the plugin adds six skills (generation, image prompts, social cards, infographics, and local edits with FFmpeg or MoviePy) plus the Media Generation MCP, so commands like /modellix:video and /modellix:social-card work out of the box. In Claude Code, run /plugin marketplace add Modellix/modellix-plugin, then /plugin install modellix@modellix. Other hosts are in the Plugin guide.
CLI
For scripts and cron jobs. One command submits the task, waits, and prints the result URL; modellix-cli model batch takes a JSONL file for a whole shot list. See the CLI guide.
npm install --global modellix-cli
modellix-cli model run --model-slug google/veo-3.1-fast-t2v --body-file request.json --wait
REST API
Submit, keep the task_id, poll, then download before the result URL expires. Field names vary by provider (aspectRatio on Google, aspect_ratio on Kling, ratio on Seedance and Wan), so check each model's schema in the API guide.
curl -X POST "https://api.modellix.ai/api/v1/google/veo-3.1-fast-t2v" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $MODELLIX_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"prompt": "A barista slides a latte across the counter...", "aspectRatio": "16:9", "duration": "6", "resolution": "1080p"}'
curl "https://api.modellix.ai/api/v1/tasks/<task_id>" -H "Authorization: Bearer $MODELLIX_API_KEY"
Start from a prompt that already works
Copy any prompt below and try it yourself in each model's playground. Generated on Modellix.
Product and food detail
“Honey pours slowly over a stack of pancakes topped with berries, steam rising, macro shot, bright breakfast light.”
Dialogue with native audio
“Two friends share noodles at a rainy night street-food stall. The man laughs and says, "You still owe me dinner." Steam rises, neon reflects on the wet pavement, handheld camera, natural ambient sound.”
Cinematic trailer shot
“Cinematic sci-fi trailer shot: an astronaut in a weathered suit walks toward a crashed ship on a red desert planet under two moons, anamorphic lens flare, slow dolly-in, subtle film grain, deep rumbling score.”
Multi-shot story in one call
“Shot 1: close-up of a chef's hands plating a dessert. Shot 2: wide shot of the busy restaurant kitchen. Shot 3: the chef looks up and smiles at the camera. Warm cinematic lighting.”
FAQ About the Best AI Video Models in 2026
What is the best AI video generation model in 2026?
There is no single winner. In our 12-model test, Google Veo 3.1 was the most reliable premium route, Veo 3.1 Fast the best price for 1080p with sound, Kling V3 the best premium look per dollar, and Seedance 2.5 the best framing and the longest single shots. If you want to try them all without signing up eight times, Modellix is the fastest and most cost-effective way in: one account, one key, pay per second.
Which AI video API is cheapest?
Per 6-second clip, Gemini Omni Flash was cheapest ($0.60 at 720p). At 1080p with sound, Veo 3.1 Fast ($0.65) and Vidu Q3 Pro ($0.72) were cheapest. For drafts, Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite lists the lowest floor at $0.02 per second.
Which AI video API handles dialogue best?
Ten of 12 routes said our scripted line correctly: Veo 3.1, Veo 3.1 Fast, Kling V3, HappyHorse 1.1, Wan 3.0, MiniMax H3, Vidu Q3 Pro, PixVerse V6, Grok Imagine Video, and Gemini Omni Flash. Seedance 2.0 and 2.5 each got one word wrong.
Which AI video API is fastest?
Gemini Omni Flash returned in 38 seconds. PixVerse V6 was the fastest 1080p route at about 80 seconds, and both Veo 3.1 routes finished the café prompt in about 95 seconds.
Which AI video APIs support 4K or 2K?
Kling V3, Seedance 2.0, and the Veo 3.1 family offer 4K. MiniMax H3 returned 2560 x 1440. Seedance 2.5, HappyHorse 1.1, Wan 3.0, Vidu Q3 Pro, and PixVerse V6 stop at 1080p.
What is the longest clip an AI video API can generate in one call?
30 seconds, on Seedance 2.5 and Wan 3.0. Vidu Q3 Pro reaches 16, most routes 15, Gemini Omni Flash 10, and Veo 3.1 8. Longer videos need extension routes or stitched clips.
Can I use Veo, Kling, Seedance, and Wan through one API?
Yes. All 12 routes in this guide, and 200+ models in total, run through one Modellix API key with the same submit, poll, and download flow. Request fields still differ by provider, so check each model's schema instead of copy-pasting.
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