AI Video Tools in 2026: Pick by What You Need to Make

Start with what you need to make, then pick the tool. Here’s the short version. Prompt-to-clip work now goes to Veo 3.1, Kling 4.0, Runway or Luma Ray3.2, since Sora is shut down. A photo you want to bring to life needs an image-to-video mode. A talking presenter means an avatar tool such as HeyGen or Synthesia. For on-brand motion graphics and demos, an AI coding agent with Remotion or HyperFrames may beat any generator. Every page below links to official sources with the date we checked them.

Sora is gone. OpenAI shut down the Sora app on April 26, 2026 and the Sora API on September 24, 2026. See Is Sora shut down? and, for developers, how to migrate off the Sora API.

What do you want to make?

You want to…	Use	Start here
Turn a text prompt into a clip	Text-to-video models: Veo 3.1, Gemini Omni Flash, Kling 4.0, Runway Gen-4.5, Luma Ray3.2	Veo 3.1 vs Kling vs Runway, how to use Veo 3.1
Animate a photo	Image-to-video and first/last-frame modes	Image to video AI, first and last frame video
Make a talking-presenter video	Avatar tools: HeyGen, Synthesia, D-ID	HeyGen vs Synthesia vs D-ID
Dub or lip-sync a video into another language	Avatar and dubbing tools with lip sync	HeyGen vs Synthesia vs D-ID (dedicated guide coming)
Edit footage, captions or Shorts	Agent editing skills such as video-use, or prompt-based editors	Open-source video skills
Make product promos or ads	Code-based promo skills, or image-to-video from product shots	Open-source video skills
Build video into your app	Video generation APIs	AI video APIs compared
Make videos with Claude Code or Codex	Remotion or HyperFrames plus agent skills	Claude Code + Remotion
Try AI video without paying	Free plans and daily credits	Free AI video generators

What should you check before choosing a tool?

1. Input: text only, an image, audio, or existing footage?
2. Output: how long, what aspect ratio (16:9 or 9:16), what resolution? Clip lengths range from 4 seconds to 30 seconds per generation depending on the model.
3. Consistency: does a character, product, voice or style need to stay the same across clips? Look for reference-image and keyframe support.
4. Rights: can you use the output commercially on the plan you’re paying for, and does the free tier add a watermark? See commercial-use rights by tool and what free plans include.
5. Scale: will you generate by hand, or through an API or a coding agent?

Which AI video tools are current in October 2026?

Checked on official pages on October 18, 2026. Plans and credits differ by tool, so follow each link for pricing.

Tool	Status	What changed recently	Official source
Sora (OpenAI)	Shut down: app April 26, 2026; API September 24, 2026	No replacement named	OpenAI Help
Veo 3.1 / Gemini Omni Flash (Google)	Active in Google Flow and the Gemini API	Omni Flash is the Gemini API’s default video model; Veo 2 and 3.0 shut down June 30, 2026	Gemini API video
Kling (Kuaishou)	Active	Kling 4.0 launched October 15, 2026; up to 30-second clips; API still on 3.0 models	Kling 4.0 guide
Runway	Active	Gen-4.5 plus partner models (Seedance, Kling, MiniMax) in one app and API	Runway changelog
Luma	Active, renamed	Dream Machine and Ray2 are deprecated; now Luma App with Ray3.2	Luma
Pika	Active, relaunched	Relaunched September 17, 2026 as a platform with 25+ creative apps and third-party models	Pika blog
HeyGen	Active	Avatar V; real-time avatar developer tools (Sep 2026)	HeyGen September 2026 release
Synthesia	Active	Syren prompt-to-video agent in beta (Oct 9, 2026)	Synthesia Syren launch
D-ID	Active	V4 Expressive Visual Agents (Mar 2026)	D-ID V4 announcement

All AI video guides

• Is Sora shut down? What happened and what to use now
• Sora API shutdown: migrate to another video API
• How to turn a photo into a video with AI
• HeyGen vs Synthesia vs D-ID: which avatar tool fits
• Claude Code + Remotion: make your first video
• Open-source AI video skills for Claude Code and Codex
• Veo 3.1 vs Kling vs Runway: which video model to pick
• How to use Google Veo 3.1 in Gemini and Flow
• First and last frame AI video: how keyframes work
• AI video generation APIs compared
• Can you use AI videos commercially? Rights by tool
• Free AI video generators: what free plans really include

More guides on prompts, lip sync and captions are on the way.

Related image and music guides

• Is there a Midjourney API? Useful for generating stills to animate.
• Is there an official Suno API? Covers music for your videos.
• For API errors that also hit video APIs, see fix AI API errors.
• All image, video and music guides: Image & Video hub.