Sora Pricing Explained: Plans, Costs and What You Get

Sora has no standalone plan: it costs $20 a month through ChatGPT Plus or $200 through Pro, plus per-second API rates. Check availability first.

By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-10T04:29:00+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-10T04:29:00+00:00

Sora Pricing Explained: Plans, Costs and What You Get

Sora has no standalone subscription. Access comes bundled with ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month or ChatGPT Pro at $200 a month. Developers could also pay per second through the API. Sora 2 costs $0.10 per second at 720p. Sora 2 Pro costs $0.30 to $0.70 per second depending on resolution. Availability changed during 2026, so check OpenAI's current pages before you pay.

Sora pricing at a glance

The figures below are the published prices from OpenAI's pricing pages and plan documentation. ChatGPT prices exclude taxes where applicable. API rates are per second of generated video.

Sora pricing through ChatGPT Plus

ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month. Sora is included at no extra charge beyond the subscription. Plus subscribers receive 1,000 Sora credits a month. Credits reset monthly. Unused credits do not carry over.

Plus covers up to 50 priority videos a month. Priority videos render fast. A 480p video costs between 20 and 150 credits depending on length and options. A 720p video costs between 30 and 540 credits. Longer and sharper videos cost more credits.

Plus is the right tier for casual use. You can test prompts, make social clips, and learn the tool. The 50-video priority cap is the main limit. Heavy users hit it fast. Plus does not include 1080p output or 20-second clips.

Sora pricing through ChatGPT Pro

ChatGPT Pro costs $200 a month. It includes 10,000 Sora credits a month. That is ten times the Plus allowance. Pro covers up to 500 priority videos a month at up to 1080p and 20 seconds.

Pro also includes unlimited relaxed generations. Relaxed videos render slower. They come without watermarks. Pro is built for creators who generate video every day. The $200 price only makes sense if you use the full ChatGPT Pro package, not just Sora.

Sora is not part of ChatGPT Team, Enterprise, or Edu plans. It is closed to users under 18. Availability varies by region. OpenAI has said it is working on pricing tailored to different kinds of users.

Sora API pricing: pay per second

Developers pay per second of generated video. Sora 2 costs $0.10 per second at 720p. Sora 2 Pro costs $0.30 per second at 720p, $0.50 per second at 1024p, and $0.70 per second at 1080p. The Batch API halves every rate: $0.05, $0.15, $0.25, and $0.35 per second.

A 10-second clip costs $1.00 with Sora 2 at 720p. The same clip costs $3.00 with Sora 2 Pro at 720p, $5.00 at 1024p, and $7.00 at 1080p. Batch pricing halves each figure. API billing is separate from ChatGPT subscriptions. A Plus or Pro subscription never includes API usage.

The per-second model suits apps that generate video on demand. Costs scale with output. A fixed subscription suits a single creator with steady volume. Compare your monthly seconds before choosing a path.

Sora availability in 2026: check before you pay

Reports published in 2026 state that OpenAI ended Sora's standalone web and app service on April 26, 2026. The same reports state that the Videos API and the Sora 2 model aliases were shut down on September 24, 2026. Other pricing guides published later in 2026 still list the Plus and Pro allowances. The picture is mixed.

Do not pay for a plan based on this article alone. Open OpenAI's pricing page and the Sora page first. Confirm that video generation is still included in the tier you plan to buy. If Sora access has ended, the alternatives below are the live options.

Sora alternatives and their prices

Runway is the editor's choice. Standard costs $15 a month, or $12 billed annually, for 625 credits. Pro costs $35 a month, or $28 annually, for 2,250 credits. Gen-4.5 costs 12 credits per second, so a Standard month covers under a minute of flagship footage. Free accounts get 125 one-time credits.

Kling is the value leader for realistic motion. Standard costs $8.80 a month after a $6.99 first month, with 660 credits. Pro costs $32.56 a month for 3,000 credits. Daily logins earn free credits. Kling supports clips up to 30 seconds and native audio with lip sync.

Pika suits short social clips. Starter costs $10 a month, or $8 billed annually, for 900 credits. Cheaper plans do not include commercial use or watermark-free downloads. Creators who publish for clients need the Pro plan.

Luma Dream Machine is known for cinematic camera moves. Lite costs $9.99 a month for 3,200 credits but stays watermarked and non-commercial. Plus costs $30 a month, or $25 billed annually, for 10,000 credits with commercial use and no watermark.

Google Veo comes with Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month. It generates video with matching sound. For a creator who already wants Gemini features, Veo is the cheapest way into high-end video generation.

How much video does each Sora tier actually buy?

Do the credit math before you subscribe. Plus gives 1,000 credits a month. A short 480p clip costs 20 to 150 credits. A 720p clip costs 30 to 540 credits. In practice, Plus covers a few dozen short clips a month if you keep them short and low resolution. Long or sharp clips eat the allowance fast.

Pro gives 10,000 credits a month. That is ten times more. It also adds unlimited relaxed generations. Relaxed clips render slower but cost nothing extra. A daily creator can lean on relaxed mode for drafts and save priority credits for final renders.

On the API, the math is per second. A 10-second clip costs $1.00 with Sora 2 at 720p. The same clip costs $7.00 with Sora 2 Pro at 1080p. A minute of 1080p Pro footage costs $42.00 at list rates, or $21.00 through the Batch API. Budget for retries. Failed or rejected generations still consume time and money.

Compare that with the alternatives. Runway Standard gives 625 credits a month for $15. Gen-4.5 costs 12 credits per second. That covers about 52 seconds of flagship footage. Kling Standard gives 660 credits for $8.80 a month. Every tool in this market burns credits fast. The cheapest plan rarely covers a real production schedule.

Set a monthly cap before you start. Decide how many finished seconds you need. Multiply by the per-second cost. Then pick the plan that covers it. Guessing leads to mid-month top-ups at the worst time.

Bottom line

Sora never had its own price. It cost $20 a month through ChatGPT Plus or $200 a month through Pro, plus per-second API rates for developers. Plus fits casual creators. Pro fits daily producers. The API fits apps. But Sora's availability changed during 2026, so verify current access on OpenAI's site first. If Sora is closed to you, Kling at $8.80 a month and Runway at $15 a month are the strongest live alternatives.