AI Video Generators Compared: Omni, Kling, Runway, Seedance and Veo Side by Side

Choosing an AI video generator now means comparing clip length, resolution, audio, price units, rights and provenance across products that change every few months. This page sets out the main text-to-video and image-to-video models side by side with identical fields: Gemini Omni Flash, Kling, Runway Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0, Seedance and Veo 3.1. It is written for creative and marketing teams, procurement and legal reviewers, and security teams who must govern video generation at work. All facts come from provider pages fetched on the check date, plus Runway's developer documentation, which lists several providers' models under one per-second price unit. Products are listed alphabetically; order is never a ranking, and the page gives no verdict.

Last checked: 2026-11-15.

This is an independent reference page from NHI Mgmt Group based on public provider documentation; it is not sponsored or endorsed by any provider.

Key takeaways

• Clip lengths differ by a factor of several. Veo 3.1 on Google Cloud generates 4, 6 or 8 second clips; Seedance 2.0 outputs up to 15 seconds; Runway's API lists Kling 4.0 at 3 to 30 seconds.
• Sound is now part of the output. Seedance 2.0 generates two-channel stereo with music, effects and voiceover tracks, and Veo 3.1 supports sound generation.
• Price units are not comparable at a glance. Providers bill per second, per credit or through a subscription; Runway's API page puts several models on a per-second dollar rate, which is the closest like-for-like figure published.
• Provenance is documented unevenly. Google states SynthID on Omni videos and C2PA support on Veo 3.1 on Google Cloud; other provider pages checked do not state their marking method.
• Sora is gone. OpenAI shut down the Sora Videos API and the sora-2 models on 24 September 2026 with no one-to-one replacement.

What is an AI video generator?

An AI video generator is a generative model that produces a short video clip from a text prompt, one or more still images, an existing clip or a mix of these. Most current models work in a few distinct modes, and providers expose different subsets of them in their apps and APIs. Knowing the mode you need narrows the choice faster than comparing headline quality claims.

• Text to video: a written prompt describes the scene, motion and camera; the model returns a clip of fixed or chosen length.
• Image to video: a still image sets the first frame (and sometimes the last frame), and the model animates between them.
• Reference-based generation: images, clips or audio supply a character, object, style or voice that the output should keep consistent.
• Video to video and editing: an existing clip is restyled, extended or edited by prompt.
• Joint audio generation: sound effects, music or speech are generated in the same pass as the picture.

As of 2026-11-15. A product missing from a row may still offer the mode; the table records only what the pages checked state.

Which AI video generators are compared here?

As of 2026-11-15. Gemini Omni Flash and Veo 3.1 are both Google products and are listed separately because they are sold through different routes. Midjourney also offers video; its version facts could not be confirmed from its official documentation on the check date, so it is covered in Midjourney Explained.

How do the specifications compare?

As of 2026-11-15. Where a figure comes from Runway's API documentation rather than the model owner's page, the cell says so; limits can differ between the owner's own app and a reseller.

How much do AI video generators cost?

Each provider publishes a different unit. The first table shows each owner's route; the second shows the per-second rates on Runway's API, the only page checked that lists several providers' video models in one unit.

As of 2026-11-15, in US dollars, from Runway's API models page. Gemini Omni Flash is not listed there. On Runway's app, Kling 4.0 at 1080p costs 89 credits per 5 seconds on a promotional rate to 30 November (118 before) and Seedance 2.0 Pro at 1080p costs 160 credits per 4 seconds. Owner prices on their own platforms may differ.

What does each video generator offer?

Each profile uses the same fields. Availability notes cover plan, age and region limits stated by the provider.

Gemini Omni Flash

• What it is: Google's Omni model for video, announced at I/O on 20 May 2026, producing video output only at launch.
• Where it runs: the Gemini app and Google Flow, which Google says is available in over 140 countries; Google Flow Music uses Gemini Omni to create music videos.
• Provenance: Google states that Omni videos carry a SynthID watermark.
• Availability: Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers worldwide; free in YouTube Shorts Remix and the YouTube Create app for users aged 18 and over.

Kling

• What it is: Kuaishou's video and image model family; kling.ai headlines Kling 4.0 and lists Video 3.0, Video 3.0 Omni, Image 3.0 and Element Library 3.0.
• Where it runs: the kling.ai app, the KlingAI API platform, and Runway's app and API (Kling 4.0, 4.0 Flash, 3.0, O3 and 2.5 Turbo Pro).
• Provenance: Not stated by Kuaishou on the kling.ai home page.
• Availability: Not stated by Kuaishou on the kling.ai home page.

Runway Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0

• What it is: Runway's own generation model (Gen-4.5, announced 1 December 2025) and video-to-video editing model (Aleph 2.0).
• Where it runs: Runway web app and Runway API; Runway also resells Kling, Seedance, Nano Banana Pro and Lyria 3 under the same credit balance, and Pro adds a Runway MCP server.
• Provenance: Runway's launch page links to Verify Content Credentials and says outputs are labelled "Generated with Runway Gen-4.5".
• Availability: Gen-4.5 is included in all paid plans; paid plans are described as having no watermarks; custom Gen-4.5 models through an enterprise enquiry.

Seedance

• What it is: ByteDance Seed's video model family. Seedance 2.0, launched 12 February 2026, uses what ByteDance calls a unified multimodal audio-video joint generation architecture; Runway's API also lists Seedance 2.5 with reference, extend and edit modes.
• Where it runs: the Seedance site, the Dola app, the BytePlus Playground and API, and Runway.
• Provenance: Not stated by ByteDance on the Seedance 2.0 launch post.
• Availability: real human portraits used as subject references require identity verification or prior legal authorisation, per the launch post.

Veo 3.1

• What it is: Google's Veo 3.1 line on Google Cloud: veo-3.1-generate-001 and veo-3.1-fast-generate-001 (GA, released 17 November 2025) and veo-3.1-lite-generate-001 (preview, released 2 April 2026). Up to 4 outputs per prompt, MP4 output, English prompts.
• Where it runs: Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform on Google Cloud, the Gemini API, and Runway's API (Veo 3.1 and Veo 3.1 Fast).
• Provenance: Google Cloud lists Content Credentials (C2PA) support on all three Veo 3.1 models.
• Availability: region us-central1; Generate and Fast show a retirement date of "May 4, 2027 or later", with possible continued access through the Gemini API.

Which video generators have been retired?

OpenAI gave notice on 24 March 2026 and shut down the Videos API, sora-2, sora-2-pro and dated snapshots (sora-2-2025-10-06, sora-2-2025-12-08, sora-2-pro-2025-10-06) on 24 September 2026, naming no one-to-one replacement. Teams that built on Sora had to move to another provider's API. See OpenAI Sora Shutdown Explained and the AI Media Model Retirements Tracker. Veo 3.1's dated retirement window on Google Cloud is the only other published end date among the products on this page.

How do provenance and likeness safeguards compare?

As of 2026-11-15. Google also says SynthID verification is live in the Gemini app and that C2PA verification began rolling out there on 20 May 2026, so viewers can check some clips themselves. Provenance metadata can be stripped by re-encoding, so test your editing pipeline. See SynthID vs C2PA Content Credentials, the AI Content Provenance and C2PA Guide and FFmpeg and Media Processing Security Guide.

How do I choose an AI video generator?

Factual criteria only; there is no single right choice.

• Length and format: match the clip length, aspect ratio and frame rate to the channel (vertical 9:16 for short-form, 16:9 for web).
• Audio: decide whether you need generated sound, voice or music in the same pass, or will add audio in editing.
• Route: an owner's own app, an aggregator such as Runway, or a cloud API each carry different terms, regions and price units; Gemini Omni Flash is sold through Google subscriptions and Veo 3.1 through Google Cloud.
• Lifecycle: prefer routes that publish dated retirement windows, and plan an exit; Sora shows that a video API can close within six months of notice.
• Labelling duties: if you publish synthetic video to the public, confirm how you will meet disclosure rules. See the EU AI Act Article 50 Transparency Obligations Guide and the Deepfake and Synthetic Media Laws Map.
• Likeness and consent: confirm the provider's rule on real faces and voices before staff upload them.

Small teams usually work through one consumer app or aggregator; larger organisations often need a cloud route with stated regions, quotas and enterprise terms, and a written approval process for each use.

Where identity and security fit

Video APIs are called with API keys or cloud service accounts, and aggregator MCP servers let AI agents generate and spend on a user's behalf, so treat each key as a machine credential with an owner, scope, spending cap and rotation date. Synthetic video of real executives is also a common fraud lever. See the Deepfake CEO Fraud Response Playbook and AI Image and Video Generation at Work.

Practitioner checklist

• List every video generator and route in use (app, aggregator, cloud API) with the owning team and the account or key used.
• Record each route's clip length, resolution and price unit, and recheck against the provider page before purchase.
• Diary known end dates (Veo 3.1 Generate and Fast on Google Cloud: 4 May 2027 or later) and keep an exit plan for every route.
• Require written consent and approval before any real person's face or voice is used as a reference.
• Decide which outputs must keep SynthID or C2PA marks, and test that editing and export steps preserve them.
• Store video API keys and service accounts in a secrets manager with spending limits and per-project keys.
• Add an AI-generated disclosure step to publishing workflows for public video.

Standards and references

• Google Cloud: Veo 3.1
• Google: I/O 2026 announcements
• Kling AI
• Kuaishou investor relations: Kling AI annualized revenue run rate
• Runway: Introducing Runway Gen-4.5
• Runway API: Models
• ByteDance Seed: Official launch of Seedance 2.0
• OpenAI: Deprecations
• C2PA: Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity

Also checked on 2026-11-15: Runway: Pricing, ByteDance Seed: Seedance 2.0, Google DeepMind: SynthID.

Related NHI Mgmt Group resources: AI Image, Video, Voice and Music Models Hub · AI Image Generators Compared · Runway AI Explained · Deepfake and AI Impersonation Guide