Sora API Shutdown (September 24, 2026): How to Migrate to Another Video Generation API

The Sora API is gone. OpenAI shut down the Videos API and every sora-2 model on September 24, 2026, and its deprecations page names no replacement. Calls to those endpoints now fail. To keep generating video you have to move to another vendor’s API. For most Sora integrations the shortest path is Google’s Gemini API (Veo 3.1 or Gemini Omni Flash). Runway, Kling and Luma are the other main official options.

What exactly did OpenAI shut down?

OpenAI’s deprecations page has a 2026-03-24 entry, “Sora 2 video generation models and Videos API”. On that date it notified developers that these would be removed on September 24, 2026:

Shutdown date	Model / system	Recommended replacement
2026-09-24	Videos API	none listed
2026-09-24	sora-2, sora-2-pro	none listed
2026-09-24	sora-2-2025-10-06, sora-2-2025-12-08, sora-2-pro-2025-10-06	none listed

The consumer Sora app had already closed on April 26, 2026 (OpenAI Help Center). If you are a user rather than a developer, read Is Sora shut down? instead.

How do you know your app is affected?

Search your code and config for:

• calls to the Videos API: POST /v1/videos (create), GET /v1/videos/{video_id} (retrieve), GET /v1/videos/{video_id}/content (download), plus /v1/videos/edits, /v1/videos/extensions, /v1/videos/characters and /v1/videos/{video_id}/remix; in the official SDKs these are videos.create, videos.retrieve and videos.download_content (OpenAI Videos API reference, kept for historical reference)
• model strings that start with sora-2
• background jobs that poll for Sora results or fetch the finished MP4

OpenAI also documents a programmatic check for other models: call GET /v1/models and read each model’s optional shutdown_date field (OpenAI deprecations). Add that check to your monitoring so the next deprecation doesn’t surprise you.

Which video APIs can replace Sora?

All four options below are documented on the vendor’s own developer site. Pricing is per second, per resolution or in credits, depending on the vendor. Check each official pricing page; we don’t list amounts.

API	Best for	Key differences	Official docs and pricing
Gemini API: Gemini Omni Flash	Default choice; multi-turn edits	Google’s recommended default video model; text, image, audio and video inputs; conversational editing via the Interactions API	Gemini video docs
Gemini API: Veo 3.1 (preview)	Clips with native audio, last-frame control, extension	Model IDs veo-3.1-generate-preview, veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview, veo-3.1-lite-generate-preview; 8-second videos at 720p, 1080p or 4K	Veo docs
Runway API (Runway Dev)	One integration, many models	Gen-4.5 plus third-party models such as Seedance 2.5, Kling 3.0 and MiniMax in one catalog; Node and Python SDKs	Runway Dev
Kling API	Kling-style motion and multi-shot	Bearer API key from kling.ai/dev; host api-singapore.klingai.com for servers outside China; Kling 3.0 family today	Kling API quick start
Luma API	Keyframes and modifying footage	Ray3.2 model; the API uses a credit system, not a subscription tier	Luma official info

Are the Veo 3.1 models safe to build on?

They are labeled preview. Google’s Gemini deprecations page shows “No shutdown date announced” for the three Veo 3.1 preview models as of October 18, 2026. It also shows that the older veo-2.0-generate-001, veo-3.0-generate-001 and veo-3.0-fast-generate-001 were shut down on June 30, 2026. Google points to “the GA models on the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform” as the alternative if you need a non-preview model.

Is Kling 4.0 on the API?

Not yet. Kuaishou’s October 16, 2026 announcement says Kling 4.0 “will soon be made available to enterprise customers and developers through API access”. The Kling API docs currently cover Kling 3.0, 3.0 Omni, 2.6 and 2.5 Turbo models.

For a fuller comparison of models, auth and billing units, see AI video generation APIs compared.

How do you migrate step by step?

1. Collect what you still need. Videos generated through the API had to be downloaded and stored by you at generation time; OpenAI’s video guide said download URLs were valid for at most one hour (OpenAI video generation guide). OpenAI’s published export flow at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset covers content made in the Sora web and app experiences (Help Center), so check your own storage for API output.
2. List the features you used. Text-to-video, image-to-video, clip length, aspect ratio, audio and remix all map differently on each vendor.
3. Pick one primary and one fallback vendor from the table. A single-catalog API such as Runway’s lets you switch models without a second integration.
4. Wrap the vendor behind your own interface: createVideo(prompt, options) returns a job ID, and getVideo(jobId) returns status and URL. All of these APIs are asynchronous, as Sora’s was, so your job queue can stay.
5. Move secrets. Each vendor uses its own API key. Kling, for example, shows a new key only once (Kling authentication). Store keys in environment variables, not in code.
6. Re-write prompts. Prompt styles differ between models, so budget time for a prompt pass before you switch traffic.
7. Handle new errors. Rate limits, quota errors and content-policy rejections come back in each vendor’s own format. Our AI API errors guide covers retry patterns that respect Retry-After.

What does a minimal replacement call look like?

Runway’s official quickstart shows image-to-video with its Node SDK. The example below is shortened from Runway’s docs:

import RunwayML from '@runwayml/sdk';
const client = new RunwayML(); // reads the API key from the environment
const task = await client.imageToVideo
  .create({ model: 'gen4.5', promptText: 'A serene mountain landscape at sunrise', ratio: '1280:720', duration: 5 })
  .waitForTaskOutput();
console.log(task.output[0]); // video URL

Google’s equivalent for Veo 3.1 uses the Gemini API’s generateContent flow. See the Veo docs for current code.

Will costs change after migrating?

Almost certainly, because every vendor bills differently: per second of output, per resolution or per credit. Model a typical month of your own traffic against each official pricing page before you commit. For how OpenAI bills its other models, see OpenAI API pricing.

More video tools, grouped by use case, are in the AI video tools hub.