Quick verdict
Kling 3.0 wins because it is the one you can use: OpenAI shut down the Sora apps on 2026-04-26[1] and the Sora API on 2026-09-24[2]. On paper the two trade blows. Sora 2 made longer single clips (20 s[6] against 15 s[3]), and Kling 3.0 reaches native 4K where Sora 2 stopped at 1080p[3].
- Pricing Depends
- Output specs Tie
- Features Tie
- Access Kling 3.0
- Public leaderboards Kling 3.0
Category winners are computed from the sourced rows in the tables below; “Depends” means there was not enough comparable public data to call it.
Summary
Sora 2 shipped on 2025-09-30[7]; Kling AI announced Kling 3.0 on 2026-02-05 (announcement date)[8]. Both generated audio with the picture and both supported text and image input[6][3]. Sora 2's figures below are historical, kept so former Sora users can see what Kling 3.0 changes.
Output: Sora 2 generated up to 20 s[6] per clip with extensions to 120 s[6]; Kling 3.0 makes takes of up to 15 s[3] and added a native 4K mode in April 2026[9]. Kling 3.0 also has multi-shot generation and first and last frame control[3]; we found neither in OpenAI's Sora 2 documentation.
Pricing doesn't compare directly. Sora 2 was billed per second through OpenAI's API, from $0.10/s[2] at 720p. Kling sells app credit plans that renew from $8.80/mo[10] and publishes its own API rate card from $0.126/s[4] per second at 720p with native audio. The only leaderboard that lists both is VGI-Bench, where Kling 3.0 scores 44.0[11] against Sora 2's 36.7[11].
Snapshot
| Spec | Sora 2 | Kling 3.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Discontinued — the Sora 2 models and the Videos API were shut down on 2026-09-24 and are no longer available; no replacement model is listed[2] | Live in the Kling AI app and on the Kling developer API (membership plans and API rate card published by the vendor)[4] |
| Developer | OpenAI[12] | Kling AI[8] |
| Released | 2025-09-30[7] | 2026-02-05 (announcement date)[8] |
| Lowest API price (per second, with audio) | from $0.10/s (sora-2) historical[2] | from $0.126/s[4] |
| Cheapest paid consumer plan | No public data | $8.80/mo (Standard, monthly renewal)[10] |
| Free tier | No public data | Basic plan: $0, free forever; free-credit allowance not published[13] |
| Max length, single generation | 20 s historical[6] | 15 s[3] |
| Max resolution | Portrait: 1080x1920 Landscape: 1920x1080 historical[6] | Native 4K (3840x2160), added 2026-04-23; 1080p / 720p modes[9] |
| Native audio | Yes historical[2] | Yes[3] |
| Image-to-video | Yes historical[6] | Yes[3] |
| Public API | Yes historical[2] | Yes (Kling developer API)[4] |
Pricing
Depends — not enough comparable public data| Metric | Sora 2 | Kling 3.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| API price, 720p with audio (per second) | $0.10/s sora-2 historical $0.30/s sora-2-pro historical[2][14] | $0.126/s[4] | — |
| API price, 1080p with audio (per second) | $0.70/s (sora-2-pro) historical[14] | $0.168/s[4] | — |
| API price, 4K (per second) | No public data | $0.42/s (native 4K)[4] | — |
| API billing basis | Per second of generated video, with native audio included; tiered by model and output resolution — sora-2 $0.1/s (720x1280 / 1280x720); sora-2-pro $0.3/s (720x1280 / 1280x720), $0.5/s (1024x1792 / 1792x1024), $0.7/s (1080x1920 / 1920x1080) historical[14] | Prepaid units at a $0.14 list price per unit. Per second of Kling 3.0 output: $0.084 (720p, no audio), $0.112 (1080p, no audio), $0.42 (4K), $0.126 (720p with native audio), $0.168 (1080p with native audio); Kling 3.0 Turbo with audio $0.112 (720p) / $0.14 (1080p). Prepaid packages from $700 (5,000 units, 180-day validity). The API plans do not support Kling 4.0.[4] | — |
| Cheapest paid consumer plan | No public data | $8.80/mo (Standard, monthly renewal)[10] | — |
| Consumer plan ladder | No public data | Basic $0 (free-credit allowance not published); Standard $8.80/mo after a $6.99 first month (list $10), 660 credits; Pro $32.56/mo after a $25.99 first month (list $37), 3,000 credits; Premier $80.96/mo (list $92), 8,000 credits; Ultra $159.99/mo (list $180), 26,000 credits[10] | — |
| In-app cost per second | No public data | 720p 6 credits/s without native audio, 9 with; 1080p 8 or 12; native 4K 30 credits/s[3] | — |
| Free tier | No public data | Basic plan: $0, free forever; free-credit allowance not published[13] | — |
Sora 2 leads 0 rows, Kling 3.0 leads 0, 0 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
Output specs
Tie| Metric | Sora 2 | Kling 3.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max length, single generation | 20 s historical[6] | 15 s[3] | Sora 2 |
| Max length with extensions | 120 s historical[6] | No public data | — |
| Max output resolution | 1080p (sora-2-pro) historical[14] | 2160p (4K) (native 4K)[3] | Kling 3.0 |
| Frame rate | No public data | No public data | — |
| Aspect ratios | Portrait and landscape only, as fixed resolution pairs: 720x1280 / 1280x720 (both models); 1024x1792 / 1792x1024 and 1080x1920 / 1920x1080 (sora-2-pro) historical[14] | No public data | — |
| Max reference inputs per generation | No public data | No public data | — |
Sora 2 leads 1 row, Kling 3.0 leads 1, 0 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
Features
Tie| Metric | Sora 2 | Kling 3.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native audio | Yes historical[2] | Yes[3] | Tie |
| Lip-sync | No public data | Yes[13] | — |
| Text-to-video | Yes historical[2] | Yes[3] | Tie |
| Image-to-video | Yes historical[6] | Yes[3] | Tie |
| First / last frame control | No public data | Yes[3] | — |
| Multi-shot in one generation | No public data | Yes[3] | — |
| Video editing | Yes (edits endpoint) historical[6] | Yes[8] | Tie |
| Video extension | Yes historical[6] | Yes (Standard plan and above)[13] | Tie |
Sora 2 leads 0 rows, Kling 3.0 leads 0, 5 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
Access
Winner: Kling 3.0| Metric | Sora 2 | Kling 3.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Discontinued — the Sora 2 models and the Videos API were shut down on 2026-09-24 and are no longer available; no replacement model is listed[2] | Live in the Kling AI app and on the Kling developer API (membership plans and API rate card published by the vendor)[4] | Kling 3.0 |
| Public API | Yes historical[2] | Yes (Kling developer API)[4] | — |
| Where to use it | None today. Until 2026-04-26: Sora web and apps; until 2026-09-24: OpenAI Videos API historical[1] | Kling AI web and app on credit-based memberships; Kling developer API on prepaid unit packages[4] | — |
| Regional limits | No public data | No public data | — |
| Release date | 2025-09-30[7] | 2026-02-05 (announcement date)[8] | — |
Sora 2 leads 0 rows, Kling 3.0 leads 1, 0 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
Public leaderboards
Winner: Kling 3.0| Metric | Sora 2 | Kling 3.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena text-to-video score | 1368 ±7 (sora-2-pro)[15] | No public data | — |
| LMArena text-to-video rank (of 48) | #11 (sora-2-pro)[15] | No public data | — |
| LMArena image-to-video score | No public data | 1354 ±6 (kling-v3-pro)[16] | — |
| LMArena image-to-video rank (of 48) | No public data | #19 (kling-v3-pro)[16] | — |
| VGI-Bench overall score | 36.7[11] | 44.0[11] | Kling 3.0 |
Sora 2 leads 0 rows, Kling 3.0 leads 1, 0 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
How rows are judged: a lower price, a longer clip, a higher resolution or frame rate, more reference inputs and a supported feature win. Prices of a discontinued product are shown as historical and cannot win. LMArena scores are human-preference ratings (board snapshot dated 2026-09-21, read 2026-10-07); scores whose ± intervals overlap count as a tie. VGI-Bench is a research benchmark of visual reasoning. A row marked — has no comparable data.
Where each model leads
Where Sora 2 leads
Length and editing, historically. Sora 2 produced 20 s[6] clips and had an edits endpoint for changing a finished video without regenerating it[6]. If you still have Sora-era prompts, our Sora AI review records how the model behaved.
Where Kling 3.0 leads
Resolution, structure and availability. Native 4K mode at 30 credits per second in the app[3], multi-shot scenes, lip-synced native audio[13], and plans you can buy today. Our Kling vs Sora comparison on the AIContentDrop blog covers prompt migration.
Which should you choose?
Pick Sora 2 if…
you only need the historical record, for example to compare old Sora renders with new ones. Sora 2 itself is no longer available.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still use Sora 2 instead of Kling?
No. OpenAI closed the Sora web and apps on April 26, 2026[1] and shut down the Sora 2 models and Videos API on September 24, 2026[2].
Did Sora 2 make longer clips than Kling 3.0?
Yes: 20 s[6] per clip against 15 s[3] for Kling 3.0. Sora 2 could also extend to 120 s[6]; we found no official maximum extended length for Kling 3.0.
Evidence
Only official sources are cited: vendor pages, and leaderboard publishers for their own rankings. Anything we could not find on such a page is shown as “No public data”.
- What to know about the Sora discontinuation — OpenAI Help Center. help.openai.com/en/articles/20001152-what-to-know-about-the-sora-di…. Checked 2026-10-06
- OpenAI API — sora-2 model page — OpenAI. developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/sora-2. Checked 2026-10-06
- Kling VIDEO 3.0 Model User Guide — Kling AI. kling.ai/quickstart/klingai-video-3-model-user-guide. Checked 2026-10-06
- Kling AI developer API pricing — Kling AI. kling.ai/dev/pricing. Checked 2026-10-06
- Kling 4.0 — official model announcement — Kling AI. kling.ai/blog/kling-4-ai-video-model. Checked 2026-10-06
- OpenAI API — Video generation guide — OpenAI. developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/video-generation. Checked 2026-10-06
- Sora 2 is here — OpenAI. openai.com/index/sora-2. Checked 2026-10-06
- Kling AI Launches 3.0 Model (official press release via PR Newswire) — Kling AI. www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kling-ai-launches-3-0-model-usheri…. Checked 2026-10-06
- Kling AI Introduces the World's First Native 4K Video Model — Kling AI. kling.ai/blog/kling-ai-introduces-native-4k-video-model. Checked 2026-10-06
- Kling AI membership plans — Kling AI. kling.ai/app/membership/membership-plan. Checked 2026-10-06
- VGI-Bench leaderboard (EMNLP 2026) — VGI-Bench research team. hexuan21.github.io/VGI-Bench. Checked 2026-10-06
- OpenAI API — Deprecations (Videos API / Sora 2) — OpenAI. developers.openai.com/api/docs/deprecations. Checked 2026-10-06
- Kling 3.0 Credit Cost: 4K, Omni Audio, and Multi Shot Pricing — Kling AI. klingai.com/blog/kling-video-3-0-credit-cost-guide. Checked 2026-10-06
- OpenAI API — sora-2-pro model page — OpenAI. developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/sora-2-pro. Checked 2026-10-06
- Text-to-Video Arena leaderboard — LMArena (arena.ai). arena.ai/leaderboard/text-to-video. Checked 2026-10-06
- Image-to-Video Arena leaderboard — LMArena (arena.ai). arena.ai/leaderboard/image-to-video. Checked 2026-10-06