TL;DR
Is Veo 3 better than Sora 2?
Sora 2 is gone. OpenAI shut the Sora app on April 26, 2026, so Veo wins by default. If you want AI video now, try Veo 3.1 free in Google Flow, which gives everyone 50 credits a day. Kling is the main rival worth a look.
What happened to Sora 2?
OpenAI closed the Sora website and app on April 26, 2026, and the Sora API (the way developers plugged Sora into their own apps) followed on September 24, 2026. There's no Sora plan, price or free tier left to compare.
Two leftovers matter if you used it. OpenAI's help page points to an export page at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset for your old videos. It also says credits you bought for ChatGPT or Sora can still be spent in Codex, OpenAI's coding tool.
So any "Veo 3 vs Sora 2" chart you find from 2025 is a museum piece. Fun to look at, not much use for picking a tool today.
How do Veo 3, Sora 2 and Kling compare now?
Prices are in US dollars, before tax, checked November 11, 2026.
| Google Veo 3.1 | OpenAI Sora 2 | Kling AI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Available today? | Yes, in Google Flow and the Gemini app | No, shut down April 26, 2026 | Yes |
| Free option | 50 Flow credits a day, with or without a paid plan | None | Basic plan, free, with credits for logging in |
| Cheapest paid plan | Google AI Plus, US$4.99/month | None | Standard, US$6.60/month billed yearly (US$79.20/year) |
| Next step up | Google AI Pro, US$19.99/month or US$199.99/year | None | Pro, US$32.56/month (US$293.04/year) |
| How you pay | Flow credits; a Veo 3.1 Lite clip costs 10 credits | Not applicable | Monthly credits (660 on Standard) |
How much does Veo 3 cost?
Veo has no price of its own. You pay with Flow credits, the points Google's video tool spends each time it makes a clip, and those credits come with Google AI plans.
- Free: 50 Flow credits a day for everyone. A Veo 3.1 Lite clip costs 10 credits, so by our math that's up to five Lite clips a day.
- Google AI Plus, US$4.99/month: 200 extra Flow credits a month, plus 400 GB of storage. Google doesn't publish a yearly price for Plus.
- Google AI Pro, US$19.99/month (or US$199.99 a year, about US$16.67 a month): 1,000 Flow credits a month.
- Google AI Ultra: the 5x plan is US$99.99/month with 10,000 credits, and the 20x plan is US$199.99/month with 25,000 credits. Ultra pays half the credits for Veo 3.1 Lite and Fast clips.
Per clip, Google's Flow help lists Veo 3.1 Lite at 10 credits, Fast at 20 and Quality at 100 for an 8-second clip.
US college students can also get 12 months of Google AI Pro free if they redeem by December 31, 2026, per Google's offer page (checked November 1, 2026).
What's changing with Veo before December?
This is the bit to read before you buy credits. Google's Flow help says Veo 3.1 Fast and Veo 3.1 Quality will be retired on December 5, 2026, along with Omni Flash 1.1. After that, the choices are Veo 3.1 Lite or Omni Flash 1.2, Google's other video model. Veo Extend, which stretched a clip longer, was already retired on November 5, 2026; extending a clip now needs a paid plan and Omni Flash 1.2.
In plain terms, Veo 3.1 Lite is the Veo model that sticks around. If a tutorial tells you to pick "Quality" mode, that advice has about three weeks left in it.
Is Kling a good Veo 3 alternative?
Kling AI makes realistic video clips from text or images, and it's the name that shows up most when people search "Veo 3 vs." It's cheaper to get started with on a paid plan if you go yearly: Standard is US$79.20 a year (US$6.60 a month), with 660 credits a month. Paid monthly, Standard renews at US$8.80, and new subscribers get the first month for US$6.99 (that monthly figure comes from a third-party pricing write-up, since Kling's page didn't show it in text).
Bigger plans are Pro at US$32.56/month (US$293.04 a year) and Premier at US$80.96/month (US$728.64 a year). The free Basic plan gives credits for logging in, though Kling doesn't show how many.
Pick Veo if you already pay for Google AI or want a daily free allowance without signing up for anything new. Pick Kling if video is the main thing you'd pay for and you're happy to commit for a year.
Which other AI video tools replaced Sora?
Two more names come up a lot. Runway starts at US$15/month for Standard (US$12/month billed yearly), and Luma Dream Machine starts at US$30/month for Plus (US$25/month yearly), with no free plan listed. Both prices are from our November 9, 2026 check. For the full field, see our Sora alternatives roundup, and if you're brand new to this, the best AI video tools for beginners list starts gentler.
FAQ
Can I still get my old Sora videos?
OpenAI's help page points to an export page at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset. Export anything you want to keep sooner rather than later.
Do I need a Google AI plan to use Veo 3?
No. Google Flow gives everyone 50 credits a day, which covers a few short Veo 3.1 Lite clips. A plan adds more credits each month.
Which is cheapest for regular AI video, Veo or Kling?
Google AI Plus is US$4.99 a month with 200 extra Flow credits. Kling Standard is US$6.60 a month on a yearly plan with 660 credits. Clip costs differ between the two, so compare by how many clips you'd make.
Will Veo 3.1 Quality still be around next year?
Not according to Google. Its Flow help says Veo 3.1 Fast and Quality retire on December 5, 2026, leaving Veo 3.1 Lite.
Sources
- OpenAI: What to know about the Sora discontinuation: shutdown dates, export page and leftover credits.
- Google AI plans: Plus, Pro and Ultra prices, credits and storage.
- Google Flow help: daily free credits, credit cost per clip, the December 5 retirements and Veo Extend.
- Kling AI membership plans: Standard, Pro and Premier prices.
- AI Business Weekly: Kling AI pricing: Kling Standard monthly price and first-month offer.
- Runway pricing and Luma pricing: Standard and Plus prices (checked November 9, 2026).
