The best AI tools for making videos in 2026

AI video tools turn a prompt, a photo or a storyboard into clips with sound, and some build whole presenter-led videos without filming. Clip length, how well characters hold steady between shots and the cost per second separate them.

By Andrew Miller · Updated Oct 26, 2026 · How we review

How we chose: each pick is a product, model or project we have reviewed that does this job according to our review of it, ranked by our rating out of 5. We take no affiliate commission.

Also ranked: the best AI video generators

1. 1

   AI Tools: Video

   G

   Google Flow

   Flow is the cheapest serious way to make AI video with sound, provided you accept Google's content filters, its data terms and its habit of renaming everything.

   Best for: Creators and marketers who want realistic AI video with sound at a low price, especially existing Google AI subscribers.

   Price: 50 free credits/day; Google AI Plus $4.99/month (+200 monthly credits), Pro $19.99 (+1,000), Ultra about $100 (+10,000) or $200 (+25,000). US prices; top-ups on Pro and Ultra; unused credits expire.

   Read our Google Flow review
   4.6/5
2. 2

   AI Tools: Video

   H

   HeyGen

   HeyGen makes the most convincing digital twins on the market, and charges for it in credits that a few minutes of Avatar V will use up.

   Best for: Creators, marketers and sales teams who want to produce presenter-led or translated videos without filming.

   Price: Free (3 watermarked 1-minute videos/month); Creator $29/month ($24 yearly, 600 credits); Pro from $49 (1,000 credits) up to $4,300 (100,000); Business $149 + $20/extra seat (1,500 credits); Enterprise custom. API pay-as-you-go from $5.

   Read our HeyGen review
   4.5/5
3. 3

   AI Tools: Video

   K

   Kling AI

   Kling gives creators longer, better-moving clips for less money than Western rivals, provided they accept a Chinese provider whose consumer terms let it train on their uploads.

   Best for: Creators and marketers who want realistic, longer AI video clips with sound at a reasonable price.

   Price: Free Basic (no commercial use); Standard $10 list (660 credits), Pro $37 (3,000), Premier $92 (8,000), Ultra $180 (26,000); first month discounted, monthly renewals $8.80 to $159.99. API billed separately.

   Read our Kling AI review
   4.5/5
4. 4

   AI Models: Video

   W

   Wan 3.0

   Wan 3.0 wins the blind votes by a hair and runs to 30 seconds a clip, but Alibaba has kept its weights and its technical details to itself.

   Best for: Creators and developers who want leading video quality and long takes without premium pricing.

   Price: Qwen Cloud: $0.05/second at 480p, $0.10 at 720p, $0.20 at 1080p list ($12 per minute at 1080p), currently shown 30% off. Runway: same rates, or $0.068 to $0.28 for the wan3_prime variant.

   Read our Wan 3.0 review
   4.5/5
5. 5

   AI Models: Video

   S

   Seedance 2.5

   Seedance 2.5 sells control over continuity, and charges nearly three times the board leader's per-minute price for it.

   Best for: Ad and content teams who need the same characters, products and voices held steady across many shots.

   Price: ModelArk: $10.70 per 1M tokens without video input, $6.40 with video input (about $0.51 for 5 seconds at 480p, $1.16 at 720p). Runway: $0.20 to $0.68 per second by resolution, 80-credit minimum.

   Read our Seedance 2.5 review
   4.4/5
6. 6

   AI Tools: Video

   R

   Runway

   Runway is a production toolkit first and a clip generator second, which is exactly why its own model no longer needs to win every comparison.

   Best for: Filmmakers, agencies and editors who need to direct and edit AI video, not just generate clips.

   Price: Free 125 one-time credits; Standard $15/month ($12 yearly, 625 credits); Pro $35 ($28 yearly, 2,250); Max $95 ($76 yearly, 9,500); Team $69/seat ($55 yearly, 6,900 credits per seat). API $0.01 per credit.

   Read our Runway review
   4.3/5
7. 7

   AI Tools: Video

   H

   Hailuo AI

   Hailuo makes convincing video cheaply and even lets you run the model yourself, but its privacy policy never says whether your uploads train it.

   Best for: Small marketing teams wanting realistic clips with sound on a budget, and developers who want a strong video model they can call cheaply or host themselves.

   Price: List prices: Standard $14.99/month (1,000 credits), Pro $54.99 (4,500), Master $94.99 (10,000), Ultra $124.99 (12,000), Max $199.99 (20,000); Standard, Pro and Master often discounted. API: H3 $0.08/s at 768P, $0.13/s at 2K. Open weights under a community licence.

   Read our Hailuo AI review
   4.1/5
8. 8

   AI Tools: Video

   L

   Luma (formerly Dream Machine)

   Luma is the video tool for people who colour-grade, but on every plan your footage and prompts can train its models unless you move to the API's Scale tier.

   Best for: Post-production studios and agencies that need HDR-ready AI footage and accept Luma's training terms or buy dedicated API capacity.

   Price: Plus $30/month (10,000 credits), Pro $90 (40,000), Ultra $300 (150,000); $25/$75/$250 a month billed yearly. Team and Enterprise by quote. Trial credits only, no commercial use on free. API from $0.15 per 5-second 540p clip to $1.20 at 1080p SDR.

   Read our Luma (formerly Dream Machine) review
   4.0/5