Sora Has Shut Down: What Creators Can Use Instead for Full Story Videos

If you made short clips in Sora, your workflow has already changed. OpenAI discontinued the Sora web and app experiences on April 26, 2026, and the Sora API shut down on September 24, 2026 (OpenAI Help Center).

The good news is that there are several strong video models to move to. The less obvious news is that most of them, like Sora, generate one clip at a time. If what you actually want is a whole story, with the same characters from the first scene to the last and people who talk, you need a workflow around the model, not just a new model.

What to do if your Sora workflow just broke

1. Export your Sora content. OpenAI's help page says you can export what you made at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset by clicking Export, and that you'll get an email when the export is ready. It recommends doing this as soon as possible.
2. Save your best prompts. Copy the ones that gave you the look you liked into a document.
3. Collect your character references. If you had recurring characters, save a clear still of each one. Most current models accept reference images, and a good reference is what keeps a character looking the same.
4. Decide what you were really making. Single shots for social posts, or stories with a beginning, middle and end? The answer decides whether you need a clip generator or a full video workflow.
5. If you used the API, plan the switch now. Any app or script that calls the Sora API needs a new provider before September 24, 2026.
6. Test two or three replacements on the same prompt.

The main Sora alternatives

Google Veo 3.1

Veo 3.1 generates native audio, "from natural conversations to synchronized sound effects," according to Google. You can guide it with up to 3 reference images of a character, object or scene, give it a first and last frame to generate the shot between them, and use scene extension to build videos "lasting for a minute or more" by generating new clips that continue from the final second of the previous one. It is available through the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, and in the Gemini app and Flow (Google Developers Blog).

Best for: creators already working in Google's tools, and developers who want an API replacement for Sora.

Kling 3.0

Kling launched its Video 3.0 model in February 2026. Kling says it understands multi-scene, multi-shot instructions, "from classic shot-reverse-shot dialogues to advanced cross-cutting dialogue and voice-over," generates videos up to 15 seconds long, and produces native speech in several languages and accents, including multi-character dialogue scenes. You can also upload a reference video so the model replicates a character's look and voice in new scenes (Kling AI announcement).

Best for: short dialogue moments and multi-shot sequences inside a single generation.

Seedance

ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 uses a joint audio and video architecture that accepts text, image, audio and video inputs. ByteDance says image, audio and video references give creators control over "performance, lighting, shadow, and camera movement" (ByteDance Seed).

Best for: reference-heavy shots where you want to steer a performance or camera move with examples.

MiniMax H3 (Hailuo)

MiniMax launched H3 as a general-purpose multimodal generation model that understands text, images, video and audio together and generates video "with native stereo sound, up to 15 seconds at 2K resolution." You describe in plain words how the references relate to the shot you want, for example having a character from one image sing to a given audio track (MiniMax).

Best for: shots that combine several references, such as a character, a camera move and a voice.

Runway Gen-4.5

Runway's Gen-4.5 offers text to video and image to video, with durations from 2 to 10 seconds (Runway Help Center).

Best for: short single shots from a prompt or an image.

The gap: clips are not stories

Notice what every model above has in common: the unit of output is a clip of roughly 15 seconds or less. That was true of Sora as well. A two-minute story is a dozen or more of those clips, and making them yourself means:

• writing a script and breaking it into scenes
• keeping every character's face, outfit and props the same in every scene
• giving each character a consistent voice, and syncing their lips to their lines
• ordering the clips, adding narration or subtitles, and rendering one video

Where EasyVid fits

EasyVid is a full-video workflow rather than a single model. You start from an idea or your own script, and EasyVid takes it through script, scenes, characters, voices and a rendered video. You pick the workflow when you create a project, and it can't be changed afterwards, so it is worth knowing the two main options.

Director Mode is EasyVid's highest-quality workflow, with more control over your script, storyboard, scenes, characters, dialogue and visuals. Each scene is generated as a video clip. Director Mode keeps your characters consistent, lip-syncs every line of dialogue in the character's voice, and adds sound effects. It uses Seedance 2.5 and MiniMax H3 Max, and you can set a default model for the project and pick a different one for any scene (multi-model video generation). Full Director Mode access comes with the Studio and Pro plans (pricing).

Classic Mode is faster and cheaper per video. An image model draws a frame for each scene, then MiniMax H3 Max Turbo or MiniMax H3 Max (HD) animates it. It is a good fit for narrated stories, explainers and faceless channels.

In both workflows:

• Characters are reusable references. Every model gets the same character and location reference images, so a character looks like themselves whichever model made the scene (consistent characters).
• Voices are chosen per character, from ElevenLabs and Google Gemini voices (AI voice generation).
• You fix scenes, not whole videos. Regenerate one clip with another model, recast a voice, or redraw an image without redoing the rest.

Moving a Sora project to EasyVid

1. Bring the idea or the script. Paste a one-line idea or your full script. EasyVid breaks it into scenes.
2. Recreate your characters. Upload the stills you saved from Sora as references, or let EasyVid design each character from the script.
3. Choose the workflow. Director Mode if your story has dialogue and you want lip-synced performances; Classic Mode for narration over animated scenes.
4. Cast voices. Pick a voice for each character and the narrator.
5. Generate, review, fix. Watch the storyboard, regenerate the scenes that miss, and render the video.

Which should you choose?

• You need an API replacement: Veo 3.1 through the Gemini API or Vertex AI is the most direct swap for developers.
• You make single shots for social posts: Runway Gen-4.5 or Kling 3.0.
• You want to steer shots with many references: Seedance or MiniMax H3.
• You want finished story videos with consistent characters and dialogue: a workflow like EasyVid's Director Mode, which runs Seedance 2.5 and MiniMax H3 Max for you scene by scene.

For a closer look at the story workflow, read How to Write a Script for an Animated Story, or see what the Seedance 2.5 model does in EasyVid.